What’s the most important factor when buying a house?

Is it location? Price? Features? Some folks (myself included) may compromise on features — like square footage — to be in a specific neighbourhood (I’m a city girl at heart). Others think the marble countertop and beautiful backyard more than make up for being outside the city.

You can rarely have all three factors. This concept is known as the Unattainable Triangle, and it applies to product marketers too (stick with me here).

Over the past two weeks I’ve spoken to 7 Campers who are all mid job search or promotion cycle. I heard the same questions repeatedly:

• How do I know when I should compromise on salary?

• Is it better to take the job with the higher title or the higher compensation?

• Should I take a pay cut to move to a role where I can work on projects I enjoy?

In each of these sessions I brought up the concept of the Unattainable Triangle as a way to frame decision making.

What’s the most important factor when seeking a new role: compensation, responsibility or title? Today, we’ll explore the answer.

P.S. Read to the bottom to help me build my video strategy for 2025 🙏🏻

The (Un)Attainable Triangle

Since I’m a forever optimist, let’s explore this idea with a twist — a framework that’s less about the unattainable and more about navigating what’s actually attainable.

The Attainable Triangle offers a way to weigh your job elements intentionally, helping you make better career decisions without feeling you need to settle.

Let’s start by exploring all three sides of the triangle👇🏻

Compensation

Compensation is usually the first factor people consider when evaluating a new role. A competitive salary, bonus and equity package can be enticing, and it makes you feel validated (my work is worth something!). When looking at compensation, don’t just focus on base salary but also consider out-of-the-box benefits like a book budget, community membership or professional development account that will support your long-term goals.

Quick Self-Check: Does this role offer compensation that aligns with the financial goals you’ve set for yourself? Are there diminishing returns after a specific point, where you’d rather trade experience, title or flexibility for less money?

Title & Level

Your job title reflects more than just what’s on your LinkedIn profile; it’s a signal to future employers about your level of experience and expertise. In product marketing, where titles can vary widely between organizations, ensuring that the title aligns with your career goals is super important. A higher title can open doors, but be careful of title inflation — sometimes a title doesn’t translate to the actual skills or experiences needed for the next step in your career (and this can come back to bite you).

Quick Self-Check: Does the title accurately represent your experience and set you up for the future? Will it position you strategically for your next move?

Responsibility

Responsibility gets to the core of what the role entails. In product marketing, responsibilities vary drastically from tactical execution to strategy development. One PMM’s preferred set of responsibilities may be completely different than the next. Do you want to spend your day launching new products, writing messaging, or building pricing models in spreadsheets?

Quick Self-Check: Does the role’s scope reflect the type of work that energizes you? Will you get exposure to the right projects and opportunities you need to grow?

Balancing the Triangle

In a perfect world, you’d find a role that gives you top compensation, a great job title, and fulfilling responsibilities. Realistically, you’ll need to prioritize. Here’s how to think through balancing each element.

Scenario 1: You Prioritize Compensation
If compensation is your main driver, you might accept a role that doesn’t perfectly match your ideal title or responsibility level. For example, you may find a position that pays well but has a more junior title than you’d like or requires you to handle a mix of strategic and tactical tasks.

Scenario 2: You Prioritize Title
If your goal is to move up the ladder quickly, prioritizing title can be strategic. Taking a role with a more prestigious title can open up future opportunities, even if the compensation or responsibilities aren’t quite as attractive. But, a word of warning — without the responsibilities to back up that title, future employers may question whether you’ve gained the right experience or if your title is inflated.

Scenario 3: You Prioritize Responsibility
Prioritizing responsibility is often the best choice for rapid career growth. Getting exposure to the right projects at the right time in your career can get you on the fast track to success. But, again, this step requires a lot of personal reflection. To find the right responsibility set, you need to know what you want to work on (and what you don’t).

I’ve had to balance this triangle myself multiple times in my career:

• When I was at Unbounce, I fought to have my job title be VP of Strategic Growth rather than VP of PMM because I wanted to set myself up for a promotion to Chief Strategy Officer.

• In my fractional PMM work, I’m more likely to take on a client in the creator economy space rather than B2B enterprise, even if the project rate is lower. As long as I can hit my minimum rate threshold, I prioritize interesting work with a scope I know I’ll enjoy.

The “right” balance depends on you, and where you are in your career. Are you early in your journey and looking for accelerated growth? Or are you at a stage where financial stability is a priority?

Identifying your top priority using the Attainable Triangle can help narrow down options without feeling like you’re compromising on every front.

CAMPER ESSENTIALS

📚 Reading List: Last night my bf and I hosted a blind wine tasting party (we’re fancy like that). Want to level up your wine knowledge? Wine Folly is my go-to resource.

🎧 Playlist: On the topic of compensation — when will you know if you have enough? I’m hooked on this new podcast from Andrew Wilkinson. Start with the episode “How to Become a Friend Billionaire with Nick Gray.”

One final thing — help me build my video strategy for 2025.