The Golden Ratio: Why Fintech Needs 3x More PMs Than SaaS

Is the "1:8 Standard" Dead?

For the last decade, Silicon Valley has preached a "Golden Ratio" for product teams: 1 Product Manager for every 8 Engineers (give or take a designer). This was the blueprint for scalable software development.

But in 2026, with AI-coding agents accelerating output and regulatory landscapes tightening, that blueprint is fracturing. JobsJudo analyzed over 5,000 active job requisitions globally to measure the real-world ratios. The results reveal a massive bifurcation in how modern companies build software.

The Data: A Tale of Two Economies

Globally, the average sits at a respectable 1 PM : 4.5 Engineers. But averages hide the real story. When we segment by industry, two distinct worlds emerge.

1. The Regulatory Tax: Why Fintech Needs 3x the PMs

In Fintech (1:2.6) and Healthcare (1:2.9), the bottleneck is not "writing code." It is deciding exactly *what* to write without getting sued, fined, or harming a user.

Every feature in these industries requires a phalanx of stakeholders: Legal, Compliance, Risk, Operations, and Clinical staff. A Product Manager here isn't just writing user stories; they are negotiating with regulators and ensuring safety.

AI cannot automate this judgment (yet). In fact, the ease of generating code might *increase* the burden on PMs, as Engineering can now produce risky features faster than Compliance can review them.

2. The SaaS Leverage: Where Engineering is King

In pure B2B SaaS (1:7.8), the classic Silicon Valley model still reigns. Here, the constraints are fewer. The goal is velocity.

With AI tools like Copilot and Cursor making engineers 30-50% faster, one robust Product Manager can now feed an even larger team of engineers. The "how" is becoming commoditized, allowing a smaller product brain trust to direct a massive execution engine.

The AI Impact: A Diverging Career Path

This data suggests a divergence in the future of the Product Management career track.

• The "Strategic" PM (Fintech/Health): Your value is in navigating human complexity, regulation, and high-stakes decision making. AI helps you generate specs, but it can't replace your judgment. demand is growing.
• The "Technical" PM (SaaS/AI): Your value is in leverage. You will likely manage larger teams or simply be replaced by "Product Engineers"—senior developers who use AI to handle both the spec-writing and the coding.

Conclusion

The "1:8" ratio isn't dead—it just moved to SaaS. In the high-stakes world of Fintech and Health, the ratio is rapidly approaching 1:3.

If you are a PM, this is your signal. Move toward the complexity. That is where the headcount is heading.