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Types of PM Interview Questions

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PM interviews vary from company to company, but regardless of where you interview you’re likely to run into questions that test your ability to design products, solve ambiguous problems, build effective strategies, and analyze and execute with data.

You’ll also likely face questions like “Tell me about yourself” or “What’s your favorite product?” With these, interviewers aim to get to know you as a product manager, and how you’d fit in with the company culture.

Here are a few of the most common question types to prepare for.

Product design

Product design questions assess your ability to improve, discuss, or (most commonly) design a product. Product design is the core skill of a PM, so it’s critical to show your knowledge of fundamental PM concepts such as:

  • User empathy and user-centered design
  • Feature prioritization
  • Product modification for success in new markets or use cases

To answer, walk the interviewer through your design process. How do you pinpoint user pain points? How do you pinpoint effective solutions? How do you prioritize features? What metrics do you use to measure success, and how do you iterate based on feedback?

Examples of product design interview questions include:

Product strategy

Product strategy questions focus on your ability to develop a long-term product plan that aligns with the company strategy. There are many common variants of strategy questions that assess your ability to build go-to-market (GTM) or pricing strategies, assess options for market entry, or monetize an existing product.

Your interviewer will evaluate your understanding of key product strategy concepts, such as:

  • Market identification and competitive analysis
  • Product road mapping, product positioning, and product pricing strategy
  • Measuring product success

Examples of product strategy interview questions include:

Technical

Technical interview questions are no longer common in PM interviews. Still, they may pop up, depending on the company. Your recruiter will tell you whether you can expect one, so if you’re unsure, ask your recruiter.

These questions focus on:

  • The software development process
  • Any specific technologies you’ll work with at your target company
  • The technical aspects of product development, including technical communication skills

Ultimately, your interviewer will evaluate your ability to communicate around and with engineering concepts. You don’t have to “become an engineer” for technical PM questions — it’s important to maintain your focus on the user experience. That said, demonstrating your understanding of the technical tradeoffs involved in the product development process can be a big differentiator.

Examples of technical PM questions include:

Execution

Execution questions assess a candidate’s experience in problem-solving, team management, and data-driven decision-making. The format of these questions varies; for example, Meta likes to ask root-cause-analysis (RCA) questions such as “Facebook friend requests are down 10%. What do you do?” Generally, RCA questions involve an interviewer asking you a scenario-based question. You’ll have to get to the root of a problem by iterating over a set of increasingly specific hypotheses.

Google asks craft and execution questions such as “When do you consider a design review completed?” which skew more behavioral. You may be asked about past work experiences when you had to execute in ambiguous circumstances, or you may be asked a hypothetical question to assess what you would do in a specific scenario.

Other types of execution questions might ask you to make a decision with tradeoffs or interpret a set of metrics. There can be significant overlap with analytical questions.

Examples of execution questions include:

Analytical

Analytical questions focus on your ability to collect and analyze relevant data and make decisions accordingly. Developing a logical process for choosing metrics and designing experiments is key, as is the ability to justify your decision-making throughout.

The major subcategories of analytical questions deal with metrics and experimentation, especially A/B testing. There is often overlap with estimation and execution questions which also assess your ability to break down problems and take action in ambiguous situations.

To answer these:

  1. Aim to establish your ability to use data and metrics to inform product decisions and drive development.
  2. Explain what different metrics can tell you about product performance, and where they fall short.
  3. Explain what experiments you’d run to gain insight into open questions, and how the results of those experiments would then validate your product assumptions and inform your decisions.
  4. Discuss how you identify and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to guide product development.

Examples of analytical questions include:

Estimation

Estimation questions are some of the most unusual questions you’re likely to face. For example, an interviewer could ask you to estimate how many windows are in New York City. Not all companies ask estimation questions, but it’s still a useful skill to have in your pocket.

The good news is that hiring managers aren’t looking for perfect answers to these questions. What interests them is your approach to problem-solving. To answer these,

  1. Approach the question methodically and logically.
  2. Break the question into smaller and smaller factors until you’ve reached quantities you feel comfortable estimating.
  3. Use benchmarks, upper and lower bounds, or even personal anecdotes to make an educated estimate.
  4. Maintain transparency about any assumptions made during the estimation process.

Examples of estimation questions include:

Behavioral

Behavioral questions assess how you handle common PM situations, your PM philosophy, and how well you’ll fit into the team. If your interview process has a leadership or culture fit session, behavioral questions are likely to come up there.

Most of these questions ask you to recount a story from your career. The focus of these questions could change depending on the level and responsibilities of the role. For instance, for a senior role, you may get asked about managing reports.

When answering these questions:

  1. Tell a clear, concise story.
  2. Provide context to help the interviewer understand the situation, but don’t explain every detail.
  3. Most importantly, be clear about what you did, why you did it, and what results and learnings came from it.

Before the interview, it can be useful to build a mental roster of key situations you faced including successes, failures, conflicts, and challenges. Then, in the interview, choose the example that’s most relevant.

Examples of behavioral questions include:

  • Tell me about a time you had a conflict with an engineering counterpart.
  • Tell me about a time you had to get your leadership to buy into your vision.
  • What’s your biggest strength?
  • What's your biggest weakness?

“What’s your favorite product?”

The favorite product question is one of the most common you’ll face during PM interviews. Hiring managers aim to understand your thought process, product thinking, and your values.

When answering the “What is your favorite product?” question, it’s crucial to keep these “Three P’s” in mind:

  • Passion: You want to choose a product you’re passionate about. Choose a product you actually use and can speak about in depth.
  • Perspective: Choose a product that you can share a nuanced perspective on.
  • Personality: Finally, your favorite product should help reveal aspects of your personality. How does your favorite product make you unique as a product manager?

To answer this question, first explain why you chose your favorite product. What features or aspects did you find innovative or effective? How does it solve a specific problem, need, or pain point?

Show product knowledge by explaining its position in its market. What makes this product stand out from its competitors? This question also allows you to showcase your enthusiasm and passion for product. Your answer can illustrate what you value as a product manager.

“Why do you want to work at this company?”

The hiring processes at many tech companies today are very competitive. A recruiter may have hundreds of qualified candidates to choose from. With that many applicants, it’s important to differentiate yourself by showing that you genuinely want to work there.

Be sure to communicate that you’ve done your research on the company. Explain how you align with company values and goals and how you can add value to the organization.

Explain what about the company interests you. What do you admire about the company’s culture, mission, and values? How do your skills, experience, and goals align with the company’s current needs?

“Tell me about yourself”

This is a standard question in most interviews.

Hiring managers will often ask this question at the beginning of an interview to break the ice. Summarize your background, skills, and qualifications.

Keep your answer concise and relevant to the position. Highlight your most important experiences and emphasize your strengths. How do they align with the job requirements?

This question also allows you to showcase your personality. Your answer can make clear your motivation to pursue a product manager career.

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