Updated by Apple candidates
Engineering Program Manager, Siri User Experience Interview Experience
My hiring manager came back as part of the final loop and literally asked me zero interview questions. The whole 30 minutes was just, what questions do you have for me, which made it feel more like a sell call than an evaluation.
Interview process
I got into Apple through an internal referral and interviewed for two EPM roles, but I completed the full process only for Siri. The Siri process took about two months from late January to late March, started with just recruiter emails instead of a recruiter call, then a short hiring manager chat, then a six person loop of 30 minute interviews, and then two additional director conversations. The whole thing felt much more casual than other big tech interviews I have done, with a lot of behavioral and project walkthrough questions, a lot of time left for my questions, and almost no real technical grilling. The most unusual parts were how many senior people I met, including directors after the loop, and the fact that my hiring manager came back in the loop and asked me zero interview questions. I passed the interviews, but I am still negotiating because the level and compensation came in lower than I expected.
- Phone interview
- Final round
- Other
Interview tips
I would prep for this like a conversation, not like a rigid script. I would be really confident, easygoing, and ready to talk through a few projects step by step, especially how I work cross-functionally, handle tradeoffs, and deal with people issues. I would also have strong questions ready because they leave a surprising amount of time for that, and in my case one full loop interview was basically just me asking questions. More than anything, I would not over-index on technical prep because for this EPM loop they cared much more about how I think, communicate, and work with people.
Company culture
This felt very team dependent. Even for another EPM role I was in process for, Apple used a different structure, so I would not assume every org runs the same loop. For Siri specifically, the team felt very people oriented and very fit focused. Everybody kept signaling that relationships matter, and even the hardest cross-functional question was really about whether I could zoom out to the company level and respect another team's priorities instead of just pushing my own program through. The interviews were casual, short, and conversational, but there were also a lot of high-level people involved, so it felt like they care a lot about character and whether you are someone they actually want to work with.
Questions asked
Overview
The main loop was six separate 30 minute interviews split across two days, which was shorter and more casual than most big tech loops I have done. Each person had a theme, but there was a lot of overlap, and most of them asked pretty simple behavioral or project walkthrough questions. Only one interviewer was an engineering manager, and even that so-called technical round had no system design at all. The weirdest part was that my hiring manager came back in the loop and asked me zero interview questions.
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
Pretty much everybody asked this, and it always felt conversational instead of scripted. I kept coming back to the same core point that I like consumer electronics plus software, and that was exactly what this role was. That answer landed well because the team seemed to care whether you genuinely wanted Apple, not just whether you could say something polished.
Tell me about a difficult engineering manager you worked with and how you dealt with that.
What technical tradeoffs did you have to make?
This was the technical depth round, but it was not technical in the system design sense at all. I walked through one of my technical projects, the challenges on it, and the tradeoffs I made, then talked about how I work with technical stakeholders and handle a difficult engineering manager. The interviewer clearly had a list of questions to get through. At one point I brought up something very relevant to his area and he said he would love to follow up, but he had other questions to finish.
What do you do at each stage?
How do you coordinate across functions?
A couple of the EPM interviewers asked versions of this. I broke down the stages, how I usually coordinate cross-functionally, and how I drive what matters through the process. One interviewer kept resonating with what I said and was like, we do this too, I completely agree, which felt like a good sign. Another one literally said he just had some data points to collect, asked the simplest questions, and then spent a lot of the rest of the time talking.
Why would you do 90 versus 95?
How do you decide those numbers?
I used a project story where I talked about KPIs and how I would handle missing a deadline. I said I would look at tradeoffs and maybe adjust the target if that was the right decision, like landing 90 instead of 95. She immediately probed on why 90 versus 95 and how I would decide those numbers. That was one of the few times in the process where I had to get very concrete on metric rationale instead of staying high level.
What if that still does not work?
I said I would reach out, give a reasonable timeline, look for a compromise schedule, and even provide resources if that would help unblock them. She kept probing with what if it still is not working out, and I was getting a little panicked because I had already laid out my answer. I eventually reframed it around teamwork and not forcing something that hurts the bigger picture. Later I asked what Apple was looking for there, and the answer was basically that if the other team has higher priorities, you may need to back out.
This one was straightforward. I talked about how I partner with design and the tools I use to stay aligned. It felt like the interviewer was more junior and this was more about whether I could work smoothly as a peer with the team than about trying to challenge me.
What questions do you have for me?
My hiring manager came back as part of the loop and literally asked me zero interview questions. The whole 30 minutes was just me asking about the role, responsibilities, and anything she had mentioned earlier. Luckily I had enough questions ready, so it was easy to keep the conversation going, but it was definitely not normal.
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