Facebook TPM (Technical Program Manager) Interview Guide
Read our guide on what to expect in the Facebook interview and how to prepare.Want to land your dream job as a Facebook technical program manager (TPM)? Don't interview for Facebook until you finish reading our guide to Facebook TPM interviewing. Facebook's interview process is known to be highly competitive, given its prominent position in the tech ecosystem.
In this guide, we'll examine frequently asked questions about the Facebook interview process, including hiring criteria and tips to succeed in the interview.
Technical program management at Facebook is incredibly rewarding, with its huge scale and mission to connect billions of users across the world.
Interview Process
Typically, there are 3 rounds of interviews for Facebook TPM roles: recruiter, phone, and onsite.
On average, candidates will hear back from phone interviews within a week or two. Similarly, after the on-site interview, Facebook may take up to two weeks to return the results to you. Once you pass the on-site interview, expect the process to actually sign and negotiate the offer to be even longer as you get the paperwork all completed.
Recruiter
A recruiter will first call you to understand your motivations and qualifications for the role. Why do you want to work at Facebook as a TPM? Be prepared to talk about your past experiences. This call will be used to ensure you're good at communicating. The recruiter will also be looking for signs that you're a decent person to work with.
Your recruiter may also review your resume with you to ensure you have a technical program management background and an interest in technology. While technical skills are not a requirement for Facebook interviews, it's important to display technical interest to your recruiter.
Phone
Next, you will have a phone interview with a current technical program manager at Facebook. You will get roughly 45-50 minutes to complete either a product sense or execution question, followed by a 5-10 minute Q&A opportunity. In some cases, you may receive two phone interviews.
On-site
Following the phone interview is the final on-site. A typical on-site interview consists of five rounds focused on the five fundamental interview areas for Facebook TPMs: technical project retrospective, architecture & system design, program sense, partnership, and leadership (more on this in the next section). Note that the leadership/behavioral round only appears in a full loop onsite interview, not the phone interview. From these five fundamental areas, Facebook is looking to evaluate your candidacy on three axes: program management, leadership ability, and technical depth.
Exponent members have mentioned they’re often tested in multiple dimensions through the interview. Facebook PM interviews can vary widely, but you can be assured that Facebook does generally stick to the five interview types.
Each interview will take roughly 45-50 minutes with 5-10 minutes at the end to answer any questions you may have.
Follow-up Interview
In some cases, particularly where Facebook is unsure about your candidacy, Facebook may ask for a follow-up interview on a specific interview type. Don't fear - this means that you're close to a successful offer! Since this one interview can be very high leverage, we almost always recommend booking a mock interview (or three!) with Exponent to prepare - you don't want to miss out on being this close to an offer!
Sample Interview Questions
Facebook's technical program management (TPM) interviews consist of five fundamental areas, listed below. You'll be interviewed by TPMs, but also product managers and software engineers.
Technical Project Retrospective
In the Facebook TPM technical project restrospective interview, you'll go "deeper" with a Facebook TPM to solve an ambiguous problem outside of your experience. You'll be tested on your ability to navigate the problem, communicate effectively, and handling technical constraints.
Facebook recommends preparing by reviewing relevant technical fundamentals. You can start by going to our system design fundamentals module in our course..
Treat this interview more like a conversation - understand what the interviewer is looking for, and how you can help work together toward a solution. Be sure to diagram where appropriate, and do back-hand estimates of cost, time, etc.
Architecture & System Design
Facebook TPM technical interviews involve meeting with engineering managers and technical leads to assess your technical acumen. Can you work on highly technical projects? Can you handle making decisions about technical tradeoffs? How would you handle scenarios where you need to collect more information?
These questions often involve heavy knowledge of system design concepts, so be sure to review those before the interview.
Here is a list of common Facebook system design interview questions.
To prepare for the technical interviews, review our TPM interview course system design section and software engineering interview course at a high-level. Are there areas you're weaker in? Focus more prep to review technical concepts and prepare for the interview.
Program Sense
The Facebook TPM program sense interivew tests your general TPM capabilities, such as your ability to manage risks, deadlines, changes, and requirements. These questions are the bread and butter of being a techincal program manager, and you'll rely heavily on your previous experience with technical program management.
Here is a list of program sense questions recently asked at Facebook.
Facebook is looking for your ability to define roadmap milestones, balance between risk and resources, support those around you, and handling difficult situations.
To prepare for these questions, review some of the questions in our TPM interview prep course's program sense section.
Partnership
These Facebook TPM interview questions focus on cross-functional collaboration, a core aspect of technical program management. Typically, these questions are focused on your previous experience with cross-functional work, so it's helpful to come in with a few examples prepared.
Facebook is looking for how you build relationships, get buy-in from peers, and address difficult personal challenges.
Here is a list of behavioral questions recently asked at Facebook.
Leadership & Team Collaboration
While the previous section on partnership focuses on cross-functional collaboration, these Facebook TPM interview questions focus more on how you operate within a team, such as resolving difficult team dynamics and working through challenges.
Facebook is looking to understand your leadership style and experiences with teams.
Here is a list of behavioral questions recently asked at Facebook.
Facebook recommends preparing by reflecting on your experiences beforehand. We recommend creating your personal story bank so that you can come in the interview with clear examples you can speak from. Specifically, focus on brainstorming stories with traits you think your interviewer might ask you about.
Facebook Values
Before your interview be sure to review Facebook's five core values. Specifically, as you think of examples of your experiences, try to map them to these values as much as you can.
- Move Fast: How have you found the shortest path to launch? How did this accelerate your learning?
- Be Bold: Be transparent about your successes and failures - Facebook likes candidates who are willing to take risks and be wrong.
- Focus on Impact: How do you prioritize your work to be as impactful as possible?
- Be Open: Facebook focuses on an inclusive, open world - which boils down to teams too. How are you inclusive in your team in a way that brings about the best outcome?
- Build Social Value: Facebook cares about products that create a more human world.