Uber Engineering Manager (EM) Interview Guide

Engineering managers (EMs) play a pivotal role in big tech, leading engineering teams to build innovative solutions that impact the global landscape.

At Uber, EMs collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, and other engineering teams to build both internal and external solutions. As an Uber EM, you might work on Uber’s Grocery product or in the pricing org. You could work on optimizing the deployment experience or on a team creating internal tools.

Wherever you end up, you’ll be responsible for building, mentoring, and managing a high-impact team of engineers. Below, we explain in detail what EMs do at Uber and how best to prepare for the Uber engineering manager interview.

What does an Uber EM do?

In short, EMs oversee teams of software engineers. Much of the job consists of project planning, connecting team members with the appropriate resources, collecting and projecting escalations when needed, and properly delegating the team.

In addition to day-to-day project management, EMs are responsible for longer-term planning. Every six months, Uber’s EMs gather to map out prioritized lists of all programs and projects and work through headcount considerations and resourcing.

Although this role is technical in nature, a current EM shared with Exponent, “As an engineering manager, you don't need to know all the nitty-gritty details of the software. But you need to understand it enough to know what is feasible in the short and long term, and what can be implemented technically.”

Uber Engineering consists of three main teams. These are:

• Core services: Core Services Engineering develops and manages the commerce platforms that power all Uber apps. Operating across 70+ countries and processing millions of transactions per second, the team works to meet the evolving needs of Uber's current and future businesses.
• Platform: Platform Engineering is the foundation behind every Uber team and product, creating the essential infrastructure to run our distributed systems, scaled services, and mobile apps—from monitoring, deployment, and language systems, to provisioning open source software.
• Mobility and Delivery: The Mobility and Delivery Tech team enables riders, consumers, couriers, and merchants to seamlessly connect to the Uber platform with the click of a button. This team launches new and innovative features by leveraging AI and ML, delivers large-scale platform capabilities to improve user and business operations, seamlessly integrates with third parties, and delivers the best user experience across our services.

Engineering teams are further broken up into sub-teams, or “orgs,” including:

• Ads
• Communications Platform
• Courier Pricing
• Delivery Platform
• Deploy Experience
• Enterprise Identity
• Flash & Direct
• Grocery
• Programming Systems
• Risk
• Trusted Identity

As an EM, your day-to-day responsibilities depend on which org you support. Some teams are product-focused, while others are more global in scope and backend-focused. For example, as a Grocery EM, you’ll lead a product-focused team to build new shopping tools. As an EM on the Deploy Experience team, you’ll focus on building internal cloud-like tools for managing Uber’s globally distributed system.

No matter the team, you will:

• Contribute to product vision while aligning team goals with organizational strategy.
• Hire, mentor, and lead a team of software engineers and specialists, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Work closely with other engineering teams, product managers, and other teams across Uber to understand their deployment needs and challenges, ensuring that our offerings meet their requirements.

Before you apply, check out the openings on Uber’s careers page to ensure the role(s) you apply for are a good fit for your experience.

What are the typical job requirements for an Uber EM?

Generally, Uber EMs are required to have:

• Technical experience. Recent postings require a minimum of 5 years of experience in software development to make informed decisions on architecture, design, and technology choices.
• Leadership experience. This can vary. Some postings require at least 3 years of experience leading engineering teams with a good track record for delivering high-quality projects on time. However, you may be able to get away with less direct management experience if you can show evidence of your ability to lead and mentor others successfully.
• A data-driven mindset. Experience selecting metrics and using data to guide decision-making is crucial, as you’ll use these insights to improve the efficiency of your projects or those of your team.

Engineering management is a great mid-career move for engineers who are interested in giving the management career track a try. Uber is known to be flexible on requirements if your career has been non-traditional. If you have a proven track record of technical excellence and leadership experience, you are strongly encouraged to apply.

Preferred qualifications listed on Uber’s careers page tend to include similar items regardless of org. Here are some examples:

• Experience building engineering tools and products at a large scale, at the intersection of multiple teams across various fields (security, compliance, product management, product, etc.)
• Experience communicating with users, other technical teams, and management to collect requirements and describe software product features and technical designs
• Ability to contribute to the strategy of the organization, aligning team objectives with company goals
• Experience in using data to inform strategic planning and prioritization, ensuring that we continue to solve the most impactful business and user needs

Recommendations before you apply for Uber EM roles

• Understand Uber’s company culture. The EM we spoke to reports that Uber’s culture is rigorous and intense: “It's very fast-paced and people are stretched pretty thin.” Employees sometimes compare the culture to Amazon’s, as Uber’s CEO and CTO admire the structure and culture at Amazon. Knowing that not all candidates suit this environment, Uber’s recruiters and interviewer look for drive and the ability to self-motivate.
• Emphasize impact on your resume. Your resume is the perfect way to demonstrate your capabilities, and at Uber, you’re expected to make use of data. Review your resume to make sure you can tell a coherent, compelling story around all the experiences listed, and why you’re an ideal candidate. Use numbers to make your stories real. For example, list “Improved [feature] by [X]%” instead of “improved [feature].”
• Practice with mock interviews. Exponent's coaching services are your best friend. Don’t limit your pool of mock partners to other EMs and peers in tech—grab a non-tech friend and describe the most recent project you worked on.
• Lean on your community. Find a few Uber EMs on Exponent or LinkedIn and ask them about their experiences. They may be able to give firsthand insight on their interview experience and are great sources of information and support.

Interview Process

The hiring process at Uber is fairly decentralized, so different orgs have some autonomy over their processes. Therefore, your interview process may vary depending on what team you interview with.

That said, the standard interview process for Uber EMs typically includes:

• A recruiter phone screen to assess general fit (30 minutes)
• A technical phone screen with a hiring manager or tech lead to identify any red flags that would prevent you from moving onto the onsite (60 minutes)
• An interview loop of 4-5 hour-long rounds centered around technical skills and people management, as well as interviews on any niche topics your prospective role works on, such as AI

After the interview loop, interviewers will debrief and make their hiring decisions. You may be asked to schedule an additional interview if interviewers don’t feel they have enough information to make a decision, but this is rare.

It’s also possible to receive offers for an engineering role of a different level. Some candidates have reported getting an offer for a senior software engineer. However, if your interview is stellar, it’s also possible you may be offered a senior engineering manager role.

Note that if you successfully get hired at Uber, the internal transfer track is much more lightweight than the full loop listed above. If you’re an Uber software engineer looking to transition to engineering manager, consider beginning an exploratory conversation with your manager. They’ll be able to give you guidance on how to build leadership experience and prepare for management while making introductions for you.

If you’re looking for a completely lateral move—say, into a different org—you may have a simple conversation with a hiring manager to see what your experience is and how you might be an asset.

Phone Screens

The first step in Uber’s interview process will be two phone screens. The first is with a recruiter, and the second is with the hiring manager or someone very familiar with the role. These screenings are your chance to share why you’d be a great match for Uber and how you’ve successfully led technical teams in the past.

You won’t face heavily technical questions in either screening. Instead, expect questions about your experience, your motivation for applying at Uber, and what makes you the right fit for the job. Check out Uber’s mission, values, and commitments, and weave these values into your responses to position yourself as a stand-out candidate.

Here are some common screening questions:

Interview Loop

If you pass both phone screens, you’ll move on to Uber’s interview loop.

Since most Uber employees are expected to work from an office half-time (unless explicitly approved for 100% remote work), you may be called in for an onsite interview loop. However, an entirely virtual interviewing experience is also possible.

The EM loop consists of 4-5 interviews. The exact breakdown varies by team, but here’s what you can expect:

• At least 1-2 technical interviews that take a deep dive into your experience
  • The two most common types of technical interviews revolve around coding and system design. However, these interviews vary widely at Uber because each team has autonomy in their hiring process.
• A people management interview, possibly conducted by a bar raiser
• A “specialization” interview depending on the unique role you’re interviewing for

Let’s look at each round in more depth.

Coding

Candidates report that coding interviews at Uber are, for the most part, thoughtful and challenging. Interviewers like to dive deep into your experience with data structures and algorithms. You may also be asked some behavioral-leaning technical questions, like “Describe the most complex algorithm you’ve had to explain to a cross-functional partner.”

Typically, you’ll be given a question such as “Swap the values in a linked list.” Expect to code your solution in CoderPad (or a similar tool) while articulating your thought process.

To ace coding rounds, we recommend solving many practice problems. Some EMs who have been in management for a long time may be rusty in their coding skills; be sure to budget time to brush up before the onsite.

Start by reviewing common data structures such as:

• Graphs and Trees
• Arrays
• Linked Lists
• Stacks and Queues
• Hash Tables

Then review key algorithms:

• Sorting Algorithms
• Binary Search
• Graph Search
• Recursion
• Dynamic Programming

You’ll have an hour total to scope the problem, design and code your solution, test, and answer interviewer followups. Time yourself as you practice, and try to reduce your active coding time to 30-40 minutes. If you’re less familiar with coding interviews, it can be helpful to watch others to get a sense of how they tend to go.

You can watch software engineers at Google, Meta, and Microsoft work through common coding questions below:

• Generate Parentheses
• Minimum Window Substring
• Buy and Sell Stock

Then try your hand at these sample problems:

• Find Largest Smaller BST Key
• Shortest Cell Path
• Build a Basic Regex Parser

System Design

You may not get a coding round as an EM, but you will almost certainly face a system design round. Uber interviewers are looking for designs that:

• Consider the holistic Uber architecture. You should always aim to design scalable, reliable, and efficient systems, but the bar is higher for EM candidates than it is for software engineers. Be sure to consider the end-user experience at every stage, carefully articulate design tradeoffs, and spend time on edge cases.
• Scale realistically. Spend time upfront thinking through the expected behavior of the system you’re designing. For instance, consider: How many users will it support on an everyday basis? What about daily, seasonal, or unexpected spikes? Uber offers a case study on its surge pricing model—read it to get a sense of the types of challenges you may face as an EM when shipping products.
• Are easy to understand. Your communication skills are being tested, even during technical rounds. Throughout your interview, ask yourself: How would I explain this to a non-technical colleague? Practice answering system design questions in simple language but also prepare to go deep when prompted.

With these design considerations in mind, here are some examples of systems design questions commonly asked of engineering managers:

You’re encouraged to be creative with your approach here, but if you need some guidance for getting started, we recommend following this 5-step framework:

Follow this 5-step framework to ace your system design round at Uber:

• First, define the problem. Ask clarifying questions until you thoroughly understand the task and have a concrete set of requirements.
• Then design a high-level system. Start simple and expand later if needed.
• Deep dive into the component-level decisions. Explain each component choice, the APIs, and the data model. Whiteboard your design, articulating your thought process throughout.
• Identify bottlenecks and scale your system.
• Finally, review your design. Run through your requirements again, suggest any changes you’d make given more information, summarize tradeoffs, and answer any questions.

People Management

Because team leadership is so critical to the EM role, you will face a behavioral round specifically focused on your leadership abilities. Likely, a bar raiser responsible for ensuring that Uber raises the bar with every new hire will hold this interview, but you may simply chat with the hiring manager.

In this round, the interviewer asks a mix of purely behavioral questions and technical retrospective questions. Expect to touch on your approach to performance management, how you motivate a team, and your personal management philosophy. Prepare for behavioral questions like:

• What was your experience in having to compete on resources with other teams?
• Describe your management philosophy.
• Describe the worst manager you’ve ever had.
• What career achievement are you most proud of?

Some interviewees report that they’re asked if they’d be alright with firing the bottom-performing 20% of their team each year. This is a tricky question for many, so give it some thought before going into this round.

Because team and project management are core EM skills as well, you can expect some technical or project-leaning behavioral questions as well, such as:

• Describe your process for deciding when to put an engineer on a PIP (performance improvement plan).
• How do you manage upstream/downstream dependencies?
• How do you manage project risk?

To prepare for behavioral interviews, read Uber’s mission and core values:

• Go get it. Bring the mindset of a champion.
• Trip obsessed. Make magic in the marketplace.
• Build with heart. We care.
• Stand for safety. Safety never stops
• See the forest and the trees. Know the details that matter.
• One Uber. Bet on something bigger.
• Great minds don’t think alike. Diversity makes us stronger.
• Do the right thing. Period.

We then recommend creating a story bank of experiences that speak to these values. As you create your story bank, ask yourself these questions to ensure you’re in alignment.

• When have I taken action despite ambiguity?
• When have I gone above and beyond to create something truly magical?
• When have I “built with heart” despite external constraints like a shoestring budget, or a tight deadline?
• How have I prioritized safety, in the products that I’ve worked on, or in the ways I manage my team?
• When have I successfully navigated high-level strategy and detail-oriented execution?
• When have I personally advocated for diversity or encouraged alternative views?
• How do I know that I’m doing the right thing? How can I communicate that to others?

Specialization

This is an optional interview depending on the technological niche you’ll be working in. Questions will likely be tailored to the role you’re applying for and your background.

For example, if you’re interviewing with an org that heavily uses AI or requires you to build generative AI projects, you could expect questions that probe your understanding of how AI is evolving in that niche. Potential questions include:

• Where do you think generative AI is headed within the year?
• What are the implications for any pending legislation or impending disruption?
• What trends are you most excited about?
• How you would go about planning a generative AI project?

Review the job posting for the role you’re applying for and prepare to connect it to your experience and any relevant projects you’ve worked on.

Tips and Strategies

• Prepare for the bar raiser interview. Read up on what the bar raiser means to Uber, and its history at Amazon for background. Each bar raiser at Uber has their way of assessing fit, so the best way to prepare is to make sure your story aligns with Uber’s values and culture of excellence.
• Practice “Tell me about a time when…” questions. These are opportunities to guide the conversation toward an experience that’s meaningful to you. Interviewers are looking for you to articulate a meaningful story that is within the scope of your level and clearly shows you handling a situation properly.
• If you notice repeat questions, let interviewers know so you can offer more helpful information. According to a current EM with experience interviewing candidates, Uber’s interviewers rarely debrief or discuss amongst themselves before your interview loop. Because of this, separate interviewers may ask a single candidate the same questions. Consider this an opportunity to redirect the interview and provide more helpful information about your background. For example, if you’re asked a duplicate question, you could say, “[Interviewer] and I covered that earlier, and I’m happy to repeat my response to you. But if there’s something else you want to ask, I’d love to answer it.”
• Prepare to offer a thought-out opinion on core products. Uber won’t ask detailed questions specific to its products, but it doesn’t hurt to do some research for the product your prospective team works on. Interviewers may ask an open-ended question like “What do you think of Uber Grocery?” Do some research in advance so you can give a meaningful answer that demonstrates a solid understanding of Uber and its mission.

Additional Resources

• Uber’s Hiring Process
• Uber Software Engineer Interview Guide
• Top Uber Engineering Manager Interview Questions
• Top Uber Software Engineer Interview Questions
• Uber’s newsroom
• Uber’s Careers Blog
• Uber’s Engineering Blog
• Engineering Levels and Salaries at Uber (Levels.FYI)

FAQs

• Are Uber interviews in person or virtual? Generally, the recruiter call and initial screening are virtual, while the full loop might be onsite or virtual. This varies depending on role, location, and other factors.
• Can I interview again if I’m rejected? Uber doesn’t appear to have a set policy on this, so candidates are welcome to reapply. It may be beneficial to wait a few months while studying for the interview or to wait until you’ve had a chance to build new and relevant experience.