This guide was written with the help of product manager interviewers at Verily.
Imagine a thousand health data points (of real people) being ingested, and analyzed by ethical AI models, which further leads to the birth of personalized health interventions. Sounds like magic? But this is exactly what Verily offers with its platform.
Verily is remodeling the way life sciences researchers, care providers, and the general public look at and consume health data. An Alphabet-owned company, it’s on a mission to bring precision health to everyone, every day.
The company, which has about 1,500 employees, boasts a culture of simplicity, resourcefulness, and building over talking. Verily employees are called Veeps and often come from different walks of life, including (but not limited to) medicine, science, and technology. Fellow Veeps say they value “people who look out of windows, and not into mirrors.”
🍏 Fun Fact: Verily was born in 2015 as a moonshot to Google X. It was originally known as Google Life Sciences.
PMs at Verily operate at this complex intersection of technology, data science, and health care. Currently, Verily has 6 core product offerings, where PMs work:
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Each PM role at Verily varies in its day-to-day tasks, depending on the particular vertical. That said, all PMs research user and market needs, define requirements, and shape the technical product roadmap. They collaborate cross-functionally with designers, engineers, data scientists, and legal teams to launch impactful data products. Additionally, they monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate product success.
The users for Verily’s suite of products are vastly different—from clinical researchers, biomedical scientists, and chronic illness patients—to data providers and public health organizations. Familiarize and understand the user when you apply for a particular PM role or vertical.
Let’s dive into a few examples of what different PMs at Verily work on:
Verily PMs are versatile, smart, and highly autonomous. To excel at Verily, PMs need to balance two core principles: strategic thinking and product execution.
Truth: Verily has a strong team concept, where PMs are expected to be more process-oriented (think— sprints, tracking tickets, SLAs, and goals), and a lot of the structures and frameworks have been borrowed directly from Google.
The PM interview loop at Verily involves a total of 6 conversations with different stakeholders. It looks like:
The interview process is standard for all PM roles, irrespective of team and seniority.
🍏 Fun Fact: Like its parent company Google, Verily takes its company values seriously. It even has an acronym for its inclusive practices—VIBE, which stands for Verily’s Culture of Inclusion, Belonging, and Equitability.
The round is an introductory 30-minute chat with the HR recruiter. Expect a lot of questions about your previous PM stints, industry experience, and motivation to join the company.
Unlike other recruiter screens, which are only level-setting, these calls aim to get a strong pulse for your PM candidacy. So, be sure to highlight your interests and match them with the job description.
Sample questions:
In this 45-minute round, the hiring manager round asks a mix of behavioral, problem-solving, and technical questions. Team matching also happens at this stage.
The conversation usually kicks off with a quick explanation about the product, the role, and the possible challenges a Verily PM faces. Expect a shallow dive into your PM journey, including your interests, learnings, and obstacles as a PM with a few technical follow-ups.
Sample questions:
To shine in this round, research the company and the biomedical health-tech space thoroughly. Use your research insights to offer possible solutions and the larger direction that Verily can take. Hiring managers appreciate pro-activeness and this could be a game changer for you, if it aligns with the company’s overall strategy.
The round is led by a senior UX Designer. The interviewer wants to evaluate your design sense and cross-functional communication skills. While you wouldn’t be asked to “design X product or feature,” you’d be assessed on your knowledge of design principles like accessibility, localization, and design hierarchy, among others.
Sample questions:
Cross-functional rounds at Verily are also implicit culture-fit screens. It has 20 company values that they seek in a candidate, and each interviewer is assigned a particular value they will assess you on. Their 3 biggest values are:
Usually, a senior PM conducts the product sense screen. The scope for this round is both broad and deep. For instance, you’ll have a product and design sense case study, along with a variety of analytical and product strategy questions. The interviewer might ask you questions within the healthcare domain, especially if the job description explicitly outlines it.
Sample questions:
🍏 Anecdote from an interviewer at Verily: “The interview rounds at Verily are not as case-study heavy as Google and have a more human aspect to them.”
You’ll be interviewed by a principal engineer for this round. It includes surface-level technical questions based on your job role. The interviewer aims to also assess your technical decision-making approach and how well you work with engineers. You will not be asked to code.
Sample questions:
For instance, if you’re interviewing for a PM who primarily works with APIs, expect the following questions:
This is the final round in the interview loop, where you chat with the technical lead. The questions will be rooted in technical know-how, delving deep into your domain and specific product. The interviewer will also assess you on your collaboration and problem-solving skills. Senior candidates in this round should display product execution prowess compared to more junior candidates.
Sample questions:
To excel at the Verily PM interview, make sure you:
The average total compensation for a Verily PM is:
The whole interview loop lasts between 4–6 weeks on average. Sometimes, it can also take up to 2 months.
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