Managerial Interview Process for High-Level Design Roles

In the last 15 years, I’ve interviewed at Google, Microsoft, Paytm, Amazon, and dozens of startups.  And no matter the company, the interview pattern rarely changes.  Here’s what to expect in 99% of product-based company interviews:   1. Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)   Time: 45-60 minutes  What happens:   - Solve 1-2 DSA problems within the time limit.   - Write optimal, bug-free code that actually runs.   - Explain time & space complexity for every approach.   - Be prepared to handle edge cases, one miss can cost you.  DSA is usually the first filter. If you fail here, you don’t move forward.   2. System Design / High-Level Design (HLD)  Time: 60-90 minutes  What happens:   - You get an open-ended system design problem.   - Explain the architecture, database modeling, and API contracts.   - Think about scalability, performance, and fault tolerance.   - No coding, just whiteboarding & deep technical discussions.  There’s no single correct answer, what matters is how you think and justify your design.   3. Low-Level Design (LLD)  Time: 60-90 minutes  What happens:   - You get a generic feature to design - (like a parking lot system, ATM, or rate limiter).   - Define classes, attributes, and interactions.   - Follow SOLID principles and avoid redundant data.   - Sometimes, you’ll need to write actual code based on the discussion.  Good design choices can make or break your interview.   4. Machine Coding Round (MC)  Time: 90-180 minutes  What happens:   - Build a working solution for a given problem, this isn’t about theory anymore.   - Write executable, maintainable code for at least one core functionality.   - Follow best practices, clean code, SOLID, design patterns, error handling.   - Your code should be flexible enough for modifications (they might ask you to extend functionality).  5. Managerial Discussion   Time: 45-60 minutes  What happens:   - Deep dive into your past projects, expect follow-up questions.   - How did you solve challenges? What was your impact?   - Situational questions (answered best with the STAR method).   - You’re evaluated on ownership, leadership, and decision-making.  This round is not just about tech, it’s about how you work and think.   6. Cultural Fit Round   Time: 30-45 minutes  What happens:   - How well do you align with the company’s values & culture?   - Expect behavioral questions (e.g., “Tell me about a time you handled conflict”).   - Be honest, don’t make up stories to fit the values.  You can clear every technical round and still get rejected here.     Also, Some companies include:   - Concurrency discussions (how to handle multi-threading & parallelism).   - Pair programming (coding in real-time with an interviewer).   - Take-home assignments (especially in startups).  But for most product-based companies, these six rounds are the standard.  

🎯 Don’t just prep for interviews. Map the decision-makers - and tailor your message for each one. This is where strong candidates become the clear choice. Because here’s the truth: Most people prep for the questions. Top performers prep for the audience. 👇 Here’s how: 👤 1. The Recruiter What they care about: → Are you qualified on paper and in person? → Are you aligned with salary and expectations? What to highlight: ✅ Relevant titles, skills, company types ✅ Clear communication and professionalism ✅ No red flags, good culture fit 💬 Example: “I’ve worked in similar fast-paced environments and understand the expectations around stakeholder management and delivery speed.” 👤 2. The Hiring Manager What they care about: → Can you solve their problems? → Will you make their life easier? What to highlight: ✅ Business results tied to your function ✅ Thought process behind decisions ✅ Experience with similar challenges 💬 Example: “When I joined X, we were struggling with [similar pain point]. I led [strategy] which resulted in [outcome] - and freed up my manager to focus on strategic work.” 👤 3. Cross-Functional Peers (Product, Ops, Finance) What they care about: → Will you collaborate well? → Do you understand their world? What to highlight: ✅ Communication style ✅ Experience working across silos ✅ Empathy and clarity 💬 Example: “I partnered closely with Finance to redesign our forecasting model - that alignment helped us prioritize more accurately and cut wasted spend by 18%.” 👤 4. Senior Leadership (VPs, C-level) What they care about: → Do you think like a leader? → Can you represent us externally and internally? What to highlight: ✅ Strategic thinking ✅ Business acumen ✅ Executive presence 💬 Example: “When our team hit a ceiling with user growth, I reframed the goal - shifting from acquisition to retention - and drove a cross-functional initiative that lifted net retention by 12 points.” 🧭 The mindset shift: - Don't prep the same way for every round. - Prep with stakeholder influence in mind. They’re not just evaluating your answers. They’re deciding: Can I see this person leading here, with us? 💬 Which type of stakeholder do you find most challenging to connect with in interviews? Follow me for more advanced job search strategies that help experienced professionals stand out - not burn out.

A director-level interview isn't 'just' a conversation. It's a demonstration that you're ready now. Here is how to walk in prepared. The best candidates treat the 3-4 days before an interview like a mission brief. They show up knowing the business, knowing the room, and knowing exactly what they want out of the discussion. Here's the checklist I use with executive clients when they get tagged for an interview. 1. RESEARCH - Read the company's most recent earnings data or annual reports - Know the company's top 3 strategic priorities for the year - Understand exactly who their customer is - Research your interviewers on LinkedIn - Study the job description line by line. Map your experience to every key qualification - Learn the principles and philosophies that govern their culture - Know their top 2-3 competitors - Find recent news. Acquisitions, launches, layoffs, leadership changes - Understand the company's financial health or funding stage 2. PREPARE - Prepare a crisp Tell Me About Yourself story. 90 seconds. Outcome-led - Have 10-15 STAR stories ready covering leadership, conflict, failure, and scale - Prepare answers for: - Why this company. Why this role. Why now - Know your comp target and walk-away number before you walk in - Have 5 strong questions ready. Calibrated to each interviewer's level and scope - Practice out loud at least 2-3 times. Record yourself. Ask for feedback - Prepare your biggest weakness answer with evidence of self-awareness and growth - Know the names and titles of everyone you are meeting in advance 3. WEAR - Dress one level above the company culture. When in doubt, overdress - Look at photos of employees and leaders on LinkedIn. Match the energy, then go one step above - Avoid anything distracting or anything that could create unintended bias - Keep cologne and perfume minimal. Conference rooms are small - Check for lint, pet hair, and stains the night before - Wear something comfortable and forgettable. Your clothes should not be the story 4. BRING - Printed copies of your resume. One per interviewer plus 2-3 extras - A printed copy of the job description with your notes and highlights - A printed copy of the company's leadership principles or culture policies - A professional padfolio with blank paper for notes - A reliable pen. Not a free promotional pen with a distracting logo - A printed list of professional references if not already submitted - Government-issued ID in case the building requires a security check-in - Your confirmation email with names, titles, and room information Save this list for when you need it. Share with others who have interviews coming up!

At the Director level and above, hiring teams already assume you can do the job. What they’re really deciding is whether they trust you to lead at scale. Executive presence is often misunderstood. It’s not about confidence tricks, polished phrases, or dominating the room. It’s about how you think out loud when the stakes are real. In senior interviews, presence shows up in three ways: Clarity over completeness. Strong leaders don’t explain everything they’ve ever done. They choose one or two moments that demonstrate judgment, trade-offs, and impact. Ownership language. Not because they did everything themselves, but because they take accountability for outcomes. “I led.” “I decided.” “I aligned.” That signals maturity instantly. Comfort with ambiguity. At senior levels, the path is rarely clear. Hiring teams listen closely for steadiness — not certainty — when information is incomplete. The most overlooked part? Executive presence isn’t performed. It’s demonstrated through restraint. You answer. You pause. You let your words stand. Because leaders don’t influence through volume. They influence through clarity. And at the Director level and above, clarity is what earns trust.

I thought it might be helpful to share what I’m seeing repeatedly in interviews right now and what companies are actually optimizing for in top candidates. A few questions that keep coming up: “Tell me about something you built from nothing.” Not inherited. Not optimized. Built. “What do you do when there’s no structure?” Because most companies right now don’t need maintenance operators. They need people who can create clarity in chaos. “How do you influence without authority?” Everyone wants high-agency people. Very few can operate cross-functionally without titles. “What’s your relationship with feedback?” Translation: do you get defensive or do you get better? “What’s something you owned that failed?” Not polished failure. Real accountability. “How do you prioritize when everything feels important?” This comes up constantly in hypergrowth environments. “Why this mission specifically?” Mission alignment is becoming less of a buzzword and more of a filter. Especially with founders. At a high level, leaders are optimizing for: - resilience - speed - judgment - communication - autonomy - emotional steadiness - and the ability to execute without constant supervision And I know this can all sound like common sense... until you’re in the interview giving vague answers with no real examples and that momentum gets lost. The people standing out right now are the ones who can clearly articulate: - what they did - how they think - how they operate under pressure - and how they move through ambiguity. Ultimately, leaders are trying to answer one question: “Can this person help us build without becoming the bottleneck?”

Ryan Babiuch asked me about my #interview process. I was planning to write an article about this, but rather than just replying to his post, I thought it would be helpful to post my response here. When I interview a candidate for a #softwareengineering or #architecture role, I usually ask the candidate to design something based on a deliberately ill-defined problem. For example, “Design Twitter” - just that. Very open-ended, and with many unknowns (right CJ Barker?) Candidates often try to impress the interviewer by immediately trying to provide the best possible answer. This is impossible. If a candidate immediately jumps to design, that’s a concern. I want to see behaviors like these: 1. The candidate takes time to understand the problem and asks thoughtful clarifying questions.  2. They recognize, and ideally state, that there is no “right answer”. 3. When I (deliberately) make an incorrect statement, they’re not afraid to call me on it. 4. They can talk me through their design process, explaining the options they’re considering, and why they chose a particular one. 5. When they run into ambiguity, they ask me for clarification rather than making assumptions. 6. If they realize they made a poor decision earlier, they’re not afraid to admit it, backtrack, and move forward with a better choice. 7. They explain how they would validate their design with others, stating what kind of artifacts they’d produce for this purpose (e.g., an architecture diagram) and the categories of people they’d loop in. 8. When asked to map their design onto possible technology choices, they can enumerate them and talk about the pros and cons of their choices. 9. Since this is a whiteboard exercise, I want to see a completed and understandable design at the end of the process. 10. If they don’t know something, they freely admit it. 11. When I through a curveball that invalidates their design, they can pivot. Most of all, I want it to be a conversation, like we’re working on the solution together. I’m not only looking for solid technical decisions and a solution that might have a chance of working, but also how they communicate and collaborate. I never ask a software engineer candidate to write code. That’s like asking an author how to construct a paper book. You won’t learn anything about their creative process that way. Before setting the technical problem, I like to check to see how nervous the candidate is. If they seem anxious, I’ll spend more time just shooting the breeze and getting them to laugh. Nobody can give their best performance when they’re nervous, so my goal is to get them to a place where they can give their best. Finally, I’m known for reserving 10 minutes (or more) at the end of the interview to turn the tables and tell the candidate that they can “ask me anything”. I make a commitment to answer every question candidly, even things about the company or culture that I don’t like.

You can’t land Director positions if you are interviewing like a Manager. Here are 3 key differences I share with my clients in Director Week which are critical to level up your mindset and start interviewing like a Director. 1. Strategic Vision vs. Tactical Execution: Manager Mindset: You focus on how you handle day-to-day operations, manage team productivity, and execute tasks. The emphasis is on tactical execution and immediate problem-solving. Director Mindset: You focus on your ability to think strategically. You’ll need to demonstrate your capacity for long-term planning, vision setting, and aligning departmental goals with the overall business strategy. Expect questions about how you’ve influenced company direction, developed strategic initiatives, and managed cross-functional projects. 2. Leadership and Influence vs. Team Management: Manager Role: You’ll be asked about how you manage your team, delegate tasks, and ensure that your team meets its objectives. The focus is on your direct leadership and supervisory skills. Director Role: The expectation is that you’ll lead not just your team, but influence other departments and senior leadership. You’ll need to show your ability to inspire, mentor, and lead multiple teams or departments, and how you’ve driven organizational change. Questions might delve into your experience with stakeholder management and your ability to drive collaboration and consensus at higher levels. 3. Business Impact and Metrics vs. Team Performance: Manager Role: Questions will revolve around how you track and improve team performance, handle conflicts, and meet project deadlines. You might discuss KPIs related to team efficiency and output. Director Role: The interview will likely focus on your understanding of business metrics and your ability to impact the company's bottom line. You’ll need to articulate how your initiatives have driven revenue growth, cost savings, or other critical business outcomes. Be prepared to discuss how you’ve used data to make high-level business decisions and how you measure the success of strategic initiatives. In my new coaching intensive, Director Week, you will get your Director Interview Success Kit. I reframe your experience to scream “Director” and help you select 7 leadership stories from your experience that showcase strategic vision, business impact and metrics, and leadership and influence. This also includes mock interview recordings, the key skills you need to focus on, and your checklist for doing a thorough company research tailored to your role. Within a week you will also have: - Director Resume  - Director Interview Success Kit - Strategic Follow Up Plan  - Job Tracker & Information interview Tracker  - Templates for messaging hiring managers Ready to get promoted and increase your salary by 10k-30k this year? Book your free sales call by clicking the link in the comments to learn more about the program.  #ManagerToDirector #CareerCoach #InterviewTips

We’re at lunch. You say, “My interviews keep fizzling.” I slide over a napkin and say, “Do this instead.” Think of the JD as the menu. Read it for outcomes, not chores. Circle the three results they care about. For example shipping on schedule, reducing incidents, lifting activation. Underline the verbs and KPIs. Turn each into a theme card: theme, metric, stakeholder. If it isn’t on the card, it isn’t a priority. Now let the “waiter” do the carrying. Strip names and identifiers, then paste the JD and your three themes into your favourite AI. Ask: “You’re a hiring panel for a Sydney [role]. Generate 12 behavioural questions weighted to [A], [B], [C]. Add 1–2 follow-ups per question that probe STAR detail and metrics. Prioritise stakeholder, delivery, and commercial or technical impact. Output a table.” You’re no longer guessing. You’re training on the questions they’ll likely ask. You'll also feel a lot more confident. Plate three to four stories for the interview with one per theme. Use STAR or CAR so the signals are clear in your answers: set the Situation in a line (company, team, baseline), state the Task you owned, list three concrete Actions with strong verbs (led, designed, negotiated, shipped), and land the Result with numbers and a timeframe. Close the loop in one sentence: “This maps to your JD theme of delivery reliability.” First person “I,” not “we.” Outcomes, not activity. If you don’t have the perfect story, build a bridge. Start with the nearest adjacent win. Name the gap in one clear line to preserve trust (“That was B2B; yours is consumer with PCI”). Surface what transfers. Things like runbooks, rollback plans, 99.95% uptime across three regions. Then show how you’d apply it on day one: partner with Risk, map PCI scope; week two, pilot canary releases. Draw the straight line from what you’ve done to what they need and let them picture you already doing the work. The test is simple: mirror one JD phrase in every answer so the mapping is obvious; speak in ownership verbs and finish on a commercial result; close with “Why this matters for your role is ___.” Do that and you stop auditioning and start operating in their mind. Specific beats generic/fluffy and unrelated examples every time. If you want more napkins like this, follow me (Eli Gündüz).

Most senior leaders think they “wing it” well. Top 1% candidates follow a 7‑step interview routine before they walk in. Senior interviews are won before you join the Zoom. Loss or win happens in the days before you click “Join meeting.” Here is the 7‑step prep checklist I run with clients before high‑stakes interviews: 1) Mindset reset Use my MASE model: • Mission • Achievement • Skills • Evidence You walk in clear on who you are, what you deliver, proof you did it. 2) Unique value story Write one clear value statement for this role, for this leader, for this company. Short, sharp, repeatable in your intro, stories, close. 3) Role & stakeholder map Break down job description into 3‑5 main problems. Research each interviewer, link your wins to their world. 4) Core story bank Prepare 8‑10 STAR stories for impact, conflict, failure, growth. Tag each story to common questions, so answers flow, not feel forced. 5) Strategic questions list Create 6‑8 questions for recruiter, hiring manager, senior leaders. Focus on business outcomes, team goals, success in 90 days. 6) Debrief & feedback loop After each interview, write what hit, what missed, what changes next time. Top 1% improve every round, not every job search. 7) Final rehearsal Run a mock interview, out loud, on camera. Tighten answers, presence, timing. Clients who follow this routine stop “winging it” & start pulling offers. Message me with “INTERVIEW” for support building your own 7‑step routine.

If you’re currently interviewing, you likely have thought, “what the business is hiring for and what the business actually needs are completely different.” While you might be right, it’s unlikely that the interview cycle is the best place to convince a hiring manager to hire differently. Part of the problem is that hiring managers and recruiters often see design candidates in archetypes. They hire for a “growth designer with experience designing marketplaces”, or “a craft oriented designer with branding chops”. But what if you’re not the right archetype? And your experience and skill set aren’t a clear 1-to-1 match? What if you want to try working in a different area? The goal then is to identify how the hiring manager views the following layers of problems as they hire for this design role: 1. The business problem > 2. The product problem > 3. The team problem The obvious ‘team problem’ is that there are specific responsibilities that this new hire needs to take care of so that existing team members can properly do their job. This is also where common archetypes like ‘founding designer with iOS experience’ and ‘visual design skills’ are often used to disqualify candidates. HMs are looking at one's ability to produce and exchange outputs with the rest of the team. If you’re not a strong match at the team level, then focus on the ‘product problem’ layer. What problem is the product currently facing in its growth? What are the goals for success? How have *you* solved similar problems for other products? It’s OK if you solved it in different ways, as long as the method you used is compatible with their current team structure and capabilities so do ask about the current team's background to give you a better idea of what the team is strong in and also what it currently lacks. This is key because if you previously relied on a visual designer to take care of the asset handover, and the new team currently lacks a dedicated visual designer, then you might be seen as a liability. Finally, at higher levels of design IC experience, the business problem such as revenue growth or product churn becomes evidence of strong value add to justify the unconventional hire. How were you able to impact the business problems by solving product problems? The better you're able to connect the 3-layer of problems the HM is facing, the stronger your candidacy is.