PM interviews at DoorDash are extremely competitive. You’ll face in-depth and challenging questions over the course of at least six different interview rounds.
Thankfully, the right preparation makes all the difference. So we’ve scoured the internet for interview reports from real DoorDash PM candidates, in order to put together this ultimate guide to DoorDash product manager interviews.
We’ll outline the company’s hiring process, interview questions, and key preparation resources to help you maximize your chances of success.
Here's what we’ll cover:
Click here to practice 1-on-1 with PM ex-interviewers
1. Interview process and timeline
The interview process for DoorDash PMs generally takes about three to six weeks to complete.
Here’s a quick overview of the steps you may face along the way:
- Resume, cover letter, and referrals
- Recruiter phone screen (1 interview, 30-45 mins)
- First round interview (1 interview, 30-45 mins)
- Onsite interviews (4 to 5 interviews, 30-45 mins each)
Now we’ll cover each of the steps we listed above in more detail, so you can get a better idea of what to expect and how to prepare.
1.1 Resume, cover letter, referrals
Step one is getting the interviews. For that, you’ll need a quality resume that is tailored to PM positions, and DoorDash more specifically. If you have yet to apply, you can optimize your documents using our PM resume guide and getting FAANG recruiters or PMs to review your resume.
As with most companies, it can also be helpful to get an employee or contact at DoorDash to refer you to the recruiting team. In our experience, the most straightforward way to do this is to contact DoorDash employees you share connections with directly on LinkedIn.
1.2 Recruiter phone screen
Next, you'll usually start your interview process by talking to an HR recruiter on the phone. They are looking to confirm that you've got a chance of getting the job at all, so be prepared to explain your background.
Most recruiter screens are focused on culture fit and feature questions such as "Why DoorDash?" or "Tell me about yourself". But DoorDash also sometimes asks light product sense and design questions in that round.
If you’re unsure about what steps are ahead in the interview process, take this opportunity to ask any clarifying questions about what you can expect. The recruiter will be your point of contact for the rest of the interviews.
1.3 First round interview
After talking to the recruiter, you’ll move on to the first round interview. This interview is usually with the hiring manager and takes place over a phone or video call and for 30 to 45 minutes.
You’ll get asked more behavioral questions, but also typical product management interview questions which we’ll cover in section 2: product sense and design questions, strategy questions, and analysis questions.
1.4 Onsite interviews
If you pass your first round interviews, you’ll move on to the final, onsite interviews. These may take place in DoorDash’s offices or virtually, over video call.
You’ll usually interview with 4 or 5 different people from product, design, engineering and sometimes other teams too. Each interview will last 30 to 45 minutes and cover a mix of behavioral and typical product management questions which we’ll cover in the next section.
2. Example questions
Below, we've compiled lists of real questions from DoorDash product manager interviews. To help you structure your preparation, we've organized them into four categories.
The question type break-down is based on DoorDash PM interview reports mainly from Glassdoor.com.
- Product sense and design (52%, most frequent)
- Behavioral (22%)
- Strategy (19%)
- Analysis (7%, least frequent)
Now you've seen an overview, let's get into the first and most frequently asked question category: product sense and design.
2.1 Product sense and design questions (52%)
DoorDash asks product design and product improvement questions to assess your product sense and user centricity.
The questions they ask in this category are actually a lot more predictable than what we see at other companies. Here are some common themes you should prepare for:
- DoorDash asks a LOT of product improvement questions (e.g. improve product X), but very few pure design questions (e.g. design a clock for blind people)
- The following products also very frequently come up in questions: DoorDash, OpenTable and Spotify
- The post booking experience is also a very common topic in product sense and design questions at DoorDash as it’s a common challenge in service marketplaces. (Once the user has purchased, the marketplace loses control and the user experience is mostly in the hands of the service provider).
If you'd like to learn more about answering this kind of question, then check out our separate guides on product improvement questions, product design questions, and how to demonstrate product sense.
Example product sense and design questions asked by DoorDash:
Product improvement (very frequent)
- How would you improve [DoorDash, Spotify, OpenTable]?
- How would you improve the post booking experience on [DoorDash, OpenTable, Instacart, TaskRabbit]?
- How would you improve the engagement on Spotify?
- How would you improve the recommendation algorithm for Airbnb?
Product design and Favorite product questions (less frequent)
- What’s your favorite product and why?
- Pick a mobile app, walk me through the design and how to improve it
- Design a product for teens to find places to eat
2.2 Behavioral questions (22%)
You can expect behavioral questions throughout the DoorDash interview process. Your interviewers will use them to assess how much you align to the company’s mission and core values.
You can learn a step-by-step process for answering behavioral questions, and find many additional examples, by visiting our article on how to answer behavioral questions at tech companies. This guide primarily focuses on Facebook but can be applied to any company.
Example behavioral questions asked by DoorDash:
- Tell me about yourself
- Why do you want to work at DoorDash? (sample answer from Amazon interviews)
- Tell me about your experience as a product manager
- Tell me about a successful product launch and missteps along the way
- Tell me about a time you had to manage a major project
- Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict between stakeholders
- Tell me about your biggest failure
2.3 Strategy questions (19%)
DoorDash asks product strategy and prioritization questions to assess your overall strategy skills.
In our analysis we’ve seen a lot more prioritization questions reported than pure product strategy questions. Prioritization questions often come up as follow up questions after product improvement questions. Once you’ve discussed various improvement approaches for a product, you’ll get asked to prioritize them.
Example strategy questions asked by DoorDash:
Prioritization
- What are the biggest issues with [OpenTable, Taskrabbit]? Prioritize solving these issues.
- What are the biggest post booking challenges with [DoorDash, OpenTable]? Prioritize solving these issues.
- How do you prioritize a backlog?
Product strategy
- What new products do you think DoorDash should launch?
- How would you run a promotion to increase top-line, in-store revenues at Target?
- How would you increase Walmart’s revenue by decreasing prices?
2.4 Analysis questions (7%)
DoorDash also asks questions to test your analytical skills. The main type of question we’ve seen candidates come across is metric change questions.
If you'd like to learn more, then check out our separate guide on metric change questions.
Example analysis questions asked by DoorDash:
- Conversion rate has decreased by 10% on the DoorDash app. What’s causing this?
- Installs of the DoorDash app have decreased by 35% in the Apple App Store. What’s causing this?
- Orders have dropped by 20% month over month on the DoorDash app. How do you go about solving this?
3. Preparation tips
Now that you know what questions to expect, let's focus on preparation.
Below, you’ll find links to free resources and four introductory steps to help you prepare for your DoorDash PM interviews.
3.1 Deep dive into the product / organization
As you can see from the questions above, it will be very difficult to secure an offer from DoorDash if you come to the interviews without having researched the company first. The questions will frequently center around real-life problems the DoorDash product team is facing now or has faced in the past.
So you’ll need to do homework before your interviews.
Here are some resources to get you started on the right track:
- DoorDash’s mission and values
- DoorDash’s financials
- DoorDash’s earning calls
- DoorDash’s newsroom
- DoorDash statistics (by Business of Apps)
3.2 Learn a consistent method for answering PM interview questions
As mentioned previously, DoorDash will ask you questions that fall into certain categories like behavioral, design, strategy, and metric questions. Approaching each question with a predefined method will enable you to build strong interview habits.
Then, when it comes time for your interviews, these habits will reduce your stress and help you to make a great impression.
If you’re just looking for a jumping-off point, you can start learning about the different question types you’ll need to master in the following blog articles:
- Product sense and design questions (52%)
- Behavioral questions (22%)
- Strategy questions (19%)
- Analysis questions (7%)
3.3 Practice by yourself or with peers
In our experience, practicing by yourself is a great way to prepare for PM interviews. You can start practicing alone, asking and answering questions out loud, to help you get a feel for the different types of PM interview questions. It will help you perfect your step-by-step approach for each question type. And it also gives you time to correct your early mistakes.
You can find free practice questions on articles like this one or on YouTube. If you have friends or peers who can do mock interviews with you, that's a great option too. This can be especially helpful if your friend has experience with PM interviews, or is at least familiar with the process.
3.4 Practice with experienced PM interviewers
Finally, you should also try to practice product manager mock interviews with expert ex-interviewers, as they’ll be able to give you much more accurate feedback than friends and peers
If you know an experienced product manager who’s available to help you out, then that’s perfect! For most of us, however, it’s not easy to find the right person to make that happen, especially when you need multiple hours of practice.
That’s why we’ve created a coaching service, where you can practice one-on-one with ex-interviewers from top tech companies. Learn more and start scheduling sessions today.
