Uber product manager interview (questions, process, prep)

Today, we’re going to cover everything you need to know to prepare for your Uber product manager interview.

The questions are challenging, they cover a wide variety of PM topics, and Uber also uses a unique assessment called a “jam session” that isn’t used by any other tech company.  

But don't worry. Below you’ll find real Uber interview questions to practice with, as well as everything else you need to join the ranks of our many successful candidates.

Here's an overview of what we'll cover:

• Interview process and timeline
• The jam session
• Example questions
  • Behavioral
  • Product insight/sense
  • Execution
  • Technical
• Preparation

Click here to practise 1-to-1 with Uber ex-interviewers

1.1 Overview

Similar to the timeline at Lyft, the full PM interview process at Uber can take as long as 2-3 months from your initial application to receiving an offer. It could be a bit faster, or a bit slower, depending on the particular location and position for which you’re applying. 

Here’s a quick overview of the steps you’ll face along the way:

• Resume, cover letter, and referrals
• A recruiter phone screen (30 min)
• A PM phone interview (45 min)
• Onsite interviews
  • A “jam session” (45 min)
  • 3-4 “loop” interviews (45 min each)

If you haven't yet got an interview at Uber, you'll want to get your resume up to scratch.

You can use this free resume guide to help tailor your resume to the position you’re targeting. 

And if you’re looking for expert feedback, you can also get input from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters, who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.

Get help and feedback on your PM resume from one of our coaches.

Note: If you are interviewing for a product leadership position (VP, Director, Group PM), learn more about the process and how to prepare here.

1.2 What to expect in the interviews

Now let’s cover the above steps in more detail.

First, recruiters will look at your resume and assess if your experience matches the open position. This is the most competitive step in the process, as millions of candidates do not make it past this stage.

You can use this free product manager resume guide to help tailor your resume to the position you’re targeting. 

And if you’re looking for expert feedback, you can also get input from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters, who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.

Once you’ve been invited to interview with Uber, you’ll first speak with a recruiter for a 30-min phone screen. During this initial conversation, you should expect the recruiter to cover typical resume and behavioral questions. For example, they’ll likely ask you about your past experiences and about your motivations for applying for this role. If you pass this phone screen, then the recruiter will advance you to the next round of interviews. 

Next, you’ll have a 45-min phone (or video conference) call with the Hiring Manager for the team you’re applying for, although in some cases it may be with another Uber PM. Again, here you'll mainly be asked behavioral questions. You 'lll need to give structured answers and be as data-centric as possible.

The final round is the onsite, which has two parts. First, you’ll encounter Uber’s famous “jam session”, which we’ll cover in more detail in the next section. If you do well in the jam session, you’ll be invited to the loop interviews.

The loop interviews are a series of three to four interviews. During the loop interviews, you’ll meet interviewers from a variety of roles within Uber. You’ll usually meet PMs, engineers, and data scientists. You MAY also meet people from UX and marketing. See the example questions section below to learn more about the types of questions to expect during your loop interviews. Although it's rare, Uber also occasionally uses case study interviews.

If all goes well, the onsite interviews are your last step as a candidate, and from there you just have to wait to (hopefully) receive your offer. 

For extra help, take a look at our list of 15 top PM interview tips.

1.3 How Uber evaluates PM candidates

As you prepare for your Uber interviews, you may wonder how Uber evaluates their PM candidates.

Uber has four key areas that they look for during the interviews. These areas, which we'll cover below, are the same criteria that Uber uses to evaluate internal promotions. As a result, there is a nice level of continuity between the interview process at Uber, and the way candidates are evaluated later within the company.

Now let's dig into the criteria that Uber is looking for in their applicants.

1.3.1 Product insight / vision

At a high-level, this refers to your customer obsession, strategic vision, and your ability to innovate.

Are you able to put yourself in the shoes of customers and think deeply about what they care about and how they can be served better? Are you able to look ahead and come up with creative solutions to solve problems?

1.3.2 Impact and execution

This area considers your bias for action, as well as your business impact, and the quality of your work.

Do you take ownership and move things forward? What tangible results have you delivered? Do you build good solutions? How do you use experimentation and processes to deliver better results?

1.3.3 Leadership and scope

This boils down to how effectively you lead and work with other people. 

Are you a team player? Do you make your team better? Are you able to organize your colleagues to tackle complex challenges?

1.3.4 Technical depth

This area evaluates your knowledge in technical subjects like engineering, data analysis, and design.

How deep is your understanding of algorithms, data visualization tools, etc? Note that the particular technical topics that are considered would be those that are relevant to your role.

Hopefully, that gives you some extra insight into what Uber's interviewers are going to be looking for during your interviews. If you'd like to learn more about the way people within Uber think, then we'd encourage you to also read Uber's cultural norms. This is essentially Uber's internal list of values.

1.4 How offer decisions are made

Once you've completed all of your interviews, then the people at Uber will hold a "debrief" to discuss your application. 

A "debrief" is a meeting where your recruiter and all of your onsite interviewers come together to decide if you'll be given an offer. More specifically, this meeting includes all of the people you met during your jam session and your loop interviews, in addition to your recruiter. 

During the meeting, all of these people work together to make the decision collectively. And by the end, they will come to a "hire" or "no hire" decision. Sometimes, the candidate's level is also decided during this conversation.

Now that we've covered Uber's interview process, let's dig into more details on the jam session interview.

2. Uber’s jam session interview

The jam session is probably the most unique part of Uber’s PM interviews. If you've already been preparing for PM interviews at other companies, then those skills will help you during your loop interviews and your phone screens for Uber. But, for the jam session, you'll need to prepare a bit differently.

As we mentioned above, the jam session is typically the FIRST interview you'll face during your onsite visit. And what you'll encounter during the jam session is different, depending on your level. 

Let's first cover how jam sessions operate for candidates who are under the Group Product Manager level, then we'll talk about jam sessions for applicants at (or above) GPM, and then we'll get a bit more tactical and discuss some tips for how to perform well during your jam session. 

2.1 For candidates below Group Product Manager level

If you are applying for a position that is below Uber's Group Product Manager level, which is likely the case for most candidates, then your jam session will be a bit like a brainstorming session.

You'll typically be given the "prompt" for your jam session 24-48 hours in advance of your onsite visit. The "prompt" is essentially just the topic or problem that you're looking to solve. Having this advance notice will allow you to prepare some ideas, which is good because you will be expected to lead the discussion.

Here's an example of a prompt that you might encounter for your jam session: How would you make UberEats more usable during the Covid-19 lockdown?

During your jam session, you'll be discussing ideas with 1-2 Uber PMs as well as a cross-functional person from Uber (e.g. a data scientist, software engineer, etc.). However, there will not be any other candidates included in your jam session, just you.

Okay, let's stop there for a moment and look at the jam session for candidates who are at or above the Group Product Manager level. If that doesn't apply to you, then skip down to section 2.3 below.

2.2 For candidates at or above Group Product Manager

If you're applying for a Group Product Manager role, or something even higher up the ladder, then the jam session will look a little different for you.

Instead of getting your prompt 24-48 hours in advance, you'll typically get it a week in advance. And this is good news because you will need to prepare a presentation that addresses the question/problem in your prompt. 

The fact that you need to prepare and deliver a presentation is the primary difference between jam sessions for GPMs (and up) and other candidates. You can expect most other elements of the jam session to be the same.

2.3 Tips for acing the jam session

Now let's run through a few important tips that you'll want to keep in mind as you prepare for your jam session. All of the tips below are relevant to both the brainstorming and presentation style jam sessions, the way they come into play may just look a little different. Let's dive in!

2.3.1 Be data-centric

Uber is a very data-driven company. This is something that is evident in the company's operations, but it's also a part of Uber's culture.

The company likes to hire people who have a knack for understanding and using data to identify and solve problems. So, you should make it a priority to tie your analysis and ideas back to data during your jam session. 

2.3.2 Consider a 2-3 sided market 

Uber's products serve multiple sides of a single market. Just think of Uber's ridesharing app. They are serving drivers AND riders. Likewise, if you think about UberEats, Uber is serving customers, restaurants, and couriers. 

So, when you're in a jam session, don't just focus on one side of the market (i.e. riders/customers). Instead, be intentional about analyzing how potential solutions will impact all relevant sides of a given market.

2.3.3 Demonstrate that you can move fast

Uber values speed and they want to hire candidates that are able to synthesize information and form actionable next steps, without getting too bogged down by the available (or unavailable) details. 

During your jam session, there will likely be a lot of ideas and considerations brought up. You'll need to demonstrate that you are able to take those inputs and turn them into next steps by prioritizing what should be done first. There are several good ways to prioritize, but it can work particularly well to prioritize the actions which will have the biggest impact on a metric that's relevant to your topic.

2.3.4 Stick to your guns, in a nice way

Within Uber, "don't be a renter, be an owner" is a common saying. In other words, when people at Uber see a problem or have an idea, there is an expectation that they're going to do something about it!

In your jam session, one way you can demonstrate ownership is by sticking up for an idea that you think is good, even if one of your interviewers disagrees or questions the approach. Obviously don't be rude or abrasive, but if you have an idea (or disagree with an idea), then say so and articulate your reasons. 

If you can follow the above tips during your jam session, it will go a long way towards making a strong impression on your interviewers.

3. Example questions

Below, we've compiled lists of real questions from Uber product manager interviews. To help you structure your preparation, we've organized them into four categories.

The above break-down is based on an analysis of data from Uber PM interview reports on Glassdoor.com.

You can see that question types align closely to the "applicants criteria" we mentioned in Section 1.3.

• Behavioral (38%, most frequent)
• Product insight / sense (28%)
• Execution (22%)
• Technical (12%)

Now you've seen an overview, let's get into the first and most frequently asked question category: behavioral.

3.1 Behavioral questions (38%)

You can expect behavioral questions throughout the Uber interview process, but particularly in the early rounds. Your interviewers will use them to  to assess you on "leadership and scope".

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.

3.2 Product insight / sense (28%)

To assess your understanding of the product space, your user-centricity and your ability to manage and improve a product, Uber ask a mix of product strategy and product design questions, with the former usually more frequent.

If you'd like to learn more about answering this kind of question, then check out our separate guides on product strategy questions and product design questions.

3.3 Execution questions (22%)

Uber is an extremely data-driven company and Uber PM job descriptions often say they're looking for the following: "Finger-tippiness with data. You find a way to get the data you need and whip it into an insightful story with no help. You know how to leverage this data to make decisions without getting stuck in analysis paralysis."

Expect questions that test your ability to work with metrics, analyze data, and perform A/B testing. Many candidates report being given a problem and asked to troubleshoot / debug it.

You may also face an estimation question, or be required to perform some estimations as part of a wider answer.

To prepare, see our guide on how to answer metric questions and how to answer estimation questions.

Note: Uber candidates report receiving this type questions but we only have two specific examples  (first two on the list). So to help you practice, we've taken some Facebook execution questions (known to be similar) and adapted them to Uber.

3.4 Technical questions (12%)

Even in non-technical PM roles, Uber job descriptions often list "Technical savvines" as a key attribute. And so you can expect to be asked at least one technical explanation question during the interview process.

If you'd like to learn more about answering this kind of question, then check out our separate guide on technical questions.

Now we've been through all the question types, let's walk-through a few preparation tips to help you get ready for your PM interviews at Uber. 

4. 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 Uber PM interviews.

4.1 Deep dive into the product / organization

As you've probably figured out from some of the example questions listed above, you can't become a PM at Uber without being familiar with the company's products and its organization. As a result, you'll need to do some homework before your interviews.

Here are some resources to help you get started with this:

• Uber annual reports (by Uber)
• Uber strategy teardown (by CB Insights)
• Uber’s values (by Uber)

4.2 Learn a consistent method for answering PM interview questions

As mentioned previously, Uber will ask you questions that fall into certain categories like behavioral, design, strategy, estimation, 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:

• Behavioral questions
• Product design questions
• Product improvement questions
• Strategy questions
• Metric questions
• Technical questions
• Estimation questions
• Prioritization questions

Once you understand how to answer each question type, you also need to be able to communicate your answers clearly, under the pressure of interview conditions. That’s where practice comes into play.

4.3 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.

4.4 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 a Product Manager who can help you, that's fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can practice 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from Uber and other leading tech companies. Learn more and start scheduling sessions today. 

 

Keep reading: product manager interview articles