Interview Questions for Product Operations
This will be added to over time as new questions are discovered - check back regularly!
UPDATE: This list is now free for all subscribers (Paid or Free)
This is a list of interview questions & scenarios for Product Operations roles.
Some of them have been taken from real interviews both myself and others in the Product Ops community have been given, others are possible ones to be used.
This list is for both hiring managers (& recruiters) to use and adapt, and applicants looking to prepare for interviews.
The list has been contributed to by several Product Ops professionals:
If you have any questions or case study examples you would like to add to this list, please get in touch!
Currently: 18 standard questions, 16 scenarios-type questions, 1 case study.
Questions
What does Product Operations mean to you?
How do you approach improving a way of working?
How do you investigate what needs improving in the product team/business, and what do you focus on first?
How do you measure the success of an improvement you make?
How do you measure the success of Product Operations?
How do you approach improving a way of working with a colleague who is resistant to change?
How do you communicate a new process to different parts of the business?
How do you use data/metrics in your role?
How do you support the use of data/metrics in product teams?
How do you enable internal knowledge sharing and documentation?
Describe Product Operations’ role in the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC).
Describe Product Operations’ role in the rollout of a new feature or product.
Describe Product Operations’ role in user feedback/customer discovery.
What process are you most proud of improving?
How have you been successful in managing projects crossfunctional projects?
How do you prioritize work?
Tell me about your management style.
What scrum metrics do you track?
Scenarios
Talk to me about your first (30) (60) (90) days in starting Product Operations here.
Talk to me about your experience supporting and maintaining OKRs/KPIs for product teams.
Talk to me about your experience supporting and maintaining quarterly and/or annual planning cycles for product teams.
Talk to me about your experience of supporting and maintaining product documentation.
Talk to me about your experience of supporting customer feedback/discovery/feedback loops.
Talk to me about your experience working with & supporting GTM teams/marketing teams/product marketing teams.
Describe a time when you implemented a change in process and it didn’t work out. What mitigations did you make leading up to rollout and actions you took after?
Describe a time when you worked with a colleague who was resistant to the changes you were making. How did you approach the situation and what was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you’ve had to do something you didn’t want to do.
Tell me about a time you’ve reduced complexity.
Tell me about your management style.
Tell me about a time you received hard feedback or feedback you didn’t agree with.
Tell me about a time you’ve worked yourself out of a process.
Tell me about a specific example that required more process or a different process.
Tell me about a time you ran into a problem with data. What did you do.
Tell me about a time when you’ve had to make a decision that others disagree with.
Case Studies
You’ve just joined the Product Team and see that each Product Manager has multiple streams of customer research going on (qual, quant, customer interviews, data analysis, NPS, etc.). There is a lot of inefficiency and overlap in these efforts, and learnings aren't being effectively shared so everyone can benefit from these insights.
How would you operationalize and optimize this experience for product managers to be more effective and deliver more value?
Describe your approach and identify goals you would use to measure the effectiveness of your plan.