The Uber product manager interview, from the Jam Session to the 1:1s
Uber's Product Interview Guide lists four steps for product managers: a 20 to 30 minute talent chat, a 45 to 60 minute business phone screen, a Jam Session and interview loop, and a decision, all virtual. It assesses product insight and vision, impact and execution, leadership and scope, technical depth and Uber's values. We build Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app. Luisa, one of the two Uber PMs, suggests practicing out loud, so start with our product sense interview guide free and with no sign-up.
Updated
- Case round
- The Jam Session
- About 40 minutes to prioritize
- 1:1 interviews
- Three areas
- Product, leadership, technical depth
- Coding
- Not required
- But know APIs, latency and scale
- New grads
- APM program
- Boot camp, then three rotations
The Jam Session and the three 1:1s
From Uber's interview prep story, in which two Uber product managers in Brazil, Luisa and Juarez, describe the rounds and give their tips. Their advice is theirs, not an official rubric.
Jam Session: the problem first
Say the problem and the key levers before any detail, almost like an executive summary. Juarez says the thing candidates miss most is truly understanding the prompt.
Jam Session: prioritize hard
Don't try to solve everything in 40 minutes. Pick the North Star metric, drop the noise, define the target user and who is out of scope, and show your trade-offs.
Product Insights and Execution
One of the three 1:1s. For all three, Luisa suggests practicing your thinking out loud so rapid follow-up questions don't throw you, and Juarez suggests STAR where it fits.
Leadership and Scope
The story doesn't define this round. Luisa says behavioral questions are what candidates most often undervalue, so bring products you shipped, projects you led and challenges you handled.
Technical Depth
You don't need to code, Juarez says, but you should understand feasibility and how systems talk to each other, including APIs, latency and scalability. An interruption is a signal of where they want to go, not a critique.
How Uber hires product managers
From Uber's Product Interview Guide, the PM page on its Get interview ready hub. Uber says the process may vary slightly by role and team.
Step 1, 20 to 30 minutes
Talent Acquisition chat
A virtual one-on-one with Uber's talent team. Have your elevator pitch ready for tell me about yourself: an overview of your career and top accomplishments.
Step 2, 45 to 60 minutes
Business phone screen
A virtual one-on-one. Uber says to understand the role and its business line, such as Uber Eats or Uber for Business, and why you want it beyond brand recognition.
Step 3
Jam Session and interview loop
Virtual. The two Uber PMs in Uber's interview prep story describe the Jam Session as a case you work and present, with about 40 minutes to prioritize, and 1:1s on product, leadership and technical depth.
Step 4
Decision
Virtual, per the guide. Uber's how we hire page says recruiters and the hiring team review your performance against the job's criteria and decide together.
From Uber: Product Interview Guide.
Uber says your recruiter tells you which competencies your role assesses, and that rescheduling is limited, so keep your interview time.
13 Uber-style PM questions to practice
Soreno's own questions, grouped by the rounds Uber's PMs describe. None are Uber's own questions. The note under each says what a strong answer covers.
Jam Session
A case you work and present. Pick one problem and one metric.
Rider cancellations after a match are rising in one city. What would you do?
Defines who cancels and when, picks a North Star such as completed trips, and says which causes it will not chase in 40 minutes.
Design a product to make airport pickups smoother.
Chooses rider or driver as the user first, names who is out of scope and ends on one measurable change.
How would you grow Uber Eats orders from office workers at lunch?
Sizes the moment, picks one lever such as group orders, and states the trade-off with courier supply at peak.
A new market launch is missing its trip target. Where do you look first?
Splits supply and demand, checks which is short and proposes the cheapest test that would tell.
Product Insights and Execution
Metrics, trade-offs and getting it shipped.
How would you measure the success of a new feature in the Uber app?
One main metric tied to the user's goal, plus a guardrail that would stop the launch on its own.
Critique the Uber app. What would you change today?
Names a real friction point, who feels it, how often, and a change small enough to ship soon. Juarez suggests this exact exercise.
Drivers want fewer fees, riders want lower prices. How do you decide?
Puts both sides on the same measure, such as trips completed, and says what you would give up.
Leadership and Scope
Stories with your own role and a result.
Tell me about a product you shipped that you're proud of.
The problem, what you did yourself, the result in numbers and what you'd change.
Tell me about a project that failed. What did you learn?
Owns the miss and shows the lesson in a later decision. Juarez suggests preparing three stories of failure or conflict.
Tell me about a time you led a team that didn't report to you.
How you got engineers and designers to commit, and what you did when they disagreed.
Technical Depth
No code, but real systems.
Walk me through what happens between a rider tapping Request and seeing a driver's ETA.
Names the services involved at a high level, where latency comes from and what you'd monitor.
How would you work with engineers to cut app load time in half?
Asks where the time goes before proposing fixes, and weighs each fix against user impact and effort.
An API partner's outage breaks a feature you own. What do you do in the first hour?
Contains the damage for users, communicates clearly and only then digs into the root cause.
Mistakes to avoid in an Uber PM interview
The first three come from the two Uber PMs. The rest are mistakes we hear in PM practice sessions.
Jumping in before you understand the prompt
Juarez says this is the element candidates miss most often in the Jam Session. Restate the core problem before you solve anything.
Trying to solve everything in 40 minutes
Juarez's advice is relentless prioritization: one North Star metric, and say what you are choosing not to address.
Underrating the behavioral questions
Luisa says candidates often undervalue them. Come with shipped products, led projects and challenges you handled.
Treating Technical Depth as a coding test
It isn't one, but saying you can't speak to APIs or latency won't work either. Learn the basics of how your products' systems connect.
Designing for riders only
Uber's products serve riders, drivers, couriers and merchants. Say whose problem you're solving and what it costs the others.
How to prepare
Uber's own advice first, then our steps, marked as ours.
From Uber
Read the job description closely
Uber's how we hire page says to dig into the job description to understand the scope, the challenges and how your skills fit.
From Uber
Know what Uber launched lately
Uber suggests its newsroom and social channels to learn its latest launches, priorities and culture.
From Uber's PMs
The 48-hour plan
Juarez's last-minute plan: critique the Uber app, know how you'd measure a feature's success, and pick three projects where you failed or faced conflict.
Ours
Run a Jam Session against a clock
Take one of the prompts above, give yourself 40 minutes and present the problem, the levers and your pick in the first five.
Ours
Do one question per round, out loud
Get feedback, then answer the weakest one again with one change in mind.
Uber's own pages for PM candidates
Free and public. Read these first.
Product Interview GuideThe PM process
The four steps with lengths, the competencies Uber assesses PMs on, sample values questions and role-specific tips.
Uber: Product Interview GuideHow we hireThe steps
The talent team call, the hiring manager interview, exercises, team interviews, the decision and how to prepare.
Uber: how we hireInside Uber's Product interview processPM rounds and tips
Two Uber PMs on the Jam Session, the three 1:1 interviews and how to prepare.
Uber: inside the Product interview processAPM programThe new grad program
Who it's for, the two-week boot camp and three rotations across Uber products.
Uber: APM programProduct teamThe team
What Uber's product organization builds, and links to open roles.
Uber: Product teamRun a Jam Session out loud
Soreno's AI interviewer runs product sense and execution questions by voice, follows up fast the way a 1:1 does and scores each part of your answer. Start your free week.
Questions people ask
What is the Uber Jam Session?
A product case round described by two Uber PMs in Uber's own interview prep story. You work a problem and present it: the problem, the key factors and your approach. They stress prioritizing within 40 minutes and picking a North Star metric.
What are the Uber PM 1:1 interviews?
The same story names three: Product Insights and Execution, Leadership and Scope, and Technical Depth.
Do Uber product managers need to code in the interview?
No, according to Juarez, one of the two Uber PMs in Uber's story. For Technical Depth you should understand technical feasibility and how systems communicate, including APIs, latency and scalability.
What are the steps in Uber's PM hiring process?
Uber's Product Interview Guide lists a 20 to 30 minute Talent Acquisition chat, a 45 to 60 minute business phone screen, a Jam Session and interview loop, and a decision, all virtual. It says the process may vary slightly by role and team.
Does Uber have an APM program?
Yes. Uber's APM program is for recent university graduates with a technical background, such as a computer science degree, graduating this year or within a year. It starts with a two-week boot camp and has three rotations.
Can I present my exercise in the Uber interview?
Uber says that if you've completed an exercise, you may walk through your thinking or present your work in the team interviews.
How should I prepare for an Uber PM interview in two days?
One Uber PM's plan: critique the Uber app as if you owned it, have a clear way to measure a feature's success, and prepare three stories where you failed or faced conflict.
Keep going
- Soreno PM interview practice
- Product manager interview guide
- Product sense interview
- Product manager interview questions
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