I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Lyft (San Francisco, CA) in Feb 2020
Interview
First, intro phone call with recruiter. Next, on-site round 1. Because of the coronavirus, this became two video calls -- one with a PM in NYC and another PM in Seattle -- despite me being in San Francisco.
The first one was on "product sense." Design Lyft for commuters is so broad yet so basic. It could mean anything. They should choose something more specific. The interviewer gave no guidance as I was talking it through. Not helpful at all... I could sense a little NYC attitude here. Definitely not how people do product management in the real world.
The second interview was on "analytical sense". This woman was friendlier, and asked more about analytics in my current job first, so I was more comfortable there. The spike question was very basic and standard -- every PM or analyst interview asks that question.
It is so boring. Stop asking standard questions as if you are trying to measure against some theoretical SAT standard of what a PM should look like. You are just going to get standard cookie-cutter answers. Choose more interesting, more intellectual, more fun questions. Please.
I got the impression that Lyft people are just Google/Apple/Facebook drop-outs or wannabes. They want to act like they are 5000 or 10000 people company but they really are not. So there is a lot of ego and ambition. Someone in product or HR has been reading too many blog posts about the "theoretical best way to hire".
the interview process was multiple steps: recruiter screen, hiring manager, round 1 product sense / execution, then round 2 leadership. there are a lot of prep materials provided which made the process much better and smoother
Recruiter screen, then 45 min product sense, 45 min execution - repeat these rounds 2 times, then hiring manager screen, then offer. All remote interviews. Recruiter stays in touch throughout. Overall smooth process.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Lyft (Montreal, QC) in Sep 2025
Interview
Rounds: 1) Recruiter 2) Hiring manager 3) Product Sense 4) Product execution 5) Cross-functional partnership 6) Leadership
Recruiter was extremely personable and was good at marketing the company and its values. Same with the hiring manager. For the PMs or TPMs interviewing you, it's a bit of a gamble as to whether they'll be there to scrutinize you or to have a back-and-forth. They do read off a script to ensure they cover their bases, but some interviewers will facilitate and have better conversations while others are really examining you and not helping you. It's a bit unfortunate as we'd expect PMs to challenge each other and confirm/deny assumptions.
The process took 3 weeks. The recruiter provides documentation on how the interviews are conducted, with tips and documentation. They request the behavioural and technical interviews to be ideally condensed within a single meeting of 3 hours, which is exhausting. Intense process resembling FAANG's process considering the size of the company.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
During execution interview: Design a metrics dashboard for Spotify
During product sense interview: You're a PM for bikesharing. The company owns dockless bikes. We notice a high number of improperly parked bikes. Resolve the challenge.
