Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Process

Facebook is, of course, a popular social networking website, but as an employer, it is known for having excellent perks, taking care of its employees, and great culture. It is no surprise that many skilled engineers want to be a part of Facebook. Whether it is for the role of a software developer or a technical program manager, the competition is intense. Getting in takes skill and well-directed preparation.

If you are preparing for a tech interview, check out our interview questions page and salary negotiation ebook to get interview-ready! Also, read Facebook System Design Interview Questions, Facebook Software Engineer Interview Questions, Facebook Coding Interview Questions, and Facebook Data Engineer Interview Questions for specific insights and guidance on Facebook tech interviews.

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In this article, we’ll focus on the Technical Program Manager role at Facebook — mainly help you understand what the interview process is like. We’ll cover:

• Facebook's Technical Program Manager Hiring Criteria
• Must-have Skills to for a Facebook Technical Program Manager
• Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Process and Timeline
• Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Questions
• FAQs on Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview 

Facebook's Technical Program Manager Hiring Criteria

• A bachelor’s degree along with at least half a decade of experience in software engineering, hardware engineering, systems engineering, or technical product/program management is a minimum qualification for most technical program manager openings at Facebook. 
• Minimum qualifications also include organizational, coordination, and multitasking experience, along with communication and planning skills and attention to detail. 
• Technical program managers are hired for specific teams like security, connectivity, accessibility, ads, product design engineering, etc. Some minimum qualifications include the experience relevant to the specific teams and TPM roles.

Must-have Skills to for a Facebook Technical Program Manager

These interviews are designed to test the candidates on five fundamental areas:

• Technical Project Retrospective: In an interview with a Facebook TPM, you may be asked to solve a problem outside your experience that tests how you approach a problem, how well you communicate, how you deal with technical constraints and ambiguity. The key is having strong tech fundamentals, knowing what the interviewer is looking for, communicating your thought process well, drawing diagrams, and stating estimates of cost, time, etc., where appropriate.
• Architecture and System Design: An engineering manager or a tech lead will test your system design knowledge. They will gauge how you think when deciding tradeoffs and see whether you ask clarifying questions. It is important to be great at System Design. Strong fundamentals are essential, but there’s also a need to go beyond that here.
• Program Sense: This involves testing your overall capabilities for the role of a technical program manager. How do you manage risks? What is your approach towards deadlines? How do you respond to unforeseen changes? How do you work to meet requirements? The answers to these questions will often lie in your past experiences relevant to the role. Make sure to use the STAR format to tell your story as relevant. STAR format refers to stating the Situation, Task, Action, and Result, in that order. This gives the interviewer a clear idea of the constraints, the context, your attitude, the actions you took to change the situation, and the impact/result of your actions on the situation.
• Partnership: They also want to know about your history of cross-functional collaboration and your general approach towards it. This will involve behavioral questions that check how you handle tough situations, how you build relationships, and mostly seek to know more about your past experiences where you have handled the kind of situation presented (or part of it). STAR format comes in handy in answering these behavioral questions as well. Have all your work experience stories relevant to the role ready to share in this format.
• Leadership and Team Collaboration: These questions will focus on how you work within a team: Do you show ownership? How do you resolve conflicts with your team members? What’s your leadership style? Having stories from your work experience where you demonstrated leadership and team collaboration traits would help you put your best foot forward.

If your solutions and stories clear the bar in these 5 areas, you can fancy your chances of getting selected. 

Facebook also has five core values: 

• Move fast
• Be bold
• Focus on impact
• Be open 
• Build social value

Stories from your experiences that show how your values align with Facebook’s values will also tell interviewers how you’re a good fit for the company.

Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Process and Timeline 

The interview process for a technical program manager at Facebook typically involves three stages: a recruiter interview, one or two phone interviews, and an onsite interview with multiple rounds. 

TPMs at Facebook should balance risk and resources, support their colleagues, deal with ambiguity, handle tough situations, create a roadmap, and define crucial milestones. As a candidate applying for a TPM role, you will be expected to demonstrate these capabilities through your approach to given interview problems and stories of past experiences you share with interviewers.

1. Recruiter Interview

This interview will be a basic call to check if you have a shot at getting the job and if you’re someone they can work with. Expect questions like Why Facebook? Why specifically the TPM role at Facebook? You’ll be tested on how you communicate and many other behavioral aspects. 

Knowing your resume, having a relevant TPM background, and interest in technical aspects will help you, so try to leverage that whenever possible and appropriate. You may also ask appropriate questions about the hiring process if you have any at the end of this interview.

Related Reading: How to Answer the Interview Question — "Why Are You Interested in This Role?"

2. Phone Screen

Next, you’ll have one or two phone interviews, which will likely be with a TPM at Facebook. You can expect the duration to be 60 minutes, with around 50 minutes for you to solve the question and around 10 minutes for follow-up/other questions and answers. The question will likely be a product sense or execution-related question. 

You should also know your resume well, as you can be asked questions from it anytime. You can expect to hear from them regarding the results of the phone interviews in 1-2 weeks.  

3. Onsite Interview

Finally, you’ll have your onsite interview. It will likely have five rounds for each of the five fundamental evaluation criteria we discussed above. While each interview will likely be focused on assessing particular criteria, expect that questions assessing multiple criteria may be asked in each interview. 

In the interviews, you will be evaluated on your technical acumen, leadership qualities, and program management abilities. You can expect the duration of each round to again be roughly 60 minutes, with around 50 minutes for the actual interview questions and around 10 minutes for any questions you’d like to ask them.

Once all the onsite interview rounds are over, it can take up to 2 weeks for you to get the final results. You may even be asked for one more follow-up interview. This is likely a good sign that you’re still in the game. Once you have your results of the onsite interview, expect that the process of negotiating, signing the offer letter, and finishing formalities will take a few weeks as well.

Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Questions 

The interviewers will evaluate you on project management, domain knowledge, analytical skills, technical depth, leadership ability, and collaboration skills. This means that the questions they’re really looking to get answers for are:

1. How well can you organize, plan and execute a project?
2. How well can you create, manage and improve business processes?
3. Do you have sufficient role-related knowledge for the specific position you’ve applied for?
4. Will you be able to have technical discussions with the team you’re joining and contribute meaningfully to them?
5. Do you have a methodological thought process in the face of ambiguity? What does it look like?
6. How well can you lead, persuade and influence the team without formal authority?
7. How well can you work in teams and handle conflicts both within your team and among different teams?

Following are some sample Facebook TPM interview questions:

Behavioral: 

1. Tell me about a time when you faced pushback from the members you were leading. How did you handle it?
2. Tell me about a time when project requirements were changed significantly in the middle of a project. What did you do?

Hypothetical: 

1. Your team is about to launch a high-profile project tomorrow, and you discover a critical bug. What would you do?
2. You want to implement 5 features for an upcoming project, but you have resources for only 3. What would you do?

Recommended Reading:
Google Technical Program Manager Interview Questions
Amazon Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Get Ready for Your Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview

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FAQs on Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Q. From where do I start my preparation for the Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview?

You can start by checking out the role-/team-specific requirements for various TPM openings at Facebook on their careers page. Also, go through their official guide for TPM roles and learn about their values. We also recommend checking out our articles on Facebook Phone Screen Interview Questions, Facebook Behavioral Interview Questions, and Facebook Interview Questions to boost your Facebook interview prep.

Q. How many rounds are there in the Facebook Technical Program Manager Interview?

The interview process for a technical program manager at Facebook typically involves three stages: a recruiter interview, one or two phone interviews, and an onsite interview with multiple rounds.