Technical Program Manager (TPM) Interview Questions And Prep

100+ Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

This is a long post, so if you already have an interview lined up and want a fast, efficient way to prepare, your best bet is the “Ace The TPM Interview Course.” This course has successfully helped candidates land offers from FAANG and other top tech companies. It is designed to be concise, cutting through the noise and saving you hours of preparation time.

Over the past 16 years, I’ve navigated the ranks of technical program management, from entry-level to principal TPM and then VP. Along the way, I’ve been on both sides of the interview table, gaining valuable insights into what top tech organizations look for in TPM candidates. It’s been a rewarding journey, to say the least.

I’ve seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t. This blog is an actionable, no-fluff guide to help you ace your TPM interview

TPM Interview Structure

The role of a TPM is multifaceted, requiring both technical depth and program management expertise. To prepare for a TPM interview, it’s essential to understand the range of questions that assess your skills in leadership, technical knowledge, and stakeholder management. Here’s a breakdown of the key areas and questions you can expect:

1. Program Management Fundamentals

TPMs need to excel at managing large-scale, cross-functional programs. Interviewers will often ask how you approach planning, execution, and communication. Expect questions like:

• How do you manage large-scale programs?
  Outline your process from project initiation to completion, emphasizing risk management, timeline adjustments, and stakeholder communication.
• Describe a challenging program you managed.
  Discuss the complexities involved, how you overcame obstacles, and the results achieved.

Read the section in this blog that goes over pure Project Management Interview Questions.

2. Leadership and Influence

TPMs frequently lead without direct authority, relying on influence rather than control. Be ready for leadership-focused questions:

• How do you handle conflict within a team?
  Highlight your approach to conflict resolution, maintaining team morale, and ensuring alignment toward a common goal.
• Describe a time when you had to influence without authority.
  Share examples where you used communication, relationship-building, and data to persuade stakeholders or leadership teams.

3. Technical Acumen

While a TPM isn’t necessarily expected to be as hands-on as an engineer, understanding the technical landscape is critical. These questions assess your ability to navigate technical conversations:

• How do you evaluate technical designs and architecture?
  Explain your method for reviewing technical designs, ensuring alignment with business goals and scalability.
• Can you discuss a time you had to make a technical decision without being the subject-matter expert?
  Focus on how you gathered information, consulted experts, and made data-driven decisions.

4. Risk Management

Effective risk management is core to the TPM role. You’ll need to demonstrate your ability to foresee, plan for, and mitigate risks:

• What’s your process for identifying and managing risks?
  Describe your risk assessment techniques and how you communicate risks to stakeholders.
• Tell me about a time when a program didn’t go as planned.
  Discuss how you navigated unexpected challenges, the steps you took to correct course, and the eventual outcome.

5. Communication and Stakeholder Management

Clear communication and strong stakeholder management are key to driving alignment and program success. Expect questions like:

• How do you ensure alignment across multiple stakeholders?
  Share how you keep stakeholders informed, manage expectations, and foster collaboration.
• Describe a time when you had to communicate bad news to leadership.
  Illustrate your communication strategy, balancing transparency with problem-solving.

6. Problem Solving and Decision Making

TPMs are often the ones resolving complex issues. Your problem-solving skills will be evaluated through questions such as:

• Tell me about a challenging decision you had to make.
  Discuss your decision-making process, how you weighed different options, and the ultimate impact of your decision.
• How do you handle scope changes during a project?
  Explain your approach to managing scope creep, prioritization, and ensuring program objectives stay on track.

Preparing for a TPM interview requires a solid understanding of both technical concepts and program management principles. Focus on your ability to communicate clearly, manage complex programs, and solve challenging problems. With these questions in mind, you’ll be better equipped to showcase your skills and demonstrate your fit for the role.

Various Types Of Technical Program Managers

When it comes to Technical Program Managers (TPMs), the roles are as diverse as the technologies they manage. From Front End (web, iOS, Android) to Backend (APIs, SDKs), Business Intelligence, ERP, Hardware, and more, each type of TPM specializes in driving complex initiatives across different domains. Whether you’re coordinating large releases, managing data centers, or ensuring compliance, understanding where your skills fit is crucial. Explore these TPM paths to identify the best fit for your career growth and discover whether you should specialize or remain a generalist.

• Front End: Web, iOS, Android.
• Backend: API, SDK – Platform.
• Integration: PM who works with 3rd parties to integrate their APIs.
• Business Intelligence: Big data, Hadoop, Machine learning, AI, etc.
• ERP: Implementing Oracle EBS, SAP, SalesForce, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.
• Localization: To take existing products/services to international markets.
• Hardware: Chip Manufacturing. VMWare, Nvidia, Intel, etc
• Data Center: With all the cloud stuff happening, there is a dearth for datacenter PMs.
• Process: Lean, Six Sigma, Process optimization, Scrum/Agile Coach, PMO.
• Launch /Release PMs – Coordinating with 10 or 20 other PMs to get a Program to a launch.
• GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance): Managing Risk, Governance, Compliance.
• Operations: Stability, Scalability, Monitoring, Disaster Recovery, System Health.
• UX/UI: Specialize in managing large UX teams to have a consistent story and feel within the product.

Of course, there possibly are many more and there are PM generalists as well. You should read the blog Being a Generalist vs Specialist TPM – Advantages and Disadvantages. This will give you an idea of the path you should choose while pursuing your TPM career as well as while applying for jobs.

General Tips & Tools For TPMs When You Look For Opportunities

Network & Referrals: Its a good to start networking; go to meetups, talk to people about the tools, process and the technology they use. Having a referral most definitely helps you stand out from the crowd. A great way to get a referral is to reach out to hiring Mangers directly. A Linkedin Group has been created exclusively for this, join the group and start reaching out to hiring managers. Another way is to reach out to your family and friends and ask them if they know people who can refer you, it never hurts to ask. 

LinkedIn Premium: Gives you some insight to the people applying to the opportunity. It also gives you the breakdown on the number of people and their background. It may be pricy but its worth a shot to get an edge over your competition. 

Another interesting this is that with LinkedIn Premium you get access to https://www.linkedin.com/learning/  that is a decent resource. Having a good LinkedIn profile also helps. Don’t take this lightly.

Indeed.com

Indeed.com is a great place to look for jobs as well. 

Resume

You need to have  kick-ass Resume! I have a whole post on how TPMs should structure their resumes here. Remember a resume is what gets you through the door and it is what represents you. Put in the effort to make it standout. 

Also take a look at your competition here you will see a good amount of the people applying for the same jobs and their resumes.  Get feedback from your friends, mentors, and people you trust. If you don’t think you have it in you get professional help here. There are many professional resume writers who specialize in writing tech resumes. If you are looking for more tips I have a whole section on what your resume should look like here.  

Certifications: You can read how I feel about certifications in general here. I believe having the PMP and Scrum certification is good and almost necessary if you are starting out, if you have been around for a while it might not help a lot. 

Elevator Pitch: Your pitch should be for 2 to 3 minutes and please don’t put the interviewer to sleep. Be energetic and enthusiastic wake him/her up and have him engaged. Look out for what perks their interests and give more of it. 

Salary Asks & Negotiation For A Technical Program Manager

I have a detailed article on what salary a TPM should expect, how to negotiate here. 

Tools For Program Management: 

Today there are literally hundreds of agile management tools out there. But knowing one or better both of the most commonly used Agile tools like Rally and/or JIRA would put you in the forefront among your competitors. If you do not have the experience, there are enough and more youtube videos on this so you should be able to pick this up fairly quickly. 

Also, get familiar with traditional project management tools like Microsoft Project. This really comes in handy when you are dealing with a long ended project spanning several months involving several cross-dependent functional groups.

TPM Interview Technical Preparation & Questions:-

1. System Design
2. Terminologies & Technologies

System Design Questions for Technical Program Managers

Remember the depth of system design varies. Here are some foundational links that will help you get a primer of what you need to know on system design. 

• Ace The Technical Program Management Interview !
• Cloud Architecture: A Guide To Design & Architect Your Cloud
• Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• System Design I
• System Design II
• System Design III
• System Design – Design Patterns 
• Designing a Tiny URL  I
• Designing a Tiny URL II
• Grokking the System Design Interview – 10% Discount “mariogerard10”
• The Art of Scalability: Scalable Web Architecture, and Organizations for the Modern Enterprise

Below are some of the questions collected from various FAANG organizations. 

Steps on Tacking a System Design Interview for A TPM

• Ask as many questions as possible to get a clear understanding of the requirements. 
• Write them down the main use cases on the whiteboard.
• Ask re-clarifying and scope related questions.
• Once you have the requirements written down draw up a flow diagram with various components and how they are connected and talk about the possible use cases.
• Think out loud. Verify your assumptions with the interviewer.
• Be prepared to write up the APIs specs for the flows and split the applications down by features.
• Also, you would need to have a fair understanding of various types of databases. When do you use RDBMS vs NoSQL? When do you use a message queue? Which type of queue would you use?
• Detailing what kind of cache you would use and where.
• Talk about scaling, Redundancy, DR.

Interviews might even ask you to code a feature if you have had coding experience in the past. 

Technical System Design Questions for TPM

• Designing an elevator system
• Design a Parking lot system
• Shopping cart – How do you store this information when you use multiple servers that are load balanced.
• How would you design a Twitter Feed? Recommendation system for fashion/clothes and accessories – Fundamentals here. 
• How does Uber Store & retrieve lat &long for a cab driver?
• If a user is at x,y give me five of the closest drivers.Extend the product page X and add the auction capability.
• How are your ensuring security or localization on a mobile device?
• Design a web-based email system.
• Describes pieces, components, design, large scale, and use case
• Design an application like Siri, Cortana or Alexa
• Design Facebook or the privacy features in Facebook. 
• Explain different performance scenarios for Instagram architecture. 
• Explain the different places you have caching in OneDrive.
• Designing an activity feed system.
• Design WhatsApp / Facebook Messenger: Issues of each, scaling problems, offline/online users and availability, notification etc –An airline carrier is losing a lot of bags – Design a solution.
• Design Dropbox etc. 
• Design X’s frequently viewed product page shows the last 5 items you viewed.
• Design the product recommendation feature based on a user’s purchase history.
• Design an online poker game or Tick Tack Toe for multi-players.
• Solve for persistence, concurrency, scale.
• Design Instagram
• Design a URL compression system – Bitly – Link 1
• Search engine: basic crawling, collection, hashing etc. (Depends on your expertise on this topic).
• Autocomplete / Typeahead  Search- Link
• Design a coupon system for a website like Peach or Uber.
• Design a picture sharing website. How will you store thumbnails, photos? Usage of CDNS? Caching at various layers etc.
• Design a push and inbox messaging platform.
• Design a product based on maps, eg Hotel / ATM finder given a location.
• Design malloc, free and garbage collection system. What data structures to use? Decorator pattern over malloc etc.
• Design a site like www.Pronto.com (price comparison, availability on eCommerce websites)
• When and will you cache, how often would you query,  crawl efficiency, etc?
• Design a system for collaborating over a document simultaneously (e.g.: google docs)?
• Design an electronic election / Ballot machine architecture
• Design a logging system  – Splunk or ELK
• Design Netflix, Youtube, Spotify 
• Build a machine learning system to detect if a fake user.
• How do you design a system with 99.999% availability
• Design an amusement Park Ticketing system for user ride efficiency
• Design Uber 
• Design an Inventory Management System
• Design a Video Conferencing application.  InfoQ Solution 
• Design any of the above architectures only using AWS, GPC or Azure- For Any cloud team.
• Troubleshoot a slow website or a slow e-reading device.

So there you go 41 questions. For questions like design Facebook or Uber, the interviewer will likely give you a specific feature he/she is looking to get you started on. 

To answer design questions, one must be very methodical. In my opinion, requires extreme discipline to follow a format and not jump around. Unless you have a fair amount of experience it is an easy place to fail. 

Start doing these in an exercise book and ask someone you know to review them. Practice makes perfect, you can do some mock interviews when you are part of the “Ace The TPM Interview Prep Community” or you can book mock interviews with experts here. 

System Design Terminologies & Technologies 

Terminologies & Technologies is a tough one, just because there are way too many to list and even if I did list within a couple of months they are going to be out of date.

Here Is My List of Fundamental Technical Workings A TPM Needs To Know:-

Also, a pretty fundamental book to read is “Scalability Rules: 50 Principles for Scaling Web Sites” Its kinda basic, but that what I like about it.

Check Out This Video On How to “Land Your TPM Job”

Behavioral, Situational, Leadership Interview Questions For TPMs

One important part of Interview Questions For A Technical Program Manager is to prepare well for behavioral interview questions. In my opinion, this is the easier part of the interview. All you need to do is have 5 to 8 different stories/projects ready which you can use for various questions. Common questions include;-

• Describe a situation where used your leadership skills to help your project team meet a difficult challenge.
• Describe a situation where you should your technical aptitude and solved an issue.
• Describe a situation where you negotiated a win-win situation.
• Describe a situation where you changed the process to make it better and more productive
• Describe the most complex project you have managed from start to finish and what were the challenges you encountered during your path.
• How have you managed risk in a project?
• What was a tough situation you faced and how did you overcome it?

You will find a thousand more when you google but if you have real projects that you have executed well you should be able to answer all of these with ease. Always use the STAR methodology  – Situation, Task, Action, Result. Be clear and detailed in your answers. Ask the interviewer if he is following along and if your answer was what he was looking for. Also, check out this blog on TPM Skills. 

Pure Project Management Interview Questions for TPMs

Answers for the below questions live here.

1. How would you handle non-productive developers?
2. If you do not get traction from a fellow TPM on another Team what would you do?
3. How do you motivate your team of developers?
4. What are the main things you would look for when you are running a cross-team Program?
5. Was your loyalty ever challenged? Give an example of such a scenario and what you did about it.
6. An example of a win-win situation you have negotiated.
7. Give an example of a challenging situation you had and how you handled it
8. Describe a situation where you were the voice of the customer.
9. Give an example when you took ownership of a program.
   give an example where you insisted on the highest standards and at the same time focused on iterative development
10. How do you earn the trust of your team members
11. How did you use your analytical to solve a problem
12. Example of getting by in from Stakeholders?
13. A situation where you think target where unachievable and how you overcame it
14. How do you add value to an already high-performance team
15. What is the thing you are most proud of?
16. An example of a stressful/tough situation you encountered. How did you handle it? If you had to do it over again, would you do it any differently?
17. How do you plan for a project or program?
18. What in your opinion are the three constraints of a project or program?
19. What are the tell-tale signs that your project or program is going to fail?
20. How have you contributed to the success of your programs?
21. How would you increase the efficiency of your development team?
22. How would you describe the critical path and float in a program?
23. How do you deal with stress, pressure, and unreasonable demands?
24. What are the tools you would use to ensure your program will succeed?
25. If you come about an early delay in one of your milestones what would you do?
26. Describe a situation when you had conflicting responsibilities and how did you handle it?
27. How do you decide if you would like to you traditional project management vs Agile methodologies?
28. How would you manage cross-team dependencies and deliverables?
29. Describe a time when your project failed.
30. What are the various states of a project? – RYG what do the various states stand for? how do you move Red to Green?
31. The importance of data and how you have used data analytics in previous roles
32. You missed a project deadline. How would you handle it?

Generic Agile Questions for TPMs

Answers to the questions live here.

1. What are the different types of agile methodologies that you have used and know about?
2. What are the core components of Scrum that you think are most valuable and what things do you feel are not so valuable?
3. How would you describe the most effective standup?
4. What are the best methods of sizing during a planning meeting
5. What kind of preparation is necessary before you start a sprint planning meeting?
6. How would you decide your sprint length?
7. How do you calculate velocity? And how important is this? Where does calculating velocity not make sense?
8. Have you ever used Kanban? Describe the situation where kanban makes sense and what are its advantages.
9. Differentiate between cycle time vs Lead time.
10. What are the key components of having a successful Agile team?
11. Difference between a burn-up and a burndown chart?
12. Various Agile tools you have used?
13. How would you describe a spike in scrum?
14. Why is CI, CD important?
15. What is your take on documentation within a Scrum team?
16. How do you manage dependencies within an agile development team?
17. What is your take on the SAFe framework?
18. What is your take on MVP?
19. When does a scrum team fail and why?
20. What are the primary advantages of using Scrum?
21. Common problems of estimation during a planning session.
22. How do you split large epic stories? Give an example.
23. have you ever moved a Team to start using agile? If so describe the experience and the hurdles you faced.
24. How do you prioritize when you groom your backlog or Take stories into your sprint?

Over 100 TPM questions with answers to several questions!

Technical Program Manager Interview Help

Recommended Reading: System Design For TPMs

• System Design Questions & Answers – Solutions to most commonly asked system design questions.
• Distributed Systems for Practitioners
• Exponent’s System design

Recommended Reading: Scalability

• The Art of Scalability: Scalable Web Architecture, Processes and Organizations for the Modern Enterprise
• Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems

Recommended Reading: Cloud

• Cloud Architecture: A Guide To Design & Architect Your Cloud  – Gives a great overview of all you need to know about the cloud. (AWS centric).  Must read for TPMs. Probably the best material out there! Use coupon “CLOUD-30-OFF“ for a 30% discount, this is a limited-time promotion.  
• Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Gives an in-depth overview of detailed architecture on how a TPM would use the various AWS Services. This would layer on top of all the system design prep. Use coupon “AWS-30-off“ for a 30% discount, this is a limited-time promotion.  

Most interviews today ask for how you would do X on the cloud and the above two courses would help with that.

Recommended Reading:  For People Managers

• The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

Recommended Reading:  Agile / Scrum / Project Management

• Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process – It is a good book. Time-consuming read but has a lot of case studies.
• Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time – If you want a quicker take on Scrum. This is a quick and dirty guide or could be used as a refresher. Shorter book !!
• Scrum: a Breathtakingly Brief and Agile Introduction – Neat read!
• PMP Exam Prep: Rita’s Guide – Good place to start to get your Project Management Know-how.

Recommended Blogs: TPM Interview Prep Guidance

• Engineer Seeking FIRE
• TPM Repository 

TPM FAANG Interview Preparation

• Facebook TPM Interview Questions & Process

• Amazon TPM Interview Questions with Answers

• Creating An Outstanding TPM Resume for FAANG

Recommend Reading For Product-Centric Roles

• Swipe to Unlock: A Primer on Technology and Business Strategy – A very interesting read.
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – If you find yourself being too lazy and cannot find the fuel to start.
• Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want
• Product Strategy for High Technology Companies – More for leisure reading not for interview prep in particular.
• Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love
• The Product Manager Interview: 164 Actual Questions and Answers
• Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers

(Bonus tip) Questions To Ask Your Interviewer

Finally one of the most important aspects, in every interview either on the phone or on-site you will be given a chance to ask questions. This is very important, it shows the interviewer how well you are prepared and also puts forward things that you care about.

Here are some of my favorite questions to ask :

• What in your opinion are the most challenging aspects of this role or team?
• How big is the team what are their backgrounds and experience?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals for this team/role?
• What does a typical day look like for the tech program manager at your organization?
• What are the primary skills you are looking for?

Please feel free to add your thoughts & comments below and add me to your LinkedIn Network! I love connecting with my readers. And don’t forget to check out my TPM 101 course!

Mario Gerard

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)