GWI Manager Interview Questions
& Process

First, there was a casual chat with HR. Then, I had one-on-one chats with the hiring manager and another person from the team. After that, I was given a use case to work on, and I had to present my solution to the team. Lastly, I had an interview focused on whether I'd fit into the company culture.

I had a screening call with an HR person, then a Zoom with the team, followed by a task to prepare (a 10-minute presentation). I also had a chat with another team to know what I thought about the company's values.

I was contacted via LinkedIn on July 13th by HR for an initial chat. She mentioned she was new and might not answer everything but wanted to discuss the opportunity. I asked about the challenges they faced. They explained it was a new position and they were exploring options. The job sounded interesting and after a good chat, HR asked about salary expectations. She didn't have the hiring manager's range, so I dismissed it. Around 3 days later, I was asked for my availability for a call with the CTO. I was available, and he called without a confirmed time, so I couldn't prepare. We had a good chat, and he wanted to meet in person, asking if I was interviewing elsewhere and promising to speed things up. This was on a Wednesday, and I chose Friday over Thursday. I requested to meet the team I'd work with, and he said someone from the Research team would be there. He also mentioned discussing my previous experience for '5 minutes' and that they were hiring Data Engineers too. As a tech person, this sounded great. I did a lot of preparation based on the two conversations, believing the face-to-face interview would be tech-focused. The meeting was confirmed in writing with a note to 'be prepared to discuss your experience in greater detail against your suitability for the role'. I arrived on the 21st, and after some help finding reception, met the CTO and Research Director. They stated the interview would be about 40 minutes, including a presentation on GWI, and that the role would report to the Research Director, not just the CTO. My preparation was deemed sufficient to skip the presentation, and I was questioned for about an hour on project management, which I have minimal experience and interest in, and it's not prominent on my CV or LinkedIn. Although it's on the job spec, I wouldn't have applied if not for the CTO's initial explanation, as I've seen job specs change during interviews, especially for new roles. I also thought my suitability was being assessed for general tech roles. It was a behavioral interview, and I knew my answers were too general due to my lack of project management depth. I tried to steer it back to my tech strengths, but they emphasized it was a process-focused, not engineering-focused role. I was told a decision would be made in a couple of working days. I sent a thank you email on Sunday, but after not hearing back, followed up the next Friday and the Tuesday after that. I received complete silence, which felt disrespectful given my effort and preparation for what seemed like a waste of time.