Lucid Software Product Manager Interview Questions
& Process

I remember a bunch of interviews that tested different parts of my experience, like UX, Data, Strategy, and Product Management. Each interview was about 30 minutes to an hour, and I was given datasets and hypothetical case studies to work through. They felt relevant, challenging, interesting, and directly related to the job. Each interview had a panel of people with the main skill set for that part, plus a few others. During the process, I got a better understanding of the role and saw how I could fit in. I also got a real-time look at how the company operates, which was useful at my career stage as a director. I ended up being the second choice out of about 7 candidates. I was fortunate to know someone on LinkedIn who was the CEO and some other staff, so I had a brief chat with one C-level person, which was helpful. The recruiters were also quick to respond and schedule, which was great since I had other opportunities going on. However, they took a while to make a final decision and only got back to me when I had another job offer, letting me know I was the second choice and that the first candidate was likely going to accept. I appreciated their honesty because it helped me decide. In the end, they chose someone with direct experience in their industry, whereas I came from an emerging market background. I put a lot of time and effort into researching their products, capabilities, and limitations for the interviews, and they weren't easy, but overall it was a good experience. Even though being #2 was disappointing because I really liked the company, I wished them well and quickly accepted my other offer. Looking back two years later, I wish they had made a decision sooner instead of making me go through so many exercises, which took up a lot of my time, caused stress, and used energy, especially while I was managing a full-time C-level job elsewhere (I was hoping to relocate). I later found out they didn't go with the #1 candidate for some reason and promoted someone internally. After hearing that, while I was happy for the person who had interviewed me because I found them intelligent and strategic, I wish they had been more thoughtful about their needs and potential to hire external talent. Either way, I did learn from the experience.

The interview process felt informative, positive, and personable. It took a few weeks to get a response after submitting my application. Then, a 20-minute phone screen was set up by email. This first call was smooth and comfortable, and it actually ran over its allotted time, which I took as a good sign. After that, I was contacted within a few days, and a second 45-minute phone interview was scheduled with the hiring manager. This second interview was also very informative. It really focused on critical thinking, presenting a scenario where I had to discuss my thought process for analyzing objectives and proposing potential actions. I found this exercise to be fun and thought-provoking in a good way.

The first interview was with a PM and involved a case study. It was challenging, and I advanced. The recruiter told me the next round would be interviewing the whole team. During my interview with the design team, there were scheduling conflicts for the subsequent interviews. I emailed the recruiter for a new time, but got no response. The next day, I received an automated rejection email. It felt unprofessional to waste my time, as a PM candidate shouldn't be judged on incomplete interviews. I would have expected either rejection after the first round or to finish interviews with the whole team in the next round. This left a bad impression, and I won't apply again.