Progressive Leasing Data Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

The first stage involved questions about statistics, analytics, and modeling. I'd asked for info beforehand about what to expect. The interviewer was friendly, allowed time for questions, and gave me space to think through answers. I felt it went well, but then got an email saying they were 'thanking me for going through their stages' even though I only completed one.

After applying, I got an email from a recruiter to set up a 30-minute business case study call. This call was with a senior DS and mainly involved questions about the company and how you'd use your technical skills on a hypothetical problem they're facing. No personal intros, we went straight into the case. It was basically a filter round. I messed up my last answer and got rejected a week later, but the next round would have been with a more senior person, probably a DS manager. Round 1 was pretty straightforward if you: 1) Really know the company and its industry. 2) Besides general research for the company and role, actually trying the product (if it's product-based) beforehand is super helpful. 3) For this interview, knowing basic stats/ML, the data science pipeline, and probability is enough. Nothing too complicated. Using ChatGPT for the questions below can give you a good foundation, but to really understand them, you need to know the company and product well as mentioned.

The interview process at Progressive Leasing was way too long, like 10 weeks. I got an email from the recruiter in mid-April for the first interview. After two case interviews, I had an onsite panel interview with three Data Science team members, and then a final call with the Chief Analytics Officer. The recruiter was unprofessional and pressured me to do the onsite interview just one day after I got my second case results, saying the team wanted to decide fast. I had to chase them for updates and finally spoke to the CAO, who was driving and didn't have his camera on. The questions were messy and didn't really relate to their business. Even though I thought I did well, the recruiter gave vague feedback about a 'technical gap' and hinted they picked someone with more experience. This probably explains why it took so long, as the evaluations felt subjective with no clear passing criteria, which is typical for smaller companies. It was a really bad experience, and I wouldn't ever apply or recommend Progressive Leasing. They took advantage of the employer's market, but if things change, nobody will want to work there.