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Apple Product Management Interview Guide
Detailed, specific guidance on the Apple Product Manager interview process - with a breakdown of different stages and interview questions asked at each stage
The role of an Apple Product Manager
Apple manufactures, markets, and retails a variety of hardware and software products, including computers, mobile phones, tablets, and peripherals. The Apple product portfolio spans a variety of categories. Apple's major consumer goods offerings include computers (MacBook Air, iMac, MacBook Pro), smartphones (iPhone), tablets (iPad), wearables (Apple Watch, AirPods), music devices (iPod), and home electronics (Apple TV, HomePod).
Apple Product Manager Interview Guide
Role of a product manager at Apple
- Working with a group of data scientists, analysts, programmers, and technological partners
- Developing relationships with senior executives from a range of Apple departments, including finance, operations, engineering, and corporate security
- Using well-defined business and technical criteria to translate business demands into initiatives
- Identifying new business possibilities and designing products/solutions that strike a balance between impact, cost, resourcing, timeliness, success probability, and analytic risk.
- Creating and prioritizing roadmaps for analytic development
- Managing crucial business metrics
- Communicating project status and analytic results effectively.
Preferred Skills/Qualifications
- Experience as a product or program manager, business analyst, data scientist, or engineer
- Experience owning product lifecycles and roadmaps
- Experience in identifying and creating important metrics that measure the performance of business operations
- Crystal clear, succinct communication style to business and technical partners, leadership, data scientists, and technology teams
- Ability to explore a problem space, develop a deep understanding of dependencies and root causes, and create a scalable solution approach
- Ability to translate business needs to data science problems
- Ability to translate solution approach to technical requirements to be shared with technology teams
- Experience in operations, supply chain, omnichannel distribution, or logistics
- Ability to work independently, grasp new concepts quickly, and be capable of managing analytic projects down to the details
- Working well under limited supervision and using good judgment to know when to update and seek guidance from team members, partners, and leadership.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to connect with individuals at all levels, shift rapidly between communications styles and develop partnerships
- Proven ability to drive change through the positive influence of co-workers, leadership, and business partners
- Inquisitiveness and a desire for continued self-improvement and the development of new skills
Apple Product Management salary
Apple Product Managers earn $167,600 annually, which includes a $144,000 base salary and a $23,600 bonus.
The interview process in a nutshell:
The interview process for the Apple product manager role consists of 3 stages:
- Introductory call with the hiring manager
- Technical Interview
- Behavioral Interview
Relevant Guides
Apple PM - Introductory Round
Overview
Once you've spoken to a recruiter, you'll then be interviewed by the hiring manager for the position. This round is generally focused on basic behavioral questions.
What the interviewer will assess
A hiring manager will be looking at how well you mesh with the company's seven cultural values.
Interview Questions
Sample Questions
- What makes you want to work at Apple?
- Which Apple product is your favorite? Tell us why. In what way could it be improved?
- Describe a time when you had to deal with ambiguity.
- Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone of something even though you did not have the authority.
- Did you ever disagree with a manager's decision? What did you do?
- How has your career experience been so far?
- How would you describe the proudest moment of your career?
- What is your greatest achievement?
Apple PM - Technical Interview Round
Overview
The second stage consists of a 45-minute technical phone interview with a team member. A broad discussion about your experiences, the role, and compensation expectations may also take place.
What the interviewer will assess
- Your product knowledge
- Your understanding of the core aspects of your field
Tips
- The interview will focus on product management skills. You will be evaluated on how well you work and how you can contribute to the organization by the senior PM. Make sure you do your best.
- Practice several technical, analytical, and estimating questions ahead of time to refresh your knowledge.
Interview Questions
- Take me through the components that go into creating a data processing and reporting system.
- What feature in Apple iTunes would you want to see added?
- What criteria would you use to evaluate a feature you created?
- A huge number of Apple Card customers are failing to make their monthly payments, causing damage to their accounts. What could be causing the consumers' payment difficulties?
- What changes would you make to the Apple App Store?
- Is it time for Apple to develop its own search engine?
- What would you do if you had to create a new Siri?
- How would you assess the iPad Pro's success?
Practice more such questions with an Apple product Manager
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Apple PM - Behavioral Interview
Overview
During the behavioral interview round, candidates are generally asked to share specific examples of situations in which they used certain skills. This is your chance to demonstrate how you can benefit this company in the future. Behavioral round is key for other PM roles and makes up for a key aspect in many of them. You can take a look at our guide for Amazon Product Manager interview guide to understand this better.
Interview Questions
- When did you take the initiative on a project?
- How did you use your ability to solve problems for the benefit of a company or team?
- Can you describe a time when you used creativity to overcome a dilemma?
- Which is your best team-based project idea?
- Tell me about a time when you were called in to help with a situation.
- Is it easier for you to work in a group or on your own?