Pinterest Behavioral Interview Template — Product Designer (Engineering Org)

Overview: This behavioral interview assesses how a Product Designer will deliver impact at Pinterest by putting Pinners first, collaborating deeply with cross‑functional partners (PM, Engineering, Data Science, Research, Content/Policy), and practicing thoughtful, inclusive design craft. Expect probing on outcomes over outputs, how you use data and research, and how you navigate ambiguity to ship work that meaningfully improves core Pinterest experiences (e.g., Home/Related feeds, Search, Shopping, Creator/Idea Pins). What interviewers focus on at Pinterest: - Pinners‑first mindset: How you anchor decisions in Pinner problems and measurable outcomes (e.g., saves, high‑quality sessions, retention, shopping conversion) rather than aesthetics alone. - Cross‑functional "Knit": How you build trust and momentum with PMs/engineers, bring stakeholders along, and handle disagreement to ship. - Craft and iteration: How you balance speed and quality, use design critiques effectively, and iterate through experiments and qualitative feedback. - Data, research, and safety: How you combine quant (A/B tests, guardrail metrics) with qual (user studies, diary studies) and account for safety, integrity, and policy. - Inclusion and accessibility: How you design for a global, diverse audience with accessibility (WCAG), localization, and content sensitivity in mind—aligned to Pinterest’s aim to create belonging. - Ownership and resilience: How you prioritize, make tradeoffs under constraints, learn from failures, and maintain a high bar using systems like Gestalt (Pinterest’s design system). Typical format (60 minutes): - 0–5: Introductions and context (team area, surface, current challenges). - 5–30: Deep dive story (end‑to‑end). Expect layered follow‑ups on problem framing, constraints, metrics, research insights, and iteration choices. - 30–45: Collaboration & conflict. How you influenced partners, handled pushback, and unblocked delivery. - 45–55: Mission/values & inclusion. Reflection on designing for global Pinners, safety, and accessibility. - 55–60: Candidate questions. Signals and rubric highlights: - Problem framing: Clear articulation of the user problem, success metrics, and risks/assumptions. - Outcomes: Evidence of measurable impact; comfort discussing experiment results and what changed because of your design. - Knit/collaboration: Proactive communication, shared ownership with PM/Eng, and thoughtful handling of disagreement. - Craft: Use of design systems (e.g., Gestalt), rationale for interaction/visual choices, and disciplined iteration. - Inclusion & safety: Concrete decisions that improved accessibility, reduced friction for underrepresented users, or mitigated safety/quality risks. - Reflection: What you’d do differently; how you incorporated feedback and scaled learnings. Sample Pinterest‑style behavioral prompts: - Tell us about a time you put Pinners’ needs ahead of competing stakeholder requests. What tradeoffs did you make and how did you measure success? - Describe a 0→1 or highly ambiguous project. How did you narrow the problem, build alignment, and decide what to ship first? - Share a time data contradicted your design intuition. What changed in your approach and why? - Walk us through a difficult collaboration with a PM or engineer. How did you resolve it and what was the outcome for Pinners? - When did you intentionally design for inclusion or accessibility and what impact did it have? - Tell us about a launch that underperformed. What did you learn and how did you iterate? - How have you leveraged Gestalt or design systems to move faster without sacrificing quality? - Give an example of driving a decision using both research insights and experiment results. What great answers look like: - Specific, outcome‑oriented narratives (problem → constraints → actions → measurable results) using STAR. - Clear metric ownership (e.g., save rate, session depth, creator engagement, conversion) and guardrails (latency, integrity). - Evidence of "Knit": proactive alignment, crisp written/visual communication, and empathy for partner constraints. - Demonstrated inclusive design thinking and awareness of platform safety/policy considerations. Interviewer notes template (for consistency): - Context & stakes: - User problem and success metrics: - Key decisions/tradeoffs and rationale: - Collaboration & conflict management: - Inclusion/accessibility & safety considerations: - Outcomes and learning: - Overall hire signal and risk areas: