Netflix Product Manager Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Netflix is one of the world’s leading entertainment services, with 278 million paid memberships in over 190 countries. Its diverse library includes TV series, films, and games in various genres and languages, providing an unparalleled viewing experience. Members can play, pause, and resume content as they please and adjust their plans anytime.

Working as a Product Manager at Netflix, you will be at the forefront of shaping innovative solutions for diverse aspects of the company, from live service games to content acquisition and AI-driven platforms. You will be tasked with identifying improvements, leveraging data, prioritizing content, and ensuring optimal performance in line with business goals. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and external partners and driving strategic initiatives to enhance Netflix’s offerings and user experience is key.

If you want to join a dynamic team that values creativity and efficiency, this interview guide on Interview Query will provide insights into the interview process, commonly asked Netflix product manager interview questions, and what it takes to succeed in the role.

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority; however, you can expect the following on a Netflix product manager interview:

Recruiter Call Screening

If your CV is among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Netflix Talent Acquisition Team will contact you and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be part of the screening process.

During the first discussion, the recruiter will send you a link to Netflix’s culture memo, which is essential as it highlights the company’s core values and culture.

Hiring Manager Call Screening

After passing the recruiter’s initial screening, the next phase involves interviewing the hiring manager. This round is generally designed to delve deeper into your technical skills and experience and understand your motivation for joining Netflix.

Questions may include:

1. Why Netflix?
2. Why did you move from one product area to another?
3. Tell me about your most recent experience.

Technical Virtual Interview

The next step in the process is a technical virtual interview. This may include questions about product sense, technical depth, and case studies applicable to the Product Manager role. Netflix may also explore your understanding of neural networks, expansion strategies into new markets, and other relevant technical topics.

Example technical questions:

1. How would you go about designing a neural network?
2. What are your plans for Netflix’s expansion into new regional markets?

Onsite Interview Rounds

After a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend a series of on-site interviews. These will usually involve multiple rounds with cross-functional (XFN) leaders, including directors and engineering managers, spanning approximately 30 minutes each.

Typical interview rounds may include:

• Culture fit discussions
• Detailed technical questions
• Product sense evaluations

Each interviewer may focus on different aspects of your profile and expertise in the context of the role you are applying for.

Post-Interview Feedback

After the interviews, Netflix is known to provide constructive feedback instead of ghosting candidates. This feedback can be quite helpful for future opportunities within or outside the company.

Typically, interviews at Netflix vary by role and team, but commonly, Product Manager interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

1. How do you calculate the average lifetime value for a SAAS company?

You work for a SAAS company with a product costing $100/month, a 10% monthly churn rate, and an average customer lifespan of 3.5 months. Calculate the formula for the average lifetime value.

2. What metrics/graphs/models would you use to analyze churn behavior for Netflix’s pricing plans?

Netflix has two pricing plans: $15/month or $100/year. An executive wants to analyze the churn behavior of users subscribing to either plan. What metrics, graphs, or models would you build to provide an overarching view of subscription performance?

3. How do you select the best 10,000 customers for a pre-launch and measure its performance?

Amazon Prime Video wants to test a new show on 10,000 customers. How do you select the best customers for the pre-launch, and what process would you follow to measure the show’s performance?

4. How do you analyze the cross-platform user experience and calculate unique user visits?

You need to analyze user interaction data on both web and mobile to optimize cross-platform user experience. How many unique users visited pages on mobile only? What percentage of web visitors visited pages on the web only? Write a query to return the percentage of users who visited only mobile, only web, and both.

5. How can Netflix measure the success of acquiring new users through a 30-day free trial?

Netflix offers a 30-day free trial, after which customers are automatically charged. How can Netflix measure acquisition success, and what metrics can be used to measure the success of the free trial?

6. Write an SQL query to recommend pages for each user based on their friend’s liked pages.

Given two tables, friends and page_likes, write an SQL query to create a metric to recommend pages for each user based on recommendations from their friend’s liked pages. Ensure it doesn’t recommend pages that the user already likes.

7. Implement a priority queue using a linked list.

Implement a priority queue using a linked list that supports insert(element, priority), delete(), and peek() operations. Smaller priority values imply higher priority.

8. Create a function isMatch to implement a simple regex parser supporting . and *.

Write a function isMatch(s, p) to determine if a string matches a regex pattern where . matches any single character and * matches zero or more of the preceding element.

9. Write a function to reverse a linked list starting from a given position.

Given the head node of a singly linked list and a position k, write a function reverse_at_position(head, position) to reverse the list from index k to the end.

10. Determine a potential friend for John based on a point-based system.

Using the provided database tables, John’s potential friends are determined based on mutual friends, shared page likes, and disqualifications for blocked users or existing friends. Return the top user with the highest friendship points.

11. How would you explain a p-value to someone who is not technical?

Explain the concept of a p-value in simple terms to a non-technical person, focusing on its role in hypothesis testing and what it indicates about the results.

12. What are MLE and MAP, and how do they differ?

Define Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) and Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) estimation, and explain the key differences between these two statistical methods.

13. What is Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) in machine learning, and what are its use cases?

Describe the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) concept in machine learning and provide examples of practical use cases where LDA can be applied.

14. How would you collect and aggregate unstructured data from videos for an ETL pipeline?

You are designing an ETL pipeline for a model that inputs videos. How would you collect and aggregate data for multimedia information, specifically when it’s unstructured data from videos?

15. Should you separate user groups by the year they became Netflix members when training a boosting algorithm?

You are analyzing a Netflix user dataset collected over 10 years to predict whether users will trust the website by entering their credit card info for a trial period. When training your model, would it be a good idea to separate the user groups based on the year they became a Netflix member? Why or why not?

Here are some quick tips on how you can ace your Netflix product manager interview:

1. Understand the Netflix Culture Memo: Netflix places a strong emphasis on its culture memo. Review it thoroughly to align your answers with Netflix’s core values and understand their expectations.

2. Technical & Product Depth: Be ready to showcase your technical depth, especially if the role involves close collaboration with engineering teams. Familiarize yourself with concepts like neural networks and product metrics.

3. Expect Cross-Functional Evaluation: Prepare to interact with multiple stakeholders across different functions. Show your ability to collaborate effectively with various departments, from engineering to design and data science.

What is the average salary for a Product Manager at Netflix?

What kind of strategic work does a Product Manager do at Netflix?

Product Managers at Netflix are involved in strategic initiatives, such as optimizing live service games, signing best-in-class games cost-effectively, and improving developer experiences. They are responsible for devising product roadmaps, analyzing performance metrics, and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality products that align with business goals.

What is the company culture like at Netflix?

Netflix is known for its unique and innovative company culture that values creativity, collaboration, and diversity. The company emphasizes its culture memo, which you should review thoroughly as it forms a substantial part of the interview evaluation. Netflix encourages risks, out-of-the-box thinking, and learning from failures.

Joining Netflix as a Product Manager offers a unique opportunity to be part of one of the world’s leading entertainment services. With a culture that values efficiency, constructive feedback, and a deep commitment to its employees, Netflix stands out as an excellent place for career growth.

To prepare adequately for your interviews and to get a deeper understanding of what to expect, check out our main Netflix Interview Guide, where we cover many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Netflix’s interview process for different positions.

You can also check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!