i went through the Block product designer interview a few months ago for a role on the Cash App consumer team. design hiring is such a black box that i wanted to write down exactly what happened.
recruiter intro + portfolio screen first call with a recruiter is pretty standard. they want to know your timeline and if your work is at the right level. then a shorter call with a design manager where you walk through 1-2 pieces of work. this is the actual first filter. they're looking for clarity of thought in how you narrate the work, not just the visuals.
portfolio presentation (60 min) you present two case studies. format: pick a complex problem, not a cosmetic redesign. they want to see: how did you define the problem, what research did you do, how did you generate and prioritize options, what tradeoffs did you make and why, how did you measure success.
things that stood out as valued: honest about constraints (time, engineering scope, research limitations) comfort with ambiguity in the framing phase direct callout of what you'd do differently now
things that landed flat in the room: pixel-perfect mockups with no process claiming solo ownership of team decisions vague "we saw a lift" without a metric
design exercise (take-home) before the onsite i got a 1-hour take-home prompt. mine was roughly: "a subset of Cash App users aren't turning on direct deposit even after being offered a bonus. design a solution and walk us through your reasoning." they explicitly said: don't spend more than 1-2 hours. they meant it. a tight wireframe with clear rationale beats a polished mockup with no explanation.
onsite (3 design rounds + 1 cross-functional) case walkthrough: deeper dive into one case from the portfolio presentation critique: they showed me a real Cash App screen and asked "what's not working here." this is not a gotcha, it's a conversation. be specific and constructive. design problem live: design the experience for a first-time money transfer. 30 minutes. think out loud. cross-functional (with PM and EM): behavioral. "tell me about a time a designer and PM disagreed on scope."
the whole loop took about 5 weeks. i got feedback that was specific, which i appreciated regardless of outcome. felt like a team that takes design seriously.