Did the Genentech PM loop earlier this year for a senior PM role in the digital health group. This post is for the PMs reading, because most of the existing Genentech content is engineer-focused.
First: this is not a typical tech-PM interview. You are interviewing at a pharmaceutical company that has a tech team, not a tech company that happens to be in healthcare. That framing matters for how you prep.
The rounds I had: Recruiter screen (30 min, standard) HM screen (45 min, half resume walk, half "why healthcare") Product sense / strategy: 60 min Execution / estimation: 45 min Cross-functional behavioral: 45 min (with an eng lead and a medical affairs person, which was new for me) Leadership panel: 30 min with a VP
Product sense questions: "How would you improve the experience for a clinical trial site coordinator using our internal data tools?" "What metrics would you use to measure success for a patient-facing digital companion app?"
Neither of these is a consumer product question. They're not asking you to redesign Spotify. You need to understand concepts like regulatory constraints, HIPAA, patient vs. provider vs. payer as distinct users, and what "success" means when outcomes are clinical, not engagement-based.
Estimation: "How many patients in the US are actively enrolled in oncology clinical trials?" Domain-specific Fermi question. Work through it out loud, show your reasoning, get to a number. They want process not precision.
Cross-functional behavioral was the most unusual round. Having a medical affairs person in the room meant I got follow-up questions about how I'd handle a situation where clinical data and product roadmap priorities were in conflict. Good question, made me think.
One concrete prep tip: read a couple of Genentech's recent FDA approvals or pipeline announcements. Being able to say "I saw you just got approval for X, and I'd imagine the digital companion for that patient population would have specific needs around Y" is the kind of specific that stands out.