Just finished the JPMC engineering manager loop for a VP-level position in their tech organization (Consumer and Community Banking side). I know the VP title at a bank is not the same as VP at a startup, so let me explain the scope: it was an EM role managing two teams of about 8-10 engineers each, reporting to an executive director.
The loop was longer than any engineering manager interview I'd done before. Six rounds. I'll break them down.
Recruiter screen. Standard. They want to know you understand the bank's scale and aren't allergic to regulatory context. I made a point of mentioning I'd worked in a compliance-adjacent environment before. Seemed to matter.
Technical calibration. This was a lighter version of what ICs go through. I wasn't expected to write code, but they did ask me to review a system design for a payment processing service and tell them what I'd change. They also asked how I would approach technical debt prioritization across two teams with different roadmaps.
People and org design. How do you structure 1:1s. How have you handled a low performer. How do you keep senior ICs engaged. How do you run a hiring process. This was the round I found most comfortable and I think it went well.
Execution and delivery. Stakeholder management questions. "Tell me about a time a project slipped and how you communicated it." "How do you prioritize when product, compliance, and your own team all have different views on urgency." JPMC cares a lot about risk and compliance culture. I wove that language in explicitly.
Values and leadership principles. JPMC has its own internal leadership principles. They didn't share them before the interview but the interviewer walked through them. Think about customer obsession, accountability, operational discipline. If you've done Amazon interviews, not totally dissimilar.
Panel with senior leaders. Two executives for 45 minutes. More strategic: how do you think about building engineering culture, how would you approach a reorg, what's your take on AI tooling for engineering teams.
Total timeline was 8 weeks. Big bank moves slowly. Comp at this level is base-heavy, less equity than you'd get at a tech company. The role stability and brand name are real, but you trade in raw cash upside.