I came back to the job market after two years out for caregiving and NVIDIA was one of the first big tech companies I interviewed with. I was anxious going in because I hadn't thought about behavioral prep in years. Sharing what I learned.
NVIDIA doesn't publish a formal list of leadership principles the way Amazon does. But after talking to a few people who've gone through the loop and reading what I could find, there are clear themes that come up in the behavioral rounds:
Recurring question categories I encountered or heard about: Tell me about a time you disagreed with a technical decision and how you handled it. A project where the requirements changed significantly mid-way, and what you did. How you've worked across teams or functions where you had no direct authority. A time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. Something you built that you're genuinely proud of, and why.
A few things that stood out as different from other companies: interviewers at NVIDIA seemed particularly interested in the technical dimension of your behavioral stories. 'Tell me about a conflict with a colleague' would quickly turn into 'what was the actual technical disagreement about.' They want to see that you can articulate technical judgment, not just interpersonal skill.
I had a behavioral round with a hiring manager who spent about 15 minutes on the depth of one single story. He kept asking follow-up questions until he hit the floor of what I actually knew. This is not a company where you can rehearse a polished 90-second STAR and coast.
For the values piece: words like 'customer obsession' don't come up the way they do at Amazon. The vibe felt more like 'we move fast, we care about impact, tell me about when you did something hard.' GPU and AI infrastructure is genuinely fast-moving and they want people who can operate in that.
For returners specifically: they did not make my gap weird. The hiring manager asked about it once, I gave a brief factual answer, and we moved on. NVIDIA in 2026 seems more focused on what you can do now than where you've been.