finished my Robinhood TPM loop about 6 weeks ago. sharing the process because there's very little info on what their TPM interview actually looks like vs. other companies.
first thing to know: their TPM role is genuinely technical. they were not shy about this. the recruiter told me upfront that TPMs are expected to understand the system well enough to unblock engineers and spot risk in technical plans, not just track tickets. so if you're applying expecting a purely PM-style loop, adjust your expectations.
process:
intro call (30 min): hiring manager-level person. lots of "walk me through your most complex technical program" and specifically: how did you track dependencies across teams, what broke, how did you communicate up.
technical system design (60 min): I was given a scenario: Robinhood is launching a new product feature. walk me through how you'd scope and plan the technical work. they asked about API contract design, service dependencies, rollback strategies. they weren't testing whether I could write code but whether I understood enough to ask the right questions.
cross-functional program round (45 min): this was basically: describe a program you ran that had dependencies on engineering, design, legal/compliance, and a hard deadline. every function you named added complexity. I think they wanted to see if I could keep a clear thread through genuine ambiguity.
behavioral (30 min): standard STAR format. two questions that stood out: "tell me about a time you had to push back on a PM or engineering manager on scope" and "describe a program that went wrong and what you own."
what I think they weight: communication precision more than technical depth, but you need enough technical foundation to not embarrass yourself in the design round. the cross-functional program round felt like the most differentiating one.
location context: the role I applied for was SF/remote hybrid. they said TPMs in SF get pulled into more meetings than remote ones. surprising? yes. honest of them to say? also yes.