i went through the Salesforce product designer loop earlier this year for a senior IC role on the Salesforce core CRM design team. this is for people applying to design roles, not research (though some parts overlap).
Salesforce has a mature design org. they operate in the design systems space internally (SLDS, Salesforce Lightning Design System is literally public) so they know what good looks like. they're not easily impressed by visual polish alone.
the process:
recruiter screen - background, portfolio link submitted beforehand. they want to see 2-3 case studies minimum, ideally with at least one B2B or enterprise product example. if your portfolio is all consumer apps, that's not a dealbreaker but you'll need to speak to complexity and constraint.
portfolio walkthrough - 60 minutes with a senior designer or design lead. you share screen and walk 1-2 case studies. they want: problem framing, research inputs (what did you learn about users before designing), design process (sketches, iterations, how you handled constraint), outcomes, and what you'd do differently. the trap is over-presenting the final screens and under-explaining the thinking. they want to see your process, not your Figma polish.
tips: pick a case study where something went wrong or changed mid-project. that's where the richest conversation happens.
design exercise - you get a brief (usually 24-48 hours). mine was: redesign the account detail page in Salesforce CRM to better help a sales rep prepare for a call. not a trick, just a real problem they actually think about. they're evaluating: did you define the problem well, did you make a clear argument for your decisions, is the design coherent. pixel perfection is NOT the point.
cross-functional round - usually with a PM and sometimes an engineer. they ask how you work with stakeholders, how you handle design review pushback, how you balance research vs. shipping speed. have real examples ready.
design director final - more conversation than interview. they're assessing fit, growth potential, and whether you think at a systems level.
the whole loop took about 5 weeks including the 48-hour exercise window.
feedback i heard afterward: candidates who lost were over-indexed on visual craft and under-invested in problem framing. at Salesforce the question 'why this design' matters more than 'look how beautiful this is.'