just finished a Sony product designer interview loop for a role on the PlayStation app team (the companion app for PS5). it took about 4 weeks total. writing this up because the Sony UX interview process is not very documented and i went in pretty blind.
the portfolio review is the centerpiece. unlike some companies where it's a formality, they spent a full 45 minutes on it with two senior designers and a PM. they weren't just looking at the work itself, they were interested in: how you articulate design decisions vs just describing the visuals where you pushed back on stakeholders and how what metrics or qualitative signals you used to know the design was working how you handled constraints (time, tech, conflicting user needs)
i made the mistake of including a case study where i didn't have strong data on the outcome. they asked about it and i had to be honest that we didn't instrument it well. they didn't penalize me for that honestly, but they asked what i'd do differently.
the full loop: recruiter intro call (20 min) portfolio walkthrough with one designer, informal (30 min) design exercise: take-home, 1 week. they asked me to redesign one screen of an existing PlayStation feature for better engagement. open-ended. presented it in a 45-min session with 3 people. full onsite (virtual): portfolio deep dive (45 min), cross-functional round with a PM (30 min asking about collaboration and trade-off decisions), brief behavioral with HR (20 min).
what they care about: consumer product mindset, not enterprise. they design for a global audience that skews toward passionate gamers. understanding the emotional context of the product matters. one interviewer asked me how i think about designing for someone who's been playing for 8 hours and is half-asleep. that's the level of user empathy they're looking for.
comp: i was told the band for senior product designer in San Diego was $155k-$195k base. lower than SIE/SF-based roles. was told RSU grants are modest compared to what a similar-level designer would get at a product company.
i turned it down for a different offer but the team seemed genuinely collaborative and the product problems are interesting if you care about gaming.