I went through the Spotify product designer interview process twice. First time two years ago, made it to the onsite and didn't get an offer. Second time this past spring, got the offer, joined the Growth squad.
Posting because the portfolio review part is where most people lose, and there's almost nothing written about what Spotify actually looks for.
The process: Application screening, 30-min recruiter call, 60-min portfolio review with a senior designer, take-home design exercise (4 hours budgeted), onsite (3 rounds: 2 design reviews + 1 cross-functional with PM and eng).
Portfolio review round: This is not "here are your pretty screens, what do you think." They go deep on decisions. For every case study you show, be ready for: why did you eliminate the other directions, what did research tell you that changed your thinking, what did you get wrong and how did you find out. The first time I went through it I presented polished work without scars. The second time I led with a project where I'd initially gotten the user model wrong, caught it in testing, and had to redo a large chunk of the work. That's the story they wanted.
Spotify's brand has a strong visual identity, but the design team cares more about systems thinking and user research than visual polish. Show your process, not just your artifact.
Take-home: Mine was about redesigning a specific part of the discovery experience for a constrained screen size. Four hours is real, they track time in the brief. Do the thing, don't over-polish. A clear thinking structure matters more than pixel-perfect mocks. I submitted Figma frames with annotations explaining tradeoffs.
Onsite design crits: Both rounds involved walking through the take-home live, then getting challenged on specific decisions. The PM who sat in asked questions from a user perspective. The eng who sat in asked about what was technically feasible. Be prepared to defend and also to update your thinking in real time. If a critique lands, say so.
The difference between my first and second attempt: the first time I performed confidence. The second time I just showed how I actually work, including the messy parts. That's what landed the offer.