Went through the Uber product designer interview process in April 2026 for a mid-level role on the Driver Experience team. I'm a UX researcher by training but have been doing hybrid researcher/designer work for the last two years, so this was a bit of a stretch application. Sharing because the design interview world has less public documentation than the SWE world.
The full process:
Initial recruiter screen: pretty standard. They confirmed I had shipped product and asked about my team setup. Uber distinguishes between product designers, brand designers, and UX researchers as separate tracks. Make sure you're applying to the right track.
Portfolio review (45 min with two designers): this is the most important round. They asked me to walk through two case studies. For each one they pushed hard on the "why" at every decision point. Not "what did you design" but "what were you trying to learn by doing that usability test" and "what alternatives did you consider for this flow." They barely looked at the visual output. They wanted to see my reasoning.
Design exercise (1.5 hr async, then 30 min presentation): they sent me a prompt 48 hours in advance. Mine was to redesign the earnings dashboard for Uber drivers. I was expected to show research synthesis, problem framing, multiple concepts, and a final direction. The 30-minute presentation felt like a product review: they interrupted, asked hard questions, pushed on edge cases. Be ready for that.
Cross-functional collaboration round: conversation with a PM and an engineer. They're checking whether you can communicate design decisions to non-designers and whether you understand engineering constraints. Not a design round at all, really.
Leadership/behavioral: standard behavioral questions but with a design lens. "Tell me about a time your design was wrong and what you did."
The sense I got: Uber cares a lot about design craft but they're also a very metric-driven company. Designers who can connect their work to outcomes (driver retention, trip completion, earnings growth) will land better than designers who talk purely about the UX. Frame everything in terms of what it does for the user and the business.