Interview: Managing a Function

Note: this is a generic interview guide for a functional leader. We highly recommend customizing it to the role you’re hiring for and the company you work at.

Interview questions:

Setting up a function:

It's day 1, and most of the organization doesn't know what your function does as it’s never existed at this company. How do you go about educating the company on what [insert function] does?
What are the P0 artifacts and processes you'd want to create to set up your function for success?
How would you prioritize your time as a team of one?

Growing the team:

How would you approach building out a team - what are the cues you’d use to decide when to hire?
Who would you prioritize to hire in your first 3 hires? Why?

Setting team priorities:

How would you go about setting your priorities as a team of one? What inputs would you look for?
What signal would tell you that your priorities are wrong?
How would you gauge the success of your team at any given time?

Rubric

Verdict	Criteria
Yes	Demonstrates all 3 competencies
Weak yes	Demonstrates 2/3 competencies (seek additional signal on missing competency)
No	Demonstrates 1/3 competencies or none.

Core competencies:

Clear structured thinking on how to set up a function: how to set up a team in a new context, how to set up goals, and how to manage their time.