It started with a 30 mins call with the recruiter. Followed by a 30 mins 1:1 interview with the Hiring Manager The candidates who clear HM round, are given a Take Home Assignment to present to the panel followed by a few 1:1 with cross team leads I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with the recruiter as well as the hiring manager. Both were respectful, answered all questions, patiently. The hiring manager interview was interesting and extended from 30 mins to 60 mins. I thought I did pretty well, given the hiring manager spent 2X time asking interesting questions about past projects and product design exercises. My rating is based on the post interview feedback from the recruiting team. I was looking for feedback about my interview performance, specially those that didn't meet HM expectations so that i can improve upon them. I received a generic 'there were better candidates' response in spite of requesting for feedback via their 'interview experience feedback' form and sending a separate email to the recruiter. It felt like, they didn't want to spend time on a rejected candidate. Yet, they said they will have my resume on file for future.

This process was by far one of the most frustrating experiences I've been through in my career. Not only was the hiring process comically long for an email marketing firm, but they also require candidates to, in essence, give a free consulting presentation to a broader panel. The prompt essentially asks candidates to suggest feature improvements for an existing product, as well as write out requirements for said enhancements. By my estimate, asking candidates to do free work is an ethically gray area and morally suspect. What's even more frustrating is that of the handful of final candidates in last round, none were hired and the company closed the position. As such, it reinforces two thoughts: First, that the company had no intentions of bringing on a senior PM and crowdsourced free consultation, and two, that the hiring team has absolutely no clue what they're looking for in a candidate -- and what they value most is their own inflated sense of self-worth. Given this experience I would strongly advise caution to any product folks looking to apply. While I hope I'm wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if the hiring team gives similar treatment to future candidates as well.