Effective Work Sample Exercises for Hiring Engineering Program Managers

Engineering Program Managers serve as the linchpin between technical teams, business stakeholders, and organizational goals. Their ability to coordinate complex projects, manage cross-functional teams, and deliver results on time and within budget directly impacts a company's engineering effectiveness and overall success. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal a candidate's true capabilities in these areas, as discussing project management skills is vastly different from demonstrating them.

Work samples provide a window into how candidates actually approach the challenges they'll face on the job. For Engineering Program Managers, these exercises reveal critical competencies like planning ability, stakeholder communication, risk management, and team leadership that might otherwise remain theoretical in a standard interview. By observing candidates tackle realistic scenarios, hiring teams can make more informed decisions based on demonstrated skills rather than self-reported experience.

The cost of a poor hire in this role is particularly high. An ineffective Engineering Program Manager can lead to missed deadlines, budget overruns, team conflicts, and failed initiatives that impact the entire engineering organization. By incorporating targeted work samples into your hiring process, you significantly reduce this risk while also giving candidates a realistic preview of the role.

The following work samples are designed to evaluate the essential competencies of successful Engineering Program Managers. Each exercise simulates real-world challenges they'll face on the job, providing both you and the candidate with valuable insights into their potential for success in your organization.

Activity #1: Project Planning and Risk Mitigation Exercise

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to develop comprehensive project plans, identify potential risks, and create effective mitigation strategies—core responsibilities for any Engineering Program Manager. It reveals their strategic thinking, foresight, and practical planning approach in a realistic engineering context.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a brief (1-2 page) description of a hypothetical engineering project relevant to your company. Include the project goals, available resources, timeline constraints, and key stakeholders.
• The project should be complex enough to require cross-team coordination (e.g., a new product feature requiring frontend, backend, QA, and design work).
• Provide access to a project management tool the candidate can use (e.g., Jira, Asana, or even just Excel/Google Sheets).
• Allow 45-60 minutes for this exercise.
• Have an engineering leader available to answer clarifying questions about technical aspects of the project.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the project description and ask any clarifying questions.
• Create a project plan that includes:
• Major milestones and deliverables
• Timeline with dependencies
• Resource allocation across teams
• At least 5 potential risks that could impact project delivery
• Mitigation strategies for each identified risk
• Be prepared to present and explain your plan, including your rationale for timeline estimates and resource allocation decisions.
• Explain how you would track progress and measure success for this project.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide specific feedback on one strength of their project plan (e.g., "Your risk identification was thorough and practical").
• Provide one area for improvement (e.g., "The timeline for the QA phase seems optimistic given the complexity").
• Give the candidate 10 minutes to revise the specific area mentioned and explain their adjustments.
• Observe how receptive they are to feedback and how effectively they incorporate it into their plan.

Activity #2: Stakeholder Communication Role Play

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders—a critical skill for Engineering Program Managers who must translate technical information, manage expectations, and build alignment across the organization.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario where a critical engineering project is facing challenges (e.g., technical obstacles have emerged, causing a potential delay).
• Assign 2-3 employees to play different stakeholders with varying concerns:
• A non-technical executive concerned about market timing
• An engineering team lead worried about quality and technical debt
• A product manager focused on feature completeness
• Provide the candidate with a brief on the project status, including technical details and business impact of delays.
• Allow 15 minutes of preparation time and 20-30 minutes for the role play.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the project brief and prepare for a stakeholder update meeting.
• Your goal is to:
• Clearly communicate the current project status, including technical challenges
• Address concerns from each stakeholder
• Propose a path forward that balances competing priorities
• Build consensus on next steps
• Be prepared to answer questions and handle potential pushback from stakeholders.
• Focus on being transparent about challenges while maintaining confidence in the team's ability to resolve them.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, the "stakeholders" should provide feedback on what the candidate did well in terms of communication clarity and stakeholder management.
• One stakeholder should identify an aspect of the communication that could be improved (e.g., "I needed more clarity on how the technical issue impacts my area").
• Give the candidate 5-10 minutes to re-address that specific stakeholder with an improved communication approach.
• Evaluate their ability to adapt their communication style based on feedback.

Activity #3: Cross-Functional Team Coordination Simulation

This exercise evaluates how effectively candidates can coordinate multiple engineering teams, resolve conflicts, and keep projects on track—essential skills for Engineering Program Managers who must navigate complex interdependencies and competing priorities.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a simulation of a weekly program status meeting with representatives from different engineering teams.
• Prepare 3-4 employees to play the roles of team leads from different functions (e.g., frontend, backend, QA, infrastructure).
• Provide each "team lead" with specific updates, challenges, and dependencies to share during the meeting.
• Include at least two conflicting priorities or resource constraints that require negotiation and resolution.
• Provide the candidate with a program overview document 30 minutes before the exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the program overview to understand the teams involved, current status, and overall objectives.
• Facilitate a 30-minute program status meeting with the following goals:
• Get updates from each team
• Identify and address blockers or dependencies
• Resolve any conflicts or competing priorities
• Ensure alignment on next steps and priorities
• Document key decisions and action items
• Demonstrate your ability to keep the meeting focused, draw out important information, and drive toward solutions.
• After the meeting, spend 10 minutes documenting the key outcomes, decisions, and follow-up actions.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the simulation, team members should provide feedback on the candidate's facilitation skills and effectiveness in addressing issues.
• One team member should highlight an area where the coordination could have been more effective (e.g., "We didn't fully resolve the dependency between Team A and Team B").
• Give the candidate 10 minutes to outline how they would follow up to address this specific issue after the meeting.
• Evaluate their problem-solving approach and ability to ensure cross-team alignment.

Activity #4: Process Improvement Case Study

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to identify inefficiencies in engineering processes and implement improvements—a key responsibility for Engineering Program Managers tasked with optimizing team performance and delivery.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a case study describing a suboptimal engineering process in your organization (or a fictional one).
• Include metrics showing the impact of the inefficiency (e.g., long cycle times, frequent quality issues, team frustration).
• Provide context about the teams involved, current workflows, and any previous attempts to address the issue.
• Include any constraints that must be considered (e.g., regulatory requirements, system limitations).
• Allow 45-60 minutes for this exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the case study and analyze the current process to identify inefficiencies and root causes.
• Develop a process improvement plan that includes:
• Clear identification of the core problems
• Proposed changes to the process
• Implementation approach with specific steps
• Metrics to track improvement
• Potential challenges and how to address them
• Create a simple presentation (5-7 slides) outlining your analysis and recommendations.
• Be prepared to present your plan and answer questions about your approach.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide feedback on the strengths of their analysis and recommendations.
• Identify one aspect of their improvement plan that could be enhanced or might face resistance in implementation.
• Give the candidate 15 minutes to revise that specific aspect of their plan, addressing the concern raised.
• Evaluate their ability to think critically about process optimization and adapt their approach based on organizational realities.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How long should we allocate for these work samples in our interview process?

  Each exercise requires 60-90 minutes total, including preparation, execution, and feedback. We recommend selecting 1-2 exercises that best align with your specific needs rather than attempting all four. The Project Planning exercise and either the Stakeholder Communication or Team Coordination simulation typically provide the most comprehensive view of a candidate's capabilities.

• Should we provide these exercises to candidates in advance?

  For the Project Planning and Process Improvement exercises, providing the basic scenario 24 hours in advance allows candidates to showcase their best work rather than their ability to think quickly under pressure. The role plays and simulations are more effective when candidates receive only brief preparation time, as this better simulates real-world conditions.

• How should we evaluate candidates who have experience with different project management methodologies than we use?

  Focus on the underlying principles and skills rather than specific methodologies. A strong candidate should be able to explain their approach and how it would adapt to your environment. The feedback portion of each exercise provides valuable insight into their adaptability.

• What if we don't have enough team members available to participate in the role plays?

  The Stakeholder Communication and Team Coordination exercises can be modified to use fewer participants. Even having just 1-2 people play multiple roles can still provide valuable insights. Alternatively, focus on the Project Planning and Process Improvement exercises, which require fewer participants.

• How do we ensure these exercises don't disadvantage candidates from different industries or backgrounds?

  Provide sufficient context about your technical environment and business needs in the exercise materials. The core skills being evaluated—planning, communication, coordination, and improvement—are transferable across industries. Be explicit that you're evaluating approach and reasoning rather than specific domain knowledge.

• Should we use the same exercises for internal and external candidates?

  Yes, using consistent exercises ensures fair comparison. However, for internal candidates, consider using actual projects or processes they might be familiar with, while being careful not to give them an unfair advantage through prior knowledge of specific details being tested.

Engineering Program Managers play a pivotal role in the success of technical initiatives, and finding the right candidate requires evaluating both technical understanding and leadership capabilities. These work samples provide a comprehensive assessment of the skills needed to excel in this multifaceted role.

By incorporating these exercises into your hiring process, you'll gain deeper insights into candidates' abilities while also giving them a realistic preview of the challenges they'll face in your organization. This leads to better hiring decisions and improved candidate experience—a win-win for your engineering organization.

For more resources to enhance your hiring process, check out Yardstick's AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator. You can also find the complete job description for an Engineering Program Manager at this link.

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