Uber behavioural & leadership interview questions

Sample questions with short answers

Tap a question to reveal the short answer and key points.

1. 1Tell me about a time you moved fast and broke something. How did you handle it?MediumUber-specificShow short answer

   Short answer

   Uber values speed with ownership. Describe the shortcut you took and why, the failure it caused, and how quickly you detected and mitigated it. Then the fix and the guard you added. The key is honesty and a clear link between the lesson and a changed behaviour.

   Interviewers listen for

   • why the shortcut was taken
   • how quickly you detected and mitigated it
   • the guard you added
2. 2Describe handling an on-call incident under pressure.MediumUber-specificShow short answer

   Short answer

   Walk the timeline: alert, triage, communication to stakeholders, mitigation (rollback or feature flag), then root cause and a blameless postmortem with action items. Quantify impact and time to recovery. Mention how you kept the team calm and what you automated afterward.

   Interviewers listen for

   • triage and communication
   • mitigate before root cause
   • postmortem action items
3. 3Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate or manager. What happened?EasyAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Use STAR: set the situation briefly, state what you disagreed about and why it mattered, describe the actions you took — gathering data, proposing an experiment, listening to the other view — and end with the result and what you learned. Interviewers want respectful escalation and evidence-based persuasion, not a story where you were simply right.

   Interviewers listen for

   • STAR structure
   • data or experiment to resolve the disagreement
   • result and what you learned
4. 4Describe a project that failed or missed its goal. What would you do differently?MediumAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Pick a real miss, own your part of it without blaming others, and be specific about the root cause — unclear scope, late risk discovery, missing tests. Then show the change you actually made afterward (earlier check-ins, smaller milestones, a pre-mortem). Keep the result honest: what was salvaged and what the team learned.

   Interviewers listen for

   • own your part without blame
   • specific root cause
   • concrete change made afterward
5. 5Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information.MediumAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Describe the ambiguity, the deadline, and the cost of waiting. Explain how you reduced uncertainty quickly — talking to users, a spike, a reversible decision — and the principle you used to decide. Close with the outcome and how you monitored for being wrong. Shows bias for action balanced with judgement.

   Interviewers listen for

   • reduce uncertainty quickly
   • reversible decision or experiment
   • monitor the outcome