To succeed in the Caris Life Sciences interview process, you must demonstrate a highly specialized skill set that blends scientific curiosity with commercial execution. Your preparation should focus on the following key evaluation criteria:

Clinical & Scientific Aptitude – You do not need a PhD, but you must be able to converse fluently with molecular biologists, pathologists, and oncologists. You will be evaluated on your understanding of next-generation sequencing (NGS), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and how molecular profiling guides targeted cancer therapies.

Strategic Product Lifecycle Management – Interviewers will look at how you manage a product from conceptualization through R&D, clinical validation, regulatory clearance (FDA/CLIA), and commercial launch. You must show that you can define clear product requirements and manage cross-functional dependencies.

Commercial & Market Savvy – The diagnostics market is heavily influenced by reimbursement codes (CPT codes), payer coverage policies, and regulatory landscapes. You need to demonstrate an understanding of how these factors impact product adoption and how to build a robust go-to-market strategy.

Influence Without Authority – As a Product Manager, you will lead cross-functional teams that do not report to you. Your ability to build consensus, communicate a clear product vision, and align diverse teams (from lab operations to field sales) is a critical indicator of your potential success.

The interview process at Caris Life Sciences is structured to assess your technical capability, strategic thinking, and cultural alignment. It moves at a deliberate pace, ensuring that both the hiring team and you have ample opportunity to evaluate the fit.

You will start with an initial conversation with a talent acquisition partner to align on your background and expectations. This is followed by a deeper technical and strategic discussion with the hiring manager. If you progress, you will participate in a comprehensive panel interview, which often includes a presentation or case study presentation where you will demonstrate your product strategy capabilities to key stakeholders from R&D, Commercial, and Medical Affairs.

The visual timeline above outlines the standard progression of our hiring process. You should interpret this as a guide to pace your preparation, focusing first on high-level storytelling and core product management frameworks, before diving deep into scientific domain knowledge and case study presentation preparation for the later stages. While the exact timeline can vary slightly depending on whether you are interviewing for a regional field-based role or a headquarters-based position in Irving, TX, the overall evaluation rigor remains consistent.

Clinical Utility & Market Strategy

This is the core of your role as a Liquid Product Manager. You must prove that you can identify market opportunities and translate them into successful product strategies that resonate with clinicians and payers.

Be ready to go over:

• Value Proposition Design – How to articulate the unique clinical value of blood-based profiling (e.g., ease of collection, rapid turnaround time, overcoming tumor heterogeneity) compared to traditional tissue biopsy.
• Competitor Analysis – Your understanding of the competitive landscape in oncology diagnostics and how to position Caris Life Sciences products to win market share.
• Reimbursement Strategy – How to design product features and clinical utility studies that align with the requirements of Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial payers to secure coverage.

Example scenarios:

• "Walk us through how you would launch a new liquid biopsy assay in a region where a competitor already has a dominant market share."
• "How would you prioritize product updates if you received conflicting feedback from academic oncologists and community oncologists?"

Cross-Functional Leadership & Go-To-Market (GTM)

Launching a molecular diagnostic product requires seamless coordination across highly specialized internal departments. You must demonstrate that you can act as the central nervous system of the product lifecycle.

Be ready to go over:

• Sales Enablement – Developing clinical marketing materials, training programs, and objection-handling guides for our field sales team.
• R&D and Lab Operations Alignment – Translating clinical market needs into precise technical specifications that lab scientists and software engineers can build against.
• Medical Affairs Collaboration – Working with medical directors to design registry studies and clinical trials that generate real-world evidence to support your product.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating digital health tools, EHR/EMR systems, and clinician portals to streamline the ordering and reporting workflow for liquid biopsy tests.

Example scenarios:

• "Describe how you would coordinate a product launch across R&D, Regulatory, Marketing, and Sales, highlighting how you manage key milestones and bottlenecks."
• "How do you handle a situation where laboratory operations reports a sudden increase in test turnaround times just as you are launching a major marketing campaign?"

Data-Driven Decision Making & Regulatory Compliance

At Caris Life Sciences, our products are bound by strict regulatory standards and clinical guidelines. Your decision-making process must be highly analytical and compliant with industry standards.

Be ready to go over:

• Regulatory Frameworks – Familiarity with FDA pathways for companion diagnostics, CLIA/CAP lab validations, and LDT (Laboratory Developed Test) regulations.
• Product Analytics – Using data (such as ordering patterns, sample rejection rates, and pipeline metrics) to identify friction points in the customer journey.
• Clinical Data Interpretation – Comfort reading clinical trial data and oncology literature to ensure all product claims are scientifically sound and compliant.

Example scenarios:

• "How would you use data to identify why a specific region is experiencing a drop-off in repeat orders for our liquid biopsy test?"
• "If regulatory guidelines change mid-development, how do you assess the impact on your product roadmap and communicate this to the executive team?"

As a Product Manager at Caris Life Sciences, your primary objective is to drive the lifecycle management, commercial strategy, and market adoption of our liquid biopsy portfolio. You will act as the commercial owner of your product line, ensuring that R&D innovation translates directly into commercial success and clinical utility.

On a day-to-day basis, you will manage the product roadmap, defining product requirements based on deep market research, customer feedback, and competitive intelligence. You will collaborate closely with clinical development and medical affairs teams to ensure our assays are backed by robust clinical evidence, which is essential for both clinician adoption and favorable reimbursement policies.

For regional roles (such as the positions covering Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas), a significant portion of your responsibility will involve field-facing market development. You will partner with regional sales directors to identify key institutional accounts, engage with oncology Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and tailor the product message to local market dynamics. You will bridge the gap between our high-tech laboratory operations in Irving, TX, and the real-world clinical practices in your territory, ensuring that our molecular profiling solutions are seamlessly integrated into patient care workflows.

We look for candidates who possess a rare combination of scientific credentials, commercial product management experience, and outstanding communication skills.

Must-Have Qualifications

• Experience – Minimum of 3–5 years of product management, product marketing, or commercial strategy experience in the molecular diagnostics, medical device, or pharmaceutical industry.
• Education – A Bachelor’s degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, bioengineering, or a related life sciences field is highly preferred to ensure scientific credibility.
• Commercial Track Record – Proven experience launching clinical products, developing go-to-market strategies, and managing cross-functional teams through a product launch cycle.
• Communication Skills – Exceptional ability to simplify highly complex scientific concepts into compelling, easy-to-understand value propositions for sales teams, clinicians, and executives.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Advanced Degrees – An MBA, PhD, or Master’s degree in a scientific field or healthcare administration.
• Oncology Expertise – Deep, pre-existing knowledge of the oncology market, including current treatment paradigms, targeted therapies, and the clinical application of NGS.
• Reimbursement Knowledge – Familiarity with diagnostic reimbursement pathways, CPT codes, and MolDX coverage determinations.