A Product Manager at ETS (Educational Testing Service) operates at the unique intersection of educational research, advanced technology, and global business strategy. In this role, you are responsible for driving the digital transformation of world-class assessment products, including TOEFL, GRE, and Praxis. Your work directly impacts millions of learners, educators, and institutions worldwide by ensuring that assessments remain fair, valid, secure, and highly accessible.

Unlike traditional consumer-facing tech roles, product management at ETS requires balancing cutting-edge digital delivery with rigorous psychometric standards. You will collaborate closely with cognitive scientists, research teams, software engineers, and security experts to build products that are not only user-friendly but also academically robust. This makes the position exceptionally complex, intellectually stimulating, and highly impactful for anyone passionate about the future of education and credentialing.

To succeed as a Product Manager at ETS, you must be comfortable navigating a highly matrixed organization. You will need to translate complex institutional requirements into clear, actionable product roadmaps. This role is ideal for strategic thinkers who can champion the user's voice while respecting the deep scientific heritage that makes ETS a global leader in educational measurement.

Preparing for the interview process requires understanding the types of challenges you will be asked to solve. The questions below are representative of those reported in real ETS interview experiences. They are designed to test your product sense, operational adaptability, and behavioral alignment with the organization's mission.

Product Strategy & Design

This category evaluates your ability to design user-centric solutions under unique constraints, such as accessibility standards and high-stakes testing security.

• How would you redesign the TOEFL test registration experience for international students with limited internet connectivity?
• What metrics would you track to measure the success of an AI-driven essay scoring feature?

Succeeding in the ETS interview loop requires a blend of structured product management frameworks and an appreciation for the educational domain. Your preparation should focus on demonstrating how you can drive innovation within a highly respected, established institution.

Role-Related Knowledge – You must understand the basic principles of educational technology, digital assessment, and the unique needs of diverse learner populations. Showing familiarity with accessibility standards (such as WCAG) and the challenges of high-stakes testing will immediately set you apart.

Problem-Solving & Structure – Interviewers want to see that you can deconstruct ambiguous problems systematically. Use clear product frameworks (like circles or double-diamond) to structure your answers, but ensure you adapt them to the educational space rather than relying on generic consumer-tech templates.

Stakeholder Alignment – Because ETS relies heavily on collaboration across research, technology, and operations, you must demonstrate strong matrix-leadership skills. Focus your stories on how you build consensus, manage conflict, and translate technical jargon into shared product goals.

Resilience & Adaptability – The organizational structure at ETS can sometimes lead to longer decision-making cycles. Candidates who show patience, strategic persistence, and the ability to maintain long-term product vision through complex processes are highly valued.

The interview process for a Product Manager at ETS is designed to evaluate both your functional product expertise and your cultural alignment with a mission-driven organization. Candidates can expect a thorough evaluation that balances technical capability with behavioral and situational judgment.

Historically, the process begins with an initial HR screening call to discuss your background, interest in ETS, and basic alignment with the role's requirements. Following a successful screen, candidates typically progress to a deep, one-hour phone or video interview with a hiring manager. This stage focuses heavily on your product management methodology, past experiences, and domain familiarity.

The final stage is a comprehensive panel interview, which has recently been streamlined into a highly collaborative loop. During this stage, you will meet with three or more key stakeholders, which may include product leaders, engineering managers, and research partners. This loop is designed as a healthy, two-way discussion where you can demonstrate your collaborative style, problem-solving structured thinking, and ability to handle complex operational scenarios.

The timeline shown above outlines the typical progression from your initial application to the final offer stage. Candidates should use this visual guide to pace their preparation, ensuring they focus on high-level behavioral alignment early on, followed by deep product and execution frameworks for the panel loop. While the process is highly structured, the exact timing between stages can vary depending on stakeholder availability and the specific product division.

To excel in your interviews, you must understand the specific competencies ETS interviewers are trained to evaluate. Your responses should reflect a deep understanding of these core areas.

Product Sense in High-Stakes Environments

This area assesses your ability to design products that are reliable, secure, and accessible to a global audience. Unlike standard digital products, an assessment tool cannot afford downtime or security vulnerabilities that compromise test integrity.

Be ready to go over:

• Accessibility and Equity – Designing products that accommodate users of all abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Security & Integrity – Implementing digital proctoring, identity verification, and fraud prevention measures without destroying the user experience.
• Data Privacy – Ensuring student and candidate data is managed securely in compliance with global standards like GDPR and FERPA.

Example scenarios:

• "How would you design an offline-first mobile testing app for regions with unstable internet access?"
• "What trade-offs would you make between user friction and security when implementing biometric verification for remote exams?"

Navigating Matrixed Stakeholders

At ETS, product managers rarely have direct authority over the research and psychometric teams who validate the assessments. Your success depends on your ability to influence and collaborate across highly specialized disciplines.

Be ready to go over:

• Translating Requirements – Bridging the gap between academic research requirements and agile software development practices.
• Conflict Resolution – Managing disagreements between speed-to-market goals and rigorous academic validation cycles.
• Executive Communication – Presenting product roadmaps and strategic updates to institutional leaders and external board members.

Example scenarios:

• "Describe a time when a research team insisted on a validation process that would delay your product launch by three months. How did you resolve the conflict?"
• "How do you build alignment when your engineering team and your business stakeholders have completely opposing views on a feature's priority?"

Execution & Delivery Under Constraints

This competency focuses on your ability to launch high-quality products within complex, highly regulated environments that often feature longer development cycles.

Be ready to go over:

• Roadmap Prioritization – Using data-driven frameworks to prioritize features when dealing with fixed academic calendars or test administration dates.
• Risk Mitigation – Identifying and planning for systemic risks in large-scale digital deployments.
• Agile in Matrixed Environments – Adapting agile development practices to work alongside structured institutional timelines.
• Advanced concepts – Managing product deprecation of legacy paper-and-pencil testing systems, and transitioning institutional clients to modern digital-first platforms.

Example scenarios:

• "How would you plan the transition of a major state-wide assessment from paper to digital without disrupting the school year?"
• "What strategy would you use to prioritize features for a product that has both high-paying institutional buyers and millions of individual student users?"