What is a Business Analyst?

At Lyft, a Business Analyst plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between raw data and strategic decision-making. Unlike a pure Data Analyst who might focus heavily on pipeline maintenance, or a Financial Analyst strictly focused on the P&L, a Business Analyst here operates at the intersection of operations, product, and finance. You are the navigator for stakeholders who need to understand why a metric moved and what to do about it.

This role is critical because Lyft operates in a complex, two-sided marketplace involving riders and drivers. Balancing supply and demand, optimizing pricing, and ensuring marketplace health requires constant monitoring and actionable insights. You will likely work within specific verticals—such as Lyft Business, Bikes & Scooters, or Core Rideshare Operations—helping teams forecast demand, model financial scenarios, and track operational efficiency.

Expect to work in a fast-paced environment where your analysis directly influences how resources are allocated and how products are launched. You aren't just reporting on the past; you are helping the business predict and shape the future.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for the Business Analyst role requires a shift in mindset. You need to demonstrate that you can execute technical tasks while keeping the broader business context in focus. Do not just prepare to write code; prepare to explain the value of your analysis.

Key Evaluation Criteria

Technical Proficiency (SQL & Excel) – You must demonstrate the ability to manipulate data fluently. At Lyft, this means writing clean, efficient SQL queries to pull data from large datasets and using advanced Excel functions for modeling. Interviewers assess not just if you get the right answer, but if your code or models are structured logically and auditable by others.

Business Acumen & Modeling – This is a major differentiator. You will be evaluated on your ability to build financial models, forecast trends, and perform scenario analysis. You need to show that you understand the drivers of Lyft’s business (e.g., bookings, active riders, driver incentives) and how they interact.

Problem Structuring – When faced with an ambiguous question like "Why is revenue down in Chicago?", interviewers look for a structured approach. They want to see you break the problem into component parts (price vs. volume, external vs. internal factors) before you dive into the data.

Cross-Functional Communication – You will interface with non-technical stakeholders. You must show that you can translate complex data findings into clear, narrative-driven recommendations. Culture fit is assessed by your ability to work collaboratively and your passion for the product.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Business Analyst at Lyft is rigorous and structured, designed to test both your hands-on skills and your strategic thinking. Based on recent candidate experiences, the process typically spans 3 to 4 weeks, though this can vary depending on the urgency of the hire and the completion time of the take-home assignment.

You will generally start with a recruiter screen to align on the role and your background. This is followed quickly by a hiring manager screen, which delves into your past experience and behavioral questions. If you pass these initial hurdles, you will almost certainly face a take-home assessment. This is a critical filter in Lyft’s process; it often involves financial modeling, forecasting, or a business case study in Excel. Candidates who successfully defend their take-home assignment move on to a "virtual onsite" panel, which usually consists of four back-to-back 30-minute interviews covering technical skills, business acumen, and culture.

The timeline above illustrates the standard flow. Note that the Take-Home Assessment is a significant milestone; candidates report it can be time-consuming and is often the stage where the most rigorous filtering happens. Use the time between the manager screen and the panel to brush up on your modeling skills, as the final round will often reference or build upon the work you did in the take-home.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you need to focus your preparation on specific pillars that Lyft prioritizes. The following areas are consistently tested across the interview rounds.

Technical Skills: SQL and Data Manipulation

Data is the lifeblood of Lyft. You will be tested on your ability to retrieve and manipulate data. Unlike some roles where pseudo-code is acceptable, you should be ready to write or dictate valid syntax.

Be ready to go over:

• Joins and Aggregations – Understanding how to merge tables (e.g., Rider and Driver tables) and aggregate metrics by time or region.
• Filtering and Window Functions – writing queries to find "top X" or "moving averages."
• Live Coding/Dictation – In some virtual interviews, you may be shown tables and asked to verbally dictate the SQL code or type it into a shared doc without an IDE.
• Data Cleaning – Handling NULL values or inconsistent date formats.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Given a table of rides and a table of users, calculate the retention rate of riders who signed up in January."
• "Write a query to find the top 3 drivers by revenue for each city."
• "How would you debug a query that is returning duplicate rows?"

Financial Modeling and Excel

This is a distinguishing feature of the Business Analyst role at Lyft compared to generic data roles. You are expected to be an Excel power user who can build dynamic models.

Be ready to go over:

• Forecasting – Projecting future metrics based on historical data and growth assumptions.
• Scenario Analysis – Building "Bull, Base, and Bear" cases for a new product launch or pricing change.
• Profitability Analysis – Calculating contribution margin or unit economics for a specific ride type.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Build a model to forecast ride volume for the next 12 months given these seasonality trends."
• "If we increase driver incentives by 10%, how will that impact our overall margin? Model this in Excel."

Business Sense and Metric Definition

You need to think like a product owner. Interviewers will present open-ended problems to see if you can identify the right metrics to track.

Be ready to go over:

• Marketplace Dynamics – Understanding the relationship between supply (drivers) and demand (riders).
• Root Cause Analysis – Diagnosing why a key metric (like ETA or Conversion Rate) has changed.
• Success Metrics – Defining what "good" looks like for a new feature.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Ride cancellations have spiked in San Francisco. How would you investigate this?"
• "We are launching a subscription pass. What metrics would you track to measure its success?"

The word cloud above highlights the frequency of terms in recent interview experiences. Notice the prominence of "Modeling," "Excel," "Forecasting," and "Case." This confirms that while SQL is required, your ability to model business scenarios in Excel is a major weight in the evaluation. Prioritize your preparation accordingly.

Key Responsibilities

As a Business Analyst at Lyft, your daily work centers on providing the analytical engine for your team. You will be responsible for building and maintaining the dashboards that leadership uses to monitor business health. This involves writing complex SQL queries to automate reporting and using visualization tools to make that data digestible.

Beyond reporting, a significant portion of your time will be spent on strategic deep dives. You might be asked to analyze the financial impact of a new driver bonus structure or to forecast the demand for rides during a specific holiday event. This requires you to pull data, clean it, build a model, and then present your findings to Operations or Product Managers with a clear recommendation.

Collaboration is key. You will work closely with Data Science (for heavier statistical needs), Engineering (for data logging), and Finance (for budget alignment). You are the person who translates operational questions into data queries and translates data answers into business strategy.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

Candidates who succeed in this process typically possess a blend of "hard" data skills and "soft" business strategy skills.

• Must-Have Technical Skills – Advanced proficiency in SQL is non-negotiable; you must be able to write queries from scratch. Equally important is expert-level Excel capability, specifically for financial modeling and forecasting.
• Experience Level – Typically, Lyft looks for candidates with 2+ years of experience in analytics, business intelligence, consulting, or finance. A background in investment banking or strategy consulting is often viewed favorably due to the modeling rigor required.
• Soft Skills – You must be a strong communicator. The ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical partners is essential. You also need to demonstrate autonomy—the ability to take a vague prompt and drive it to a solution without constant hand-holding.
• Nice-to-Have Skills – Experience with visualization tools like Tableau, Looker, or Mode is highly beneficial. Knowledge of Python or R is a plus for advanced analysis but is generally secondary to SQL and Excel for this specific role.

Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what you might face. They are drawn from candidate reports and standard practices for this role at Lyft. Expect a mix of technical execution and business logic.

Technical & Modeling

These questions test your raw ability to do the work.

• "Given these two tables (Rides, Users), write a SQL query to find the average wait time per city."
• "In this Excel sheet, calculate the Month-over-Month growth rate for active users and forecast the next quarter."
• "How would you structure a dataset to track driver churn?"
• "Explain the difference between a LEFT JOIN and an INNER JOIN and when you would use each."

Business Case & Problem Solving

These questions test your ability to apply data to real-world Lyft problems.

• "Average ETA has increased by 2 minutes in New York. Walk me through how you would diagnose the cause."
• "We are considering launching a scooter service in a new city. How would you determine if it is financially viable?"
• "How would you measure the cannibalization effect of a new product on our existing rideshare business?"

Behavioral & Culture

Lyft values candidates who are resilient and collaborative.

• "Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex analysis to a stakeholder who didn't understand the data."
• "Describe a time you prioritized a project under a tight deadline. How did you handle the pressure?"
• "Why do you want to work at Lyft specifically, rather than another tech company?"

These questions are based on real interview experiences from candidates who interviewed at this company. You can practice answering them interactively on Dataford to better prepare for your interview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the SQL portion executed in a real editor or on a whiteboard? In recent virtual interviews, candidates have reported mixed experiences. Some use a shared coding editor (like CoderPad), while others have been asked to verbally dictate code while looking at a screen share of tables. You should be comfortable enough with syntax to speak it out loud.

Q: How difficult is the take-home assignment? The take-home is often described as comprehensive and time-consuming. It typically involves a "Financial Modeling Assessment" in Excel. Candidates report it requires a good mix of forecasting, scenario analysis, and business judgment. Do not underestimate the time required to format your Excel model professionally.

Q: What is the work culture like for this role? The culture is described as collaborative and fast-paced. Because you support cross-functional teams, you will interact with many different people. Interviewers look for "culture fit" in the form of passion for the mission and a "make it happen" attitude.

Q: Can I work fully remotely? Lyft has adopted flexible work policies, and many roles are remote-eligible. However, specific team requirements vary. The interview process itself is conducted entirely virtually via Zoom or Google Meet.

Other General Tips

Master the "Two-Sided Marketplace" Concept: Before your interview, ensure you deeply understand the dynamics between riders (demand) and drivers (supply). Many case questions will rely on your understanding of how a change on one side affects the other (e.g., how lowering prices affects driver availability).

Prepare for "Verbal" Technical Questions: Since some candidates reported having to dictate SQL code, practice reading your queries out loud. It feels unnatural at first, but being able to say "I would select the user ID, count the distinct ride IDs, from the rides table..." confidently is a distinct skill.

Know the Product: Download the app and use it. Be ready to discuss what you like, what frustrates you, and how you would improve a specific feature. "I don't use Lyft" is not an acceptable answer for a Business Analyst who is supposed to improve the product.

Summary & Next Steps

The Business Analyst role at Lyft is an exciting opportunity for data-savvy professionals who want to drive real-world impact. You will not just be crunching numbers; you will be modeling the financial future of the company and helping optimize a complex transportation network. The role demands a unique combination of SQL technicality, Excel modeling wizardry, and strategic business judgment.

To succeed, focus your preparation on financial forecasting, SQL joins/aggregations, and marketplace case studies. Approach the take-home assignment with the seriousness of a final client deliverable, and bring high energy to your panel rounds. The process is competitive, but it is designed to find people who are truly passionate about solving difficult logistical and economic problems.

Note on Salary: Compensation for Business Analysts at Lyft is generally competitive with top-tier tech standards, often including a mix of base salary, equity (RSUs), and performance bonuses. Levels and ranges vary significantly based on location and years of experience.

With the right preparation, you can navigate this process with confidence. Good luck!