To succeed in the NTT DATA hiring process, you must demonstrate a balanced skill set that spans technical delivery expertise, strategic problem-solving, and client diplomacy. Your preparation should focus on demonstrating competency across several core criteria.

Role-Related Knowledge – You must show a deep, practical understanding of modern delivery frameworks (Agile, Scrum, Waterfall) and the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Be ready to discuss how you tailor your methodology to the specific needs of the project, client, and technology stack (e.g., Data, AI, or Cloud).

Problem-Solving & Structure – Interviewers will evaluate how you approach ambiguity and unexpected delivery hurdles. You should structure your answers logically, demonstrating that you rely on data, risk frameworks, and structured problem-solving models rather than ad-hoc decision-making.

Stakeholder Leadership – Because NTT DATA is a client-facing organization, you must prove you can influence, negotiate, and communicate effectively with both internal engineering teams and external client sponsors. Your ability to build trust and manage conflict is highly scrutinized.

Cultural Alignment – NTT DATA values collaboration, respect, and a client-first mindset. Show how you foster a positive, high-performing team culture, support diversity, and remain resilient in high-pressure consulting environments.

The interview process at NTT DATA is comprehensive and structured to evaluate your technical capability, consultative approach, and cultural fit. While the exact steps can vary slightly by region and seniority, candidates generally undergo a multi-stage remote and onsite evaluation process that spans several weeks.

The journey typically begins with an initial HR screening call focused on your resume, career motivations, and high-level alignment with the role's responsibilities. Following a successful screen, candidates enter the core evaluation phases. This often includes a deep-dive technical and methodological interview with an area manager or delivery director. In many regions, particularly the UK and Europe, you will be asked to complete a practical exercise, such as preparing a presentation on how you would approach a service meeting or analyzing a specific project delivery case study.

The final stages focus heavily on leadership, behavior, and client-facing suitability. This may involve a panel interview with senior directors and, in some cases, a direct interview with the client you will be supporting. Throughout the process, the hiring team looks for candidates who can articulate not just what they delivered, but how they navigated the complexities of team dynamics, client expectations, and technical constraints.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression of the NTT DATA interview lifecycle. Candidates should use this visualization to pace their preparation, ensuring they dedicate sufficient time to technical delivery concepts early on, while reserving energy for presentation practice and behavioral scenario preparation in the later stages.

Delivery Methodologies & SDLC

At NTT DATA, you must prove that you can govern a project with methodological discipline. You are expected to be an expert in the software development lifecycle and know how to apply the right framework to the right problem.

Be ready to go over:

• Hybrid Frameworks – When and how to blend Agile and Waterfall methodologies to satisfy client governance while maintaining development velocity.
• Agile Ceremonies – Best practices for running sprint planning, daily stand-ups, backlog grooming, and retrospectives in distributed or offshore team environments.
• Release Management – Managing deployment pipelines, environments, and testing phases (UAT, SIT) in a complex enterprise ecosystem.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Scaled Agile Frameworks (SAFe) for enterprise-wide rollouts, and Earned Value Management (EVM) for complex financial tracking.

Example scenarios:

• "Explain how you would transition a legacy Waterfall project to an Agile delivery model for a client with low digital maturity."
• "How do you manage dependencies across multiple development teams working on different release cycles?"

Client & Stakeholder Management

As a consultant, your primary challenge is keeping clients aligned, informed, and satisfied, even when projects face headwinds. You must demonstrate strong consultative behaviors, executive presence, and negotiation skills.

Be ready to go over:

• Expectation Alignment – Setting realistic boundaries on scope, timelines, and budgets during project kickoff and maintaining them throughout.
• Scope Creep Mitigation – Establishing formal change control processes and having difficult, constructive conversations with clients about budget impacts.
• Status Reporting – Creating clear, data-driven dashboards and scorecards that communicate project health to senior leadership.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Managing multi-vendor ecosystems where competing consulting firms must collaborate on a single client initiative.

Example scenarios:

• "A client stakeholder is consistently bypassing you to request direct changes from your development team. How do you address this?"
• "How would you handle a situation where a client is highly dissatisfied with the quality of a delivered sprint demo?"

Problem Solving & Incident Management

Projects rarely go exactly as planned. NTT DATA values Project Managers who remain calm under pressure, systematically isolate issues, and lead their teams through critical delivery incidents.

Be ready to go over:

• Risk & Issue Management – The distinction between a risk and an issue, and how you maintain an active RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) log.
• Incident Response – Your step-by-step triage process when a critical production bug or system outage occurs.
• Resource Constraints – Navigating sudden key-person dependencies or resource bottlenecks without compromising the timeline.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Disaster recovery orchestration and business continuity planning for high-availability systems.

Example scenarios:

• "Walk me through a time you had to manage a critical delivery blocker that put a hard regulatory deadline at risk."
• "How do you handle a situation where your technical lead and your lead architect disagree fundamentally on the technical direction of a project?"

As a Project Manager at NTT DATA, your day-to-day activities will center around ensuring successful project execution, maintaining financial health, and nurturing client relationships.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• End-to-End Delivery Governance – Defining project scope, creating detailed work breakdown structures, and managing execution from initial discovery through to transition-to-support.
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership – Leading, motivating, and coordinating day-to-day tasks for diverse technical teams, often consisting of onshore, nearshore, and offshore resources.
• Financial & Commercial Management – Tracking project burn rates, managing budgets, ensuring timely invoicing, and monitoring key metrics such as gross margin and resource utilization.
• Stakeholder Communication – Acting as the primary point of contact for client stakeholders, delivering regular status updates, and leading steering committee presentations.
• Risk Mitigation – Proactively identifying delivery risks, developing robust mitigation strategies, and resolving blockers to keep projects on track.
• Business Development Support – Collaborating with account directors and pre-sales teams to identify extension opportunities, draft Statements of Work (SOWs), and estimate effort for new phases of work.

To be competitive for a Project Manager or Technical Delivery Manager position at NTT DATA, you should possess a robust mix of delivery experience, technical understanding, and consulting soft skills.

• Professional Experience – Typically, 5+ years of experience managing IT projects, software development initiatives, or digital transformation programs, preferably within a consulting or professional services environment.
• Methodological Certifications – Strong preference for industry-standard certifications such as PMP (Project Management Professional), PRINCE2, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), or SAFe Agilist.
• Technical Literacy – While you do not need to write code, you must be highly conversant in modern technology stacks. Experience delivering projects in Data & AI, Cloud Migrations (AWS, Azure, GCP), or Enterprise ERP integrations is highly valued.
• Public Sector Knowledge (where applicable) – For roles within the Central Government business units, familiarity with government service standards, security clearance requirements, and public procurement frameworks is a significant advantage.

Must-have skills:

• Proven track record of managing project budgets of at least $500k+.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and client-facing communication skills.
• Proficiency with project management tools such as Jira, Confluence, MS Project, or Smartsheet.

Nice-to-have skills:

• Experience working with offshore development centers and managing distributed teams.
• Technical background as a former software engineer, data analyst, or systems architect.