"Tell me about a time you used data to disprove a widely held assumption from leadership. For example, this could have been about a Meta surface like Facebook Feed, Instagram Reels, Messenger support operations, or ad-review workflows. Walk me through how you identified the assumption, how you validated your analysis, how you communicated it upward, and what happened next."
This question tests whether you can challenge senior stakeholders constructively without becoming adversarial. In an Operations Manager role at Meta, assumptions often drive staffing, escalation policy, vendor strategy, queue design, and quality targets; interviewers want to see whether you can use evidence to influence decisions when you do not have formal authority over everyone involved.
They are also looking for judgment under ambiguity: how you separated signal from noise, handled skepticism, and balanced being right with maintaining trust. Strong candidates show they understand the business risk of overturning a leadership belief and can still move the organization toward a better decision.
A strong answer is specific: name the assumption, the data sources, the stakeholders, and the stakes. Use a clear STAR structure, show how you pressure-tested your own conclusion before presenting it, and end with a measurable outcome plus what you learned about influencing leaders with data.