Preparing for a design role at a healthcare company like Sanofi requires a shift in mindset from purely aesthetic design to highly functional, accessible, and evidence-based design. Your preparation should focus on demonstrating how your design decisions are rooted in user research, cognitive psychology, and clear business or medical objectives.

When preparing your portfolio and practicing your responses, focus on highlighting your strength in the following core evaluation criteria:

• Scientific & Medical Communication Clarity – Show that you can digest complex medical or technical concepts and translate them into clean, digestible visual layouts. Highlight any past work involving data visualization or scientific storytelling.
• User-Centric Problem Solving – Clearly articulate your design process, from user research and wireframing to prototyping and testing. Do not just show the final screens; explain the "why" behind your design choices and how you validated them.
• Technical Craftsmanship & Execution – Demonstrate high-fidelity execution in visual design, typography, layout, and interaction design. Be prepared to show your proficiency with modern design tools like Figma and your understanding of responsive design systems.
• Cross-functional Collaboration – Sanofi operates in a highly matrixed environment. You must prove that you can partner effectively with product managers, engineers, medical writers, and regulatory teams to bring digital products to life.

The interview process for a UX/UI Designer at Sanofi is designed to evaluate both your practical design skills and your cultural alignment with the company's mission. The process typically spans two to three weeks, moving relatively quickly through several key stages.

The journey begins with an initial phone screening with a recruiter, which focuses on your background, career goals, and high-level portfolio review. This is followed by a technical and portfolio review stage, where you will present your case studies to design team members and hiring managers. Depending on the specific team and location, you may also be asked to complete a practical design challenge—such as a take-home UX task or a motion animation assignment—to demonstrate your hands-on execution capabilities. The final stage involves deeper behavioral interviews with senior stakeholders to assess your collaboration style and fit within the broader product organization.

The timeline shown above represents the typical progression from your first point of contact to the final decision. While the overall process is designed to be highly structured and efficient, the exact duration of each step can vary based on regional hiring practices and team availability. You should use this timeline to pace your preparation, ensuring your portfolio is fully polished before the technical and team review stages.

To stand out in the Sanofi interview loop, you must understand the specific competencies your interviewers are looking for during each interaction.

Portfolio Presentation

The portfolio presentation is the cornerstone of the evaluation process. Interviewers want to see how you approach design challenges from inception to delivery, paying close attention to your problem-defining capabilities and your execution.

Be ready to go over:

• The Problem Definition – How you identified the user need and established project goals.
• Research and Synthesis – How you gathered user insights and translated them into design requirements.
• Iterative Design – Showing early sketches, wireframes, and the evolution of your concepts based on feedback.
• Final High-Fidelity Execution – Presenting polished visual designs, micro-interactions, and design system alignment.

Advanced concepts (less common):

• Designing for multi-persona systems (e.g., interfaces that serve both patients and clinical investigators).
• Implementing highly complex accessibility requirements beyond basic contrast ratios.

Example scenarios:

• "Walk us through a project where you had to design a workflow for a user group with physical or cognitive limitations."
• "Show us a case study where you had to adapt your design based on unexpected usability testing results."

Technical Design & Take-Home Task

In some regions or for specific product teams, you will be asked to complete a take-home challenge or a technical task. This is used to evaluate your raw UI execution, your attention to detail, and your ability to deliver high-quality assets under a deadline.

Be ready to go over:

• Visual Hierarchy – Establishing clear focal points and structured typographic systems.
• Motion & Animation – Using motion to explain transitions, build engagement, or guide user flows (e.g., creating a short interactive prototype or a slide-based animation task).
• Component Construction – Building clean, reusable Figma components with proper auto-layout and variant configurations.

Example scenarios:

• "Create a 6–7 slide motion animation prototype demonstrating a complex data-upload flow over a weekend."
• "Redesign a dense medical data dashboard to improve readability and reduce cognitive load for physicians."

Behavioral & Cultural Fit

Sanofi values professionals who are passionate about healthcare, empathetic toward patients, and highly collaborative. These interviews assess how you handle the realities of working in a large, regulated corporate environment.

Be ready to go over:

• Stakeholder Management – How you negotiate design decisions with non-designers.
• Handling Ambiguity – Navigating shifting project scopes or incomplete user requirements.
• Continuous Learning – Your drive to develop new skills and stay ahead of design trends.

Example scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to deliver a project with highly restrictive technical or regulatory constraints."
• "Describe a situation where your design was challenged by a senior stakeholder and how you reached a resolution."

As a UX/UI Designer at Sanofi, your daily work will revolve around creating digital experiences that simplify healthcare. You will own the design lifecycle for your product area, working closely with cross-functional partners to translate product strategies into intuitive user interfaces.

You will spend a significant portion of your time collaborating with product managers to define user journeys, conducting competitive research, and translating user needs into wireframes and interactive prototypes. You will also partner closely with engineering teams, providing them with detailed design specifications, asset handoffs, and ongoing QA support to ensure that the final coded product matches your design intent.

Additionally, you will contribute to and help maintain Sanofi's global design system. This involves creating reusable UI components, documenting interaction patterns, and ensuring that all digital products maintain a cohesive brand identity and meet strict accessibility and localization guidelines across different regions.

To be competitive for a UX/UI Designer position at Sanofi, you must demonstrate a strong blend of technical design skills, strategic thinking, and collaborative capabilities.

• Must-have skills – Strong portfolio demonstrating end-to-end UX/UI design processes; mastery of modern design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite); deep understanding of responsive design and grid systems; solid knowledge of web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA).
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience designing for the healthcare, pharmaceutical, or biotech industries; proficiency in motion design and interactive prototyping tools (Protopie, After Effects, or Principle); experience conducting user research and usability testing.

In terms of background, candidates typically need a degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a related field, combined with several years of professional experience designing digital products. However, a strong portfolio that clearly demonstrates your problem-solving abilities and visual craftsmanship is often the most critical factor in the hiring decision.