Program Design Manager
Posted Jun 23, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Walk me through a complex program you took from early concept through engineering completion and handed off to an execution team. What did the handoff package actually contain?
What they are checking: Whether they have owned the full design arc or only a slice, and whether their handoffs leave execution teams guessing.
You are the main client-facing design lead. Tell me about a time a customer kept changing requirements after design was underway. How did you handle it?
What they are checking: Whether they can protect scope and schedule while keeping the customer relationship healthy and decisions on the record.
Tell me about a risk you spotted early in a design that others had missed. What tipped you off, and what did you do about it?
What they are checking: Whether they look ahead for problems and raise them while they are still cheap to fix.
Describe a planning workshop you led with customers and internal teams. How did you get quiet people to speak up and loud people to land?
What they are checking: Whether they can facilitate a room full of experts and customers toward shared requirements without dominating it.
Tell me about a design program that did not go well. What would you do differently now?
What they are checking: Whether they can own mistakes honestly and show they learned something specific rather than blaming others.
What would you do
Engineering wants a design that manufacturing says is hard to build and procurement says has a long-lead part. How do you get those teams to one answer?
What they are checking: Whether they can weigh competing technical, cost and schedule pressures and drive a decision instead of letting it stall.
Halfway through engineering, the program schedule slips by three weeks because a vendor drawing is late. What do you tell the customer and when?
What they are checking: Whether they deliver bad news early with a recovery plan rather than hoping the gap closes on its own.
How do you decide when a design is complete enough to release to procurement and manufacturing, even though some details are still open?
What they are checking: Judgment about phased releases, which keeps long-lead items moving without locking in decisions too early.
About the work
How do you document requirements, assumptions, constraints and decisions so that six months later nobody argues about what was agreed?
What they are checking: Whether they keep a disciplined decision log, which is what saves a program when memories differ and money is at stake.
How do you run a design review so it produces decisions and action items instead of just a long meeting?
What they are checking: Whether they know how to structure reviews with clear inputs, owners and outcomes, which is most of this job day to day.
How well do you understand how manufacturing and field construction actually work, and how does that change the designs you lead?
What they are checking: Whether they design with build and install in mind, since Faith spans engineering, prefab manufacturing and construction.
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As published by Faith Technologies.