Interview Questions by Role: 100+ Examples for Every Position (2026)

The difference between a great hire and a costly mistake often comes down to the questions you ask. Generic interview questions get generic answers. Role-specific, well-structured questions reveal whether a candidate can actually do the job you're hiring for.

This guide gives you 100+ interview questions organized by role, question type, and interview stage, along with guidance on what strong answers look like.

Quick Tool: Need role-specific questions fast? Use our free Interview Questions Generator to create tailored question sets for any position in seconds.

#Why Role-Specific Questions Matter

Most interviewers default to the same handful of questions: "Tell me about yourself," "Where do you see yourself in five years?" These questions rarely tell you whether someone can write clean code, close a deal, or manage a team under pressure.

Role-specific questions matter because:

• They test actual job skills. A question about handling customer escalations tells you more about a support candidate than "What's your greatest weakness?"
• They reduce bias. When every candidate gets relevant, consistent questions, you compare skills rather than personalities.
• They predict performance. Research consistently shows that structured interviews with job-relevant questions are twice as effective at predicting success as unstructured ones.
• They save time. You get actionable signal in fewer questions instead of spending an hour learning nothing useful.

#How to Structure Interview Questions

Before diving into role-specific examples, understand the four main question types and when to use each.

#Behavioral Questions

Format: "Tell me about a time when..."

These ask candidates to describe past experiences. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Use these for competencies like teamwork, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

#Situational Questions

Format: "What would you do if..."

These present hypothetical scenarios relevant to the role. Good for testing judgment and decision-making, especially when candidates lack direct experience.

#Technical Questions

Format: Varies by role — coding problems, case studies, portfolio reviews.

These assess hard skills and domain knowledge. Essential for specialized roles but shouldn't dominate the entire interview.

#Culture & Values Questions

Format: "How do you approach..." or "What matters to you about..."

These evaluate alignment with your team's working style and company values. Important, but keep them job-relevant rather than testing for "culture fit" that becomes a bias trap.

A strong interview mixes all four types, weighted toward what matters most for the specific role.

#Questions for Software Engineers

#Technical Depth

1. Walk me through how you'd design a system to handle 10x your current traffic.

   • Look for: Understanding of caching, load balancing, database scaling, and trade-offs
   • Red flag: Jumps to solutions without asking clarifying questions

2. Describe a bug that took you the longest to find. What made it difficult?

   • Look for: Systematic debugging approach, patience, learning from the experience
   • Red flag: Blames tools or teammates

3. How do you decide when to refactor versus ship as-is?

   • Look for: Pragmatism, understanding of technical debt trade-offs, business context awareness

4. What's your approach to code reviews? Give me an example of feedback you gave or received that improved the codebase.

   • Look for: Constructive communication, focus on code quality, openness to feedback

#Problem-Solving & Collaboration

5. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a technical decision on your team. What happened?

   • Look for: Respectful disagreement, data-driven arguments, willingness to commit once decided

6. How do you handle a situation where product requirements are unclear or changing?

   • Look for: Proactive communication, comfort with ambiguity, iterative approach

7. Describe a project where you had to learn a new technology quickly. How did you approach it?

   • Look for: Learning strategies, resourcefulness, ability to deliver while learning

8. What's the most impactful technical decision you've made in the last year?

   • Look for: Ownership, understanding of business impact, ability to articulate reasoning

9. How do you prioritize when you have three urgent tasks from different stakeholders?

   • Look for: Communication skills, prioritization framework, ability to push back when needed

10. Tell me about a time you shipped something that failed. What did you learn?

    • Look for: Accountability, post-mortem thinking, concrete lessons applied going forward

#Questions for Sales Roles

#Sales Skills & Process

1. Walk me through your process for researching a prospect before a first call.

   • Look for: Specific research steps, use of tools, personalization strategy

2. Describe your most complex deal. What made it complex and how did you navigate it?

   • Look for: Multi-stakeholder management, patience, strategic thinking

3. How do you handle a prospect who goes silent after a strong initial meeting?

   • Look for: Persistent but respectful follow-up strategy, creativity in re-engagement

4. Tell me about a deal you lost. What would you do differently?

   • Look for: Self-awareness, specific lessons learned, no blame-shifting

5. What's your approach to qualifying leads? How do you decide when to walk away?

   • Look for: Framework (BANT, MEDDIC, or similar), discipline to disqualify early

#Resilience & Results

6. You're at 60% of quota with one month left in the quarter. What do you do?

   • Look for: Specific action plan, pipeline analysis, urgency without panic

7. How do you stay motivated during a dry spell?

   • Look for: Self-management strategies, process focus over outcome focus

8. Describe a time you turned a "no" into a "yes." What changed?

   • Look for: Listening skills, creative problem-solving, understanding the real objection

9. How do you build relationships with prospects who don't want to talk to salespeople?

   • Look for: Value-first approach, patience, social selling tactics

10. What metrics do you track daily, and why?

    • Look for: Data-driven approach, understanding of leading vs. lagging indicators

#Questions for Marketing Roles

#Strategic Thinking

1. If I gave you a $50K budget and asked you to generate 500 qualified leads in 90 days, what would your plan be?

   • Look for: Channel prioritization, measurement plan, realistic expectations

2. Tell me about a campaign that underperformed. How did you diagnose the problem?

   • Look for: Data analysis, hypothesis testing, willingness to kill underperforming efforts

3. How do you decide which marketing channels to invest in for a new product?

   • Look for: Audience research, competitive analysis, test-and-learn approach

4. Describe how you've measured marketing ROI in a previous role.

   • Look for: Attribution understanding, specific metrics, honesty about what's hard to measure

#Execution & Creativity

5. Walk me through a piece of content you created that drove measurable results.

   • Look for: Clear connection between content and business outcome, specific numbers

6. How do you balance brand consistency with the need to experiment?

   • Look for: Framework for testing within guidelines, examples of controlled experiments

7. Tell me about a time you had to market something with a tiny budget. What did you do?

   • Look for: Resourcefulness, organic strategies, creative problem-solving

8. How do you stay current with marketing trends without chasing every shiny object?

   • Look for: Curated learning sources, ability to filter signal from noise

9. Describe a cross-functional project where you had to align marketing with sales or product.

   • Look for: Communication skills, compromise, shared goal orientation

10. What's a marketing trend you think is overhyped right now, and why?

    • Look for: Independent thinking, ability to back up opinions with reasoning

#Questions for Customer Service Roles

#Handling Difficult Situations

1. Tell me about the most difficult customer interaction you've had. How did you handle it?

   • Look for: Empathy, de-escalation skills, resolution focus

2. A customer is angry about something that isn't your company's fault. What do you do?

   • Look for: Empathy first, then problem-solving, no defensiveness

3. How do you handle a situation where you don't know the answer to a customer's question?

   • Look for: Honesty, resourcefulness, follow-through commitment

4. Describe a time you went above and beyond for a customer. What motivated you?

   • Look for: Genuine care, initiative, understanding of customer impact

#Skills & Approach

5. How do you prioritize when you have 20 tickets in your queue?

   • Look for: Triage strategy, urgency assessment, efficiency focus

6. What's your approach to documenting customer issues for the team?

   • Look for: Systematic approach, pattern recognition, communication skills

7. Tell me about a time you identified a recurring customer problem and helped fix the root cause.

   • Look for: Proactive thinking, cross-team collaboration, impact measurement

8. How do you maintain a positive attitude when dealing with frustrated customers all day?

   • Look for: Self-care strategies, perspective, genuine resilience (not just cliches)

9. A customer asks for something against company policy. How do you respond?

   • Look for: Balance between empathy and firmness, escalation judgment, alternative solutions

10. What customer service metrics do you think matter most, and why?

    • Look for: Understanding of CSAT, NPS, first response time, resolution time, and their trade-offs

#Questions for Management & Leadership Roles

#Leadership Style

1. Tell me about a time you had to make an unpopular decision with your team. How did you handle it?

   • Look for: Transparency, conviction, empathy for team concerns

2. Describe your approach to giving feedback to someone who's underperforming.

   • Look for: Direct but compassionate, specific examples, documented approach, support plan

3. How do you build trust with a new team?

   • Look for: Listening first, vulnerability, consistency between words and actions

4. Tell me about a time you had to let someone go. How did you handle the process?

   • Look for: Fairness, documentation, compassion, learning from the hiring mistake

#Strategy & Execution

5. How do you translate company strategy into team-level goals?

   • Look for: Clear framework (OKRs, etc.), team involvement in goal-setting, measurable outcomes

6. Describe a time you inherited a struggling team. What did you do in the first 90 days?

   • Look for: Assessment approach, quick wins balanced with long-term fixes, people-first thinking

7. How do you handle competing priorities from different stakeholders above you?

   • Look for: Negotiation skills, transparency about trade-offs, protecting team focus

8. Tell me about a project that failed under your leadership. What did you learn?

   • Look for: Accountability (not blaming the team), specific systemic changes made

9. How do you develop your team members? Give me a specific example.

   • Look for: Individualized approach, investment in growth, concrete results

10. What's your approach to hiring? How do you decide who to bring onto your team?

    • Look for: Structured process, values alignment, diversity of thought, track record of good hires

#Questions for Entry-Level Roles & Interns

#Potential & Learning Ability

1. Tell me about something you taught yourself outside of school. Why did you learn it?

   • Look for: Curiosity, self-direction, ability to learn independently

2. Describe a group project where things went wrong. What was your role in fixing it?

   • Look for: Ownership, teamwork, problem-solving instinct

3. What's something you've failed at, and what did you take away from it?

   • Look for: Self-awareness, growth mindset, specific lessons

4. If you had to become an expert in a topic you know nothing about in two weeks, how would you approach it?

   • Look for: Learning strategy, resourcefulness, structured thinking

#Motivation & Fit

5. Why this role specifically? What about it excites you?

   • Look for: Research about the role, genuine interest, realistic expectations

6. What kind of work environment helps you do your best work?

   • Look for: Self-awareness, alignment with your actual environment

7. Tell me about a time you received tough feedback. How did you respond?

   • Look for: Openness, specific changes made, maturity

8. What's a professional skill you're actively working to improve right now?

   • Look for: Self-awareness, initiative, relevance to the role

9. Describe a situation where you had to figure something out without clear instructions.

   • Look for: Resourcefulness, comfort with ambiguity, asking smart questions

10. Where do you want to be professionally in two years, and how does this role fit into that?

    • Look for: Realistic ambition, alignment with growth opportunities you offer

#Universal Questions That Work for Any Role

These questions provide valuable signal regardless of position:

1. What would your last manager say is your biggest strength — and what would they say you need to work on?
2. Tell me about a time you had to work with someone whose style was very different from yours.
3. What's the most useful piece of professional feedback you've ever received?
4. Describe a situation where you had to balance quality with speed. How did you decide?
5. What questions do you have for me about this role or team? (Pay attention to the quality of their questions — it reveals how much they've thought about the opportunity.)

You can generate tailored versions of these for any specific role using the Interview Questions Generator.

#Questions to Avoid

Some questions are illegal, discriminatory, or simply useless. Stay away from:

• Age-related: "When did you graduate?" or "How old are you?"
• Family status: "Do you have kids?" or "Are you planning to start a family?"
• Religion: "What religious holidays do you observe?"
• Health/disability: "Do you have any health conditions?"
• National origin: "Where are you originally from?" or "Is English your first language?"
• Marital status: "Are you married?"

Instead, focus on job requirements. If the role requires weekend work, ask: "This position requires availability on Saturdays. Can you meet that requirement?" That's legal and directly job-relevant.

Also skip these time-wasters:

• "If you were an animal, what would you be?" (tells you nothing)
• "What's your greatest weakness?" (everyone has a rehearsed non-answer)
• "Where do you see yourself in five years?" (rarely produces honest, useful responses)

#Tips for Evaluating Answers

Asking good questions is half the battle. Evaluating answers consistently is the other half.

#Use a Scorecard

Before the interview, define what a strong answer looks like for each question. Rate candidates on a 1-5 scale. This forces you to evaluate evidence rather than gut feeling.

#Listen for Specifics

Strong candidates give specific examples with concrete details — numbers, outcomes, lessons learned. Weak candidates speak in generalities: "I'm a great communicator" without evidence.

#Watch for the STAR Format

The best behavioral answers follow a natural structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result. You don't need candidates to label each part, but the best answers naturally include all four elements.

#Compare Against the Role, Not Each Other

It's tempting to rank candidates against each other. Instead, evaluate each person against the requirements of the role. Sometimes your best candidate in a pool still isn't good enough. Sometimes multiple candidates clear the bar.

#Take Notes Immediately

Memory distorts within hours. Write down key quotes and observations during or immediately after the interview. Your notes will be far more reliable than your memory when making the final decision.

#How to Build a Question Bank

A question bank saves time and improves consistency across your hiring team. Here's how to build one:

1. Start with core competencies. For each role, identify 4-6 key competencies (e.g., problem-solving, communication, technical skill, leadership).
2. Write 3-5 questions per competency. This gives interviewers options and prevents candidates from hearing the same questions across rounds.
3. Include scoring guidance. For each question, write what a 1, 3, and 5 answer looks like. This calibrates your team.
4. Rotate questions regularly. If candidates start sharing your questions online, refresh them. Quarterly rotation is a good cadence.
5. Collect feedback from interviewers. Some questions consistently produce useful signal. Others don't. Track which questions actually help you make better decisions.

For a faster start, use the Interview Questions Generator to create a base set of questions, then customize them to your company's specific needs.

#Generate Custom Interview Questions Instantly

Building interview question sets for every role takes time. Our free Interview Questions Generator creates tailored questions based on:

• Department and role type
• Seniority level
• Key competencies you want to assess

You get structured questions with scoring guidance, ready to use in your next interview. No signup required.

#Related Resources

• Interview Questions Generator - Free tool to create role-specific questions
• Interview Tips for Hiring Managers
• Best Pre-Screening Questions by Role
• Interview Scorecard Guide

Building a structured hiring process shouldn't be complicated. JuggleHire helps small teams organize candidates, track interviews, and make better hiring decisions — all in one simple tool. Try it free today.