Interview Questions › Behavioral

Disagreeing with an engineering lead

Tell me about a time you strongly disagreed with an engineering lead. How did you resolve it?

Context

What the interviewer is testing: handling conflict constructively and building trust with engineering.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• What was their argument, in their words?
• What did you concede?
• How is your relationship with them now?

How to approach it

1. Pick one real, specific story (not a hypothetical or a summary of many)
2. Set the scene in two or three sentences, including the stakes
3. Spend most of the time on what you personally did and why
4. End with a measurable result and what you learned

Framework: STAR: Situation -> Task -> Action -> Result, with a short reflection at the end

Sample answer

• Can state the other side fairly
• Used data or users to break the tie
• Relationship intact or better

1. Situation: specific context, their role, and why it mattered (stakes)
2. Task: what they personally owned
3. Action: concrete steps they took, decisions and trade-offs, using "I" not "we"
4. Result: measurable outcome, plus what they learned or would do differently

States both positions fairly, how they found common ground (shared goal, data, a small test), what they gave up, the decision and its result, and the healthy relationship afterwards.

What interviewers look for

• Conflict resolution
• Collaboration
• Influence