Interview Architect

Complete hiring interview system — from job scorecard design through structured question banks, live evaluation rubrics, panel coordination, and offer decisions. Eliminates gut-feel hiring with evidence-based frameworks that predict on-the-job performance.

Quick Start

Tell me what you need:

• "Design interviews for [role]" → Full interview plan (scorecard + questions + rubrics)
• "Create a scorecard for [role]" → A-Player definition with measurable outcomes
• "Generate questions for [skill/competency]" → Targeted question bank
• "Build a take-home assignment for [role]" → Technical assessment with rubric
• "Evaluate this candidate" → Structured debrief with scoring
• "Audit our interview process" → Bias check + effectiveness review

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Phase 1: Job Scorecard (Define Before You Evaluate)

Rule: Never look at a resume before defining what "great" looks like.

Scorecard Template

scorecard:
  role: "[Title]"
  level: "[Junior/Mid/Senior/Staff/Principal/Director/VP]"
  team: "[Team name]"
  hiring_manager: "[Name]"
  created: "YYYY-MM-DD"

  mission:
    statement: "[One sentence: why does this role exist?]"
    success_metric: "[How we'll know this hire was successful in 12 months]"

  outcomes:
    # 3-5 specific, measurable results expected in first 12 months
    - outcome: "[e.g., Reduce deployment time from 45min to <10min]"
      measure: "[Metric: deployment duration, measured via CI/CD logs]"
      timeline: "Q1-Q2"
      priority: "critical"

    - outcome: "[e.g., Ship v2 API with 99.9% uptime]"
      measure: "[Uptime %, error rate, customer adoption]"
      timeline: "Q2-Q3"
      priority: "critical"

    - outcome: "[e.g., Mentor 2 junior engineers to mid-level competency]"
      measure: "[Promotion readiness assessment, PR quality metrics]"
      timeline: "Q3-Q4"
      priority: "important"

  competencies:
    technical:
      must_have:
        - name: "[e.g., System design]"
          level: "[Novice/Competent/Proficient/Expert]"
          evidence: "[What demonstrates this: e.g., designed systems handling 10K+ RPS]"
        - name: "[e.g., TypeScript/React]"
          level: "Proficient"
          evidence: "[Shipped production TS/React apps, not just tutorials]"
      nice_to_have:
        - name: "[e.g., Kubernetes]"
          level: "Competent"

    behavioral:
      must_have:
        - name: "Ownership"
          definition: "Takes responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks. Doesn't wait to be told."
          anti_pattern: "Says 'that's not my job' or 'I was told to do X'"
        - name: "Communication"
          definition: "Explains complex ideas simply. Writes clear docs. Raises issues early."
          anti_pattern: "Surprises stakeholders. Can't explain their own work."
        - name: "Growth mindset"
          definition: "Seeks feedback. Admits mistakes. Improves from failure."
          anti_pattern: "Defensive about criticism. Repeats same mistakes."
      nice_to_have:
        - name: "[e.g., Cross-functional leadership]"

    cultural:
      values_alignment:
        - "[Company value 1: what this looks like in practice]"
        - "[Company value 2: what this looks like in practice]"
      anti_signals:
        - "[Red flag behavior 1]"
        - "[Red flag behavior 2]"

  compensation:
    band: "[min - max]"
    equity: "[range if applicable]"
    flexibility: "[What's negotiable]"

  deal_breakers:
    # Hard no's — instant disqualification
    - "[e.g., Cannot start within 4 weeks]"
    - "[e.g., No experience with production systems at scale]"
    - "[e.g., Requires >30% above band]"

Scorecard Quality Check

Before proceeding, verify:

• [ ] Mission statement is one sentence (not a paragraph)
• [ ] Each outcome has a specific number or metric (not "improve" or "help with")
• [ ] Competencies distinguish must-have from nice-to-have
• [ ] Anti-patterns defined for each behavioral competency
• [ ] Deal breakers are objective (not subjective feelings)
• [ ] Band is realistic for the market (check levels.fyi, Glassdoor)

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Phase 2: Interview Structure Design

Interview Loop Template

interview_loop:
  role: "[from scorecard]"
  total_duration: "[X hours across Y sessions]"
  
  stages:
    - stage: "Resume Screen"
      duration: "5-10 min"
      who: "Recruiter or hiring manager"
      evaluates: ["deal_breakers", "basic_qualification"]
      pass_rate_target: "30-40%"
      
    - stage: "Phone Screen"
      duration: "30 min"
      who: "Hiring manager"
      evaluates: ["communication", "motivation", "outcome_1_capability"]
      format: "Structured conversation"
      pass_rate_target: "50%"
      
    - stage: "Technical Assessment"
      duration: "60-90 min"
      who: "Senior engineer"
      evaluates: ["technical_competencies"]
      format: "Live coding OR take-home (see Phase 4)"
      pass_rate_target: "40-50%"
      
    - stage: "System Design"
      duration: "45-60 min"
      who: "Staff+ engineer"
      evaluates: ["system_design", "trade_off_thinking", "communication"]
      format: "Whiteboard/collaborative design"
      pass_rate_target: "50%"
      applies_to: "Senior+ only"
      
    - stage: "Behavioral Deep-Dive"
      duration: "45-60 min"
      who: "Hiring manager + cross-functional partner"
      evaluates: ["behavioral_competencies", "cultural_values"]
      format: "STAR-based structured interview"
      pass_rate_target: "60%"
      
    - stage: "Team Fit / Reverse Interview"
      duration: "30 min"
      who: "2-3 potential teammates"
      evaluates: ["collaboration_style", "candidate_questions"]
      format: "Informal but structured"
      pass_rate_target: "80%"
      
    - stage: "Hiring Manager Final"
      duration: "30 min"
      who: "Hiring manager"
      evaluates: ["remaining_concerns", "motivation", "offer_readiness"]
      format: "Conversation"

  timeline:
    screen_to_onsite: "< 5 business days"
    onsite_to_decision: "< 2 business days"
    decision_to_offer: "< 1 business day"
    total_process: "< 3 weeks"

Level-Appropriate Loop Adjustments

| Level | Skip | Add | Emphasis | |-------|------|-----|----------| | Junior (0-2 yr) | System design | Pair programming, learning ability | Potential > experience | | Mid (2-5 yr) | — | — | Balanced: execution + growth | | Senior (5-8 yr) | — | Architecture discussion | Impact, ownership, mentoring | | Staff (8+ yr) | Basic coding | Design doc review, strategy | Influence, technical vision | | Principal | Basic coding | Vision presentation, exec interview | Org-wide impact | | Manager | Live coding | Skip-level, cross-functional | People outcomes, strategy | | Director+ | All IC technical | Board/exec presentation | Business impact, org building |

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Phase 3: Question Banks

Behavioral Questions (STAR Format)

For each question below:

• Ask the main question
• Then probe with: "Walk me through specifically what YOU did" (not the team)
• Then probe with: "What was the measurable result?"
• Watch for: vague answers, "we" without "I", unable to recall specifics

Ownership & Initiative

Q: "Tell me about a time you identified a problem no one asked you to fix, and you fixed it anyway."
  Probe: "How did you discover it? What did you do first? What was the outcome?"
  Green signal: Specific problem, proactive action, measurable impact
  Red flag: Can't recall an example, or problem was trivial

Q: "Describe a project that failed or didn't meet expectations. What was your role?"
  Probe: "What would you do differently? What did you learn?"
  Green signal: Owns their part, specific lessons, changed behavior afterward
  Red flag: Blames others, no learning, defensive

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