IntermediateLEADERSHIP
Describe an instance where you led cross-functional stakeholders (product, frontend, QA, operations) to align on a backend architecture decision. How did you build consensus, handle disagreements, and measure success after implementation?
Backend Developer
General

Sample Answer

At PortalCo I led a cross-functional effort (product, frontend, QA, ops — about 12 people) to move a monolith to an event-driven microservice for notifications. Product wanted faster feature rollout, frontend needed stable APIs, QA wanted testability, and ops worried about operational overhead. I ran two half-day workshops to surface constraints, built a small proof-of-concept that handled 5% of traffic, and proposed a phased rollout with feature flags and SLA targets. When ops pushed back on complexity I quantified runbook effort and showed monitoring dashboards; when product worried about delivery time I promised a 3-month scope with measurable milestones. After three months we cut notification latency by 60%, increased deploy frequency from monthly to weekly, and reduced incident time-to-resolution by 45%.

Keywords

Ran workshops and a proof-of-concept to align prioritiesUsed data and monitoring to resolve operational concernsPhased rollout with feature flags and measurable SLAs