How we assess
Every applicant goes through 5 gates: application, an AI-assisted screen, a live technical assessment scored by a practice lead, a client-fit interview, and reference and credential checks. The questions below come from the live assessment. We score answers on reasoning and trade-offs, not on recalling definitions.
20 technical questions with model-answer hints
Questions 1–10 (role-specific)
Question 1: How do you structure a Meta account for a new e-commerce brand?
Model-answer hint
Consolidated campaigns, broad targeting led by strong creative, a dedicated testing lane, sensible exclusions.
Question 2: ROAS dropped 30% this week. What do you check first?
Model-answer hint
Tracking breaks, seasonality, creative fatigue, auction changes, landing page, stock levels.
Question 3: How do you test creative properly?
Model-answer hint
One variable per test, budget per variant, significance, separating hook, format and message.
Question 4: How do you measure incrementality?
Model-answer hint
Geo holdouts, conversion lift studies, MMM for large budgets; knows the limits of last-click.
Question 5: How does Performance Max fit alongside Search campaigns?
Model-answer hint
Brand exclusions, asset groups, feed quality, reporting limits, cannibalisation risk.
Question 6: How do you plan paid media for Ramadan?
Model-answer hint
Earlier launch, shifted viewing hours, creative tone, rising CPMs, post-Eid behaviour.
Question 7: What is a conversion API and why does it matter?
Model-answer hint
Server-side events, signal loss from privacy changes, deduplication, consent.
Question 8: How would you allocate a fixed budget across 4 platforms?
Model-answer hint
Marginal CAC, reserved testing budget, each platform’s role in the funnel.
Question 9: When do you switch a campaign off?
Model-answer hint
Thresholds agreed in advance, patience through the learning phase, statistical evidence.
Question 10: Explain blended CAC to a CFO.
Model-answer hint
Total spend divided by new customers; why it complements channel-level metrics.
Questions 11–20 (Marketing core)
Question 11: How do you connect marketing activity to revenue?
Model-answer hint
tracking plan, CRM integration, known attribution limits, incrementality tests, definitions agreed with sales.
Question 12: How do you design a marketing experiment?
Model-answer hint
hypothesis, primary metric, sample size, duration, stopping rule, documented result.
Question 13: How do you adapt a global campaign for Gulf audiences?
Model-answer hint
cultural review, Arabic-first copy, local platforms such as Snapchat, local moments, regulatory checks.
Question 14: How do you agree with sales on what counts as a qualified lead?
Model-answer hint
shared definitions, follow-up SLAs, feedback loops, joint review of outcomes.
Question 15: When do you write in Khaleeji dialect versus Modern Standard Arabic?
Model-answer hint
channel, audience and formality, guided by a brand voice guide; never translated English.
Question 16: How do you use generative AI in marketing without harming the brand?
Model-answer hint
governance rules, human review, fact-checking, disclosure, no confidential data in tools.
Question 17: Which metrics do you report to a CMO every week?
Model-answer hint
pipeline or revenue contribution, CAC, conversion rates, spend pacing; few vanity metrics.
Question 18: How do you brief a creative or content team?
Model-answer hint
objective, audience insight, one message, mandatory elements, success measure.
Question 19: How do you decide to stop a channel or programme?
Model-answer hint
thresholds agreed in advance, marginal returns, opportunity cost, evidence.
Question 20: Describe a campaign that failed and what you learned.
Model-answer hint
honest diagnosis, the data used, the specific change made afterwards.
Interviewer tip: Ask for a real example after every answer. Strong candidates describe what they built, what broke and what they changed.
Practical task
Timebox 2 hours. Given 90 days of anonymised campaign data across Meta, Google and Snapchat for a Gulf e-commerce brand, identify the 3 biggest inefficiencies, propose a reallocated budget for next month, and design 2 creative tests and one incrementality test. Present your recommendations in 10 minutes.
How to run it Share the brief 24 hours ahead or run it live. Ask the candidate to talk through trade-offs as they work; reasoning matters more than a finished artefact.
Red flags our practice leads watch for
- Reports only platform-reported ROAS.
- Has no structured creative testing process.
- Wants to run your ads from their own business manager.
- Cannot explain results without jargon.
- Universal flag: Vague answers that never reach a concrete system, number or decision the candidate personally owned.
The scorecard we use
Score each dimension 1–4 (1 = no evidence, 2 = partial, 3 = solid, 4 = exceptional):
| Dimension | Weight | What a 4 looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Technical depth, production judgement and security | 40% | Explains how and why, designs for failure and sensitive data, and knows each tool’s limits |
| Practical task and problem solving | 30% | Delivers a working solution with tests and documented decisions |
| Communication and documentation | 20% | Explains clearly to technical and non-technical audiences, in English or Arabic |
| References and regional context | 10% | References confirm the claimed scope; knows the frameworks and data-residency rules that apply |
Pass bar: weighted average of 3.0 out of 4 or higher, with no dimension below 2. The practice lead approves the final result.