Netflix platform strategy: faster, more available APIs that also speed up new services
Company: Netflix
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are a platform product manager at Netflix. As the member base keeps growing, the platform's APIs need to stay fast and the service needs to stay available. The company also wants many more services to run on the streaming platform, so that it becomes a one-stop destination for any kind of content. Design an approach that improves API performance and platform availability while helping teams build those new services.
```hint Know the platform's users
Treat the engineering teams who will build the new services as users with their own journey, and test every idea against both goals: does it make the platform faster and more resilient, and does it make the next service easier to launch?
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Which APIs matter most: the ones member devices call, the internal service-to-service APIs, or both?
- What does "many more services" mean: new content formats, new member features, or content supplied by outside partners?
- Is a known problem driving this, such as slowdowns during big releases or slow launches of new features, or is it forward-looking?
- Will the new services be built only by Netflix teams, or by outside partners as well?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- The platform's users identified, including the teams that will build new services, with their main pain points
- Performance and availability goals stated as measurable objectives tied to what members experience
- A platform design that covers how requests reach services, how failures are contained, and how a new service is onboarded
- A phased plan that protects the existing streaming experience while new services launch
- Success metrics for both goals, plus the main trade-offs and risks
### Follow-up Questions
- How would you get existing teams to move onto the new platform pieces?
- A live event brings a sudden traffic spike; how does your design absorb it without hurting regular viewing?
- Which capabilities should the platform team own, and which should each service team build for itself?
Overview: A platform product design question set at Netflix: improve API performance and availability as the member base grows, while making it easier to launch many new services on the streaming platform. It tests platform thinking, measurable reliability goals, developer experience, phasing and trade-offs.