Describe a time when you faced a significant challenge in a project. How did you approach the problem, what steps did you take to overcome it, and what was the outcome of the project? Make sure to structure your answer using the STAR method.

In my previous role, I was leading a backend project that faced unexpected downtime due to a critical service failure. The challenge arose during the initial product launch phase, where uptime was critical. Using the STAR method, I first outlined the Situation, where we were at risk of losing customer trust due to service interruptions. For the Task, I had to devise a quick recovery plan. I assembled a cross-functional team and we carried out a thorough root cause analysis to identify the failure in our API gateway. Action taken included implementing redundant service instances and enhancing our monitoring capabilities. The Result was a significantly reduced response time for requests and an increase in our service availability, leading to increased customer satisfaction and retention.