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Interviewing for a new role isn’t easy and it can be both nerve-racking and stressful.
To give software engineers the best opportunity to be successful, we've provided a detailed explanation of each of the stages below; what to expect, how to prepare and ways you can bring your best self to the interview.
Software Engineering IC Positions:
Software Engineering Management / Head of Engineering Positions:
Talent Screen
This is a 30 minute video call with a member of the Talent Team. We will cover the specific requirements for the role you are interviewing for and give you an insight into the team, some of the exciting problems you might solve and our growth plans. We view it as a two-way discovery call as we feel it’s important to have alignment on both sides.
Top Tip 💡
Have a think about the impact you have had in previous roles and be prepared to share evidence based examples.
After the Talent Screen, you will progress to the 1st interview with the Engineering Team. If you are an individual contributor, it will be the 'Systems Design' and 'Coding Interview', and for managers it will be a ‘Manager Behavioural Call’ - details for both below:
Management positions: Manager Behavioural Call
This is a 60 minute interview which focuses on your managerial capabilities. You will have the opportunity to meet 2 of our engineering leaders, where they will dive deep into your management style, how you proactively overcome challenges as a people leader and your approach to building high performing software engineering teams.
Top Tip 💡
Come prepared with a few examples of how you’ve had impact in previous roles as an engineering leader.
IC and Management positions: Design Task
This stage involves demonstrating your understanding of system design. It’s a 75 minute session with 2 members of the Software Engineering Team, who will provide requirements for a system at the start. The team will ask questions around your approach, you should be prepared to go into as much technical depth as you can, justifying your decisions at each step - it’s important to consider things like scalability, reliability and availability during your approach. We're looking at your process for solving problems, not just the results, so don’t worry about being “right”.
Top Tip 💡
Take time at the beginning of the session to ask questions, clarify the requirements and establish the scope.
☕️ At this stage we will take a short break before beginning the next interview.
IC and Management positions: Coding Interview
This is your opportunity to showcase your coding capabilities (you can pick any language of preference). It’s a 60 minute session where you will pair with 2 members of the Software Engineering Team and have an open dialogue throughout to explain your thoughts and approaches. We want to see that you can evidence best practices, whilst incorporating tests into your approach throughout - finishing the exercise is not the end goal, but we do want to see enough progress within the time provided.
Top Tip 💡
Always make sure your code is maintainable, readable and testable.
Values
Up until this point you would have met people from the immediate team, so your final interview will give you the opportunity to meet people from the wider business. It’s a 45 minute call which focuses on how you work cross functionally, your approach to various scenarios and key learnings you have taken from your past experiences. There will also be an opportunity to ask any questions you might have that you didn't get to ask throughout the process.
Top Tip 💡
Familiarise yourself with our values and come prepared with a scenario based example on how you might have demonstrated each.
As with any start-up, hiring great people is the foundation of our success. That's why a lot of time and thought goes into defining our interview process and making sure it works for us. We hope this blog has given you a valuable insight into what it’s like interviewing with us and if you’re interested in joining our Engineering Team in Sofia or London, you can check out our open roles here.
