Scale Engineer

Software Engineer

Software EngineerL7Hard

The interview process for a Software Engineer (L7) at Grammarly is designed to assess a candidate's technical expertise, problem-solving abilities, system design skills, and cultural fit. It involves multiple rounds, each focusing on different aspects of a candidate's profile.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~10d

Experience·7 - 10 yrs

Comp band·US$180000 - US$220000

Interview time·195 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Problem-solving skills
  • Algorithmic thinking
  • Data structure knowledge
  • Code quality and efficiency
  • Testing and debugging abilities

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review fundamental data structures and algorithms.
  2. Practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or Coderbyte.
  3. Study system design principles and common architectural patterns.
  4. Prepare to discuss your past projects in detail, focusing on your contributions and learnings.
  5. Understand Grammarly's products and mission.
  6. Research common interview questions for senior software engineers.
  7. Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely.
  8. Prepare questions to ask the interviewer about the role, team, and company culture.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Data Structures and Algorithms

Weeks 1-2: Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) fundamentals. Practice medium/hard LeetCode.

Weeks 1-2: Focus on core data structures (arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, hash tables) and algorithms (sorting, searching, dynamic programming, recursion). Practice implementing these from scratch and analyze their time and space complexity. Solve medium to hard LeetCode problems.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Tell me about a challenging technical problem you solved.
  • How would you design a URL shortening service?
  • What are the trade-offs between monolithic and microservices architectures?
  • Describe a time you had to deal with a difficult stakeholder.
  • How do you approach code reviews?
  • Design a system to handle real-time user activity tracking.
  • What are your thoughts on testing strategies for large-scale applications?
  • How do you stay updated with new technologies?
  • Describe a situation where you failed and what you learned from it.
  • Design an API for a social media platform.

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 03 locations

01 / 03

Location

San Francisco Bay Area

Interview focus

Deep dive into distributed systems and scalability.Emphasis on architectural decision-making and trade-offs.Experience with cloud-native technologies (AWS, GCP, Azure).Leadership and mentorship capabilities.

Common questions

  • How would you design a real-time collaborative editing system like Google Docs?
  • Discuss a complex system you designed and the trade-offs involved.
  • How do you handle large-scale data processing and storage?
  • Describe your experience with distributed systems and consensus algorithms.
  • Tell me about a time you had to mentor junior engineers.

Tips

  • Be prepared to discuss your experience with microservices architecture.
  • Highlight projects where you significantly impacted system performance or scalability.
  • Showcase your ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor teams.
  • Familiarize yourself with common cloud services and their use cases.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

Expand a step for evaluation criteria, sample questions, and prep notes.

DSA

Coding questions at Grammarly.

Frequently reported on Grammarly loops

View all at Grammarly

Other guides

More at Grammarly.