Scale Engineer

Distinguished Engineer / Fellow

Software EngineerIC8Very High

This interview process is designed for candidates applying for the Distinguished Engineer / Fellow (IC8) role at Reddit. It is a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation of a candidate's technical depth, strategic thinking, leadership capabilities, and impact on a large scale.

Rounds·5

Timeline·~30d

Experience·12 - 20 yrs

Comp band·US$250000 - US$350000

Interview time·270 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Technical depth and breadth across multiple domains.
  • Ability to define and drive long-term technical vision and strategy.
  • Demonstrated leadership and influence in driving complex technical initiatives.
  • Impact on product, business, and engineering culture.
  • Problem-solving skills and ability to tackle ambiguous, large-scale challenges.
  • Communication and collaboration skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Mentorship and development of engineering talent.

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Deeply understand Reddit's architecture, products, and business strategy.
  2. Review your career accomplishments and identify key projects where you demonstrated significant technical leadership and impact.
  3. Prepare to discuss complex system designs, trade-offs, and scaling challenges.
  4. Practice articulating your thought process clearly and concisely.
  5. Be ready to discuss your approach to mentoring, team building, and influencing engineering culture.
  6. Familiarize yourself with current industry trends and emerging technologies relevant to Reddit's domain.
  7. Prepare specific examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for behavioral questions.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Understanding Reddit & Self-Reflection

Weeks 1-2: Study Reddit's tech & business. Review your major projects.

Weeks 1-2: Deep dive into Reddit's public-facing architecture, recent technical blog posts, and investor relations materials. Understand the core business model and user base. Review your own project portfolio, focusing on large-scale systems you've designed or significantly contributed to. Identify 3-5 major projects that showcase your impact.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Describe the most complex system you've designed or significantly influenced. What were the key challenges and your specific contributions?
  • How would you approach setting the technical vision for a major product area at Reddit?
  • Tell me about a time you had to make a significant technical trade-off. What was the decision process and the outcome?
  • How do you mentor and develop other senior engineers and technical leaders?
  • What are the biggest technical challenges facing Reddit today, and how would you address them?
  • Describe a situation where you had to influence a large group of engineers to adopt a new technology or approach.
  • How do you balance innovation with operational stability and reliability?
  • What is your philosophy on building and scaling high-performing engineering teams?
  • How do you stay current with emerging technologies and evaluate their potential impact?
  • Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn from it?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

San Francisco, USA

Interview focus

Deep understanding of distributed systems and large-scale architecture.Proven ability to drive technical strategy and roadmap.Exceptional leadership and influence across multiple teams.Experience with high-throughput, low-latency systems.Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Common questions

  • How would you design a system to handle the real-time moderation of millions of concurrent users on Reddit?
  • Describe a time you had to influence a large engineering organization to adopt a new technology or process. What was the outcome?
  • What are the key challenges in scaling a platform like Reddit to support global growth and new features?
  • How do you approach mentoring and developing senior engineers and technical leaders?
  • Discuss a complex technical problem you solved that had a significant impact on a product or business metric.

Tips

  • Be prepared to discuss your most impactful contributions at a deep technical level.
  • Emphasize your experience in setting technical direction and mentoring other senior engineers.
  • Showcase your ability to think about the long-term vision and strategic implications of technical decisions.
  • Be ready to articulate how you've driven significant technical change and its business impact.
  • Highlight your experience with operational excellence and managing complex production environments.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

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

DSA

Coding questions at Reddit.

Frequently reported on Reddit loops

View all at Reddit

Other guides

More at Reddit.