Scale Engineer

Software Engineer

Software EngineerL6Hard

Waymo's Software Engineer L6 interview process is designed to assess a candidate's technical expertise, problem-solving abilities, system design skills, and cultural fit. The process typically involves multiple rounds, including technical interviews, a system design interview, and a behavioral interview, culminating in a hiring committee review.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~30d

Experience·5 - 10 yrs

Comp band·US$180000 - US$250000

Interview time·210 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Problem-solving skills
  • Algorithmic thinking
  • Data structures knowledge
  • Code quality and efficiency

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review fundamental data structures and algorithms.
  2. Practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode (focus on Medium/Hard).
  3. Study system design principles and common patterns.
  4. Prepare examples for behavioral questions using the STAR method.
  5. Research Waymo's technology, mission, and values.
  6. Understand distributed systems concepts (CAP theorem, consensus algorithms, etc.).
  7. Brush up on your chosen programming language(s) and their nuances.
  8. Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Data Structures and Algorithms

Weeks 1-2: Data Structures & Algorithms fundamentals. Practice coding.

Weeks 1-2: Focus on core data structures (arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, hash maps) and algorithms (sorting, searching, dynamic programming, graph traversal). Practice coding these from scratch and analyze their time/space complexity. Aim for 2-3 coding problems per day.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Design a system to manage a fleet of autonomous vehicles.
  • Given a large dataset of user interactions, how would you build a recommendation engine?
  • Implement a function to find the k-th largest element in an unsorted array.
  • Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you solved it.
  • How would you design a distributed rate limiter?
  • Explain the trade-offs between different database types for a specific use case.
  • Tell me about a time you disagreed with a technical decision and how you handled it.
  • How would you optimize a web service for high throughput and low latency?
  • Design a system for real-time traffic monitoring and prediction.
  • What are the challenges of deploying and managing software in a large-scale distributed environment?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Mountain View, CA

Interview focus

System design and distributed systems knowledge.Experience with large-scale, complex projects.Ability to articulate technical decisions and trade-offs.Understanding of cloud infrastructure and services.

Common questions

  • Discuss a complex system you designed and the trade-offs you made.
  • How would you design a ride-sharing system for autonomous vehicles?
  • Explain the CAP theorem and its implications for distributed systems.
  • Describe a time you had to deal with ambiguity in a project.

Tips

  • Familiarize yourself with cloud-specific services (e.g., AWS, GCP) if applicable to the role.
  • Prepare to discuss your experience with specific technologies used at Waymo.
  • Be ready to draw system diagrams and explain them clearly.
  • Research Waymo's mission and how your skills align with it.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

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

Hard

Data Structures And Algorithms Interview · 45 min · Software Engineer (L4/L5)

This round focuses on your core programming skills. You will be asked to solve one or two coding problems, typically involving data structures and algorithms. The interviewer will assess your ability to write clean, efficient, and correct code, as well as your approach to problem-solving and communication.

What they look for

Strong coding skillsProficiency in a chosen programming languageLogical thinking and problem-solving approachAbility to translate requirements into working code

Evaluation

  • Correctness of the solution
  • Efficiency (time and space complexity)
  • Code clarity and style
  • Ability to handle edge cases
  • Communication of approach

Sample questions

  • Given a binary tree, find its inorder traversal.

    Data StructuresTreesRecursion

  • Implement a function to find the median of a stream of numbers.

    Data StructuresHeapsAlgorithms

  • Find the longest substring without repeating characters.

    StringsSliding WindowAlgorithms

Prep for this round

  1. 01Practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or Coderbyte.
  2. 02Focus on understanding time and space complexity (Big O notation).
  3. 03Be prepared to explain your code line by line.
  4. 04Think out loud and communicate your thought process clearly.
  5. 05Ask clarifying questions about the problem statement and constraints.

Common rejection reasons

  • ×Inability to write clean, efficient, or correct code.
  • ×Poor understanding of fundamental data structures and algorithms.
  • ×Difficulty in explaining thought process.
  • ×Not addressing edge cases or constraints.

DSA

Coding questions at Waymo.

Frequently reported on Waymo loops

View all at Waymo

Other guides

More at Waymo.