Program Engineer Interview Experience

A recruiter found me on LinkedIn, then I had a recruiter screen, a surprisingly early screen with a skip-level manager in the air defense org, and then a four-part panel. The panel was one domain-heavy system design plus three behavioral TPM-style interviews on execution, ownership, deliverables, decision-making, and alignment. The hardest part by far was the technical/system design round because it was built around designing radar coverage for a moving ship, and even though they said they knew I didn't come from that industry, the actual expectations still felt pretty domain specific. Everyone I talked to was very professional and genuinely into the work, and even the skip-level person was unusually involved in the details. I didn't get the role because they wanted someone a little more senior for that L6 spot.

A recruiter found me on LinkedIn, then I had a recruiter screen, a surprisingly early screen with a skip-level manager in the air defense org, and then a four-part panel. The panel was one domain-heavy system design plus three behavioral TPM-style interviews on execution, ownership, deliverables, decision-making, and alignment. The hardest part by far was the technical/system design round because it was built around designing radar coverage for a moving ship, and even though they said they knew I didn't come from that industry, the actual expectations still felt pretty domain specific. Everyone I talked to was very professional and genuinely into the work, and even the skip-level person was unusually involved in the details. I didn't get the role because they wanted someone a little more senior for that L6 spot.