Forward Deployed Engineer interview loops, by company
What the FDE interview actually contains at 10 companies: the rounds, who runs them, what each one grades, and how well corroborated each account is.
- SalesforceThe coding screen is SQL, not algorithms.
- PalantirThe decomposition round is what fails people, not the coding.
- OpenAI"How do you know it is working?" is the round that decides it.
- AnthropicThe customer conversation is where most technically strong candidates stop.
- DatabricksEvals for compound AI systems are the reported weak spot.
- CognitionNo coding round, and no system design either.
- ElevenLabsFounder mindset is screened, and "we" instead of "I" is penalised.
- Scale AIAgent design with a cost constraint attached.
- SierraConversational agents, and the evals specific to customer service.
- C3 AIAn AI video screen before any human sees you.