Congratulations on making it this far. Our team put this guide together so you know exactly what to expect and how to put your best foot forward.
In an initial screening, you'll meet with a hiring manager to determine mutual fit and discuss a few core engineering principles related to the role. If we decide to move forward, your availability will be requested to meet with additional members of our team across a focused interview loop.
The loop covers live coding with an emphasis on AI systems thinking, a systems design whiteboarding session, and a career deep dive. Each session is designed to understand how you approach real problems — not to trip you up.
Four focused conversations designed to understand your craft, your thinking, and your potential as a teammate.
Get to know us while we get to know you. We'll talk shop, answer your questions, and explore your capabilities and interests to ensure the role is the right fit.
A collaborative coding session focused on how you design and reason about AI systems — component architecture, class design, interface contracts, and measuring quality. More detail below.
A whiteboarding session — no coding. We'll use a collaborative tool to discuss architecture, API design, and the tradeoffs behind your approach to building systems.
We'll cover how you budget your time, manage conflict, work with others, and navigate the balance between time, scope, and quality. Come prepared with real examples.
If our team is aligned that you'd be a great addition, an offer is extended. We move quickly.
Our coding interview is different from traditional algorithmic challenges. Rather than data structure puzzles, we evaluate how you think about building real AI systems — your engineering judgment, not memorized patterns.
Come prepared to think out loud about real design decisions and tradeoffs — we're looking for thoughtful craft, not speed.
This is a separate, whiteboarding-only session (distinct from the coding interview above). We'll discuss general architecture, API design, data modeling, and the tradeoffs you consider when building scalable systems. No code required — just clear thinking on a canvas.
To prepare, we highly recommend the following resource which covers the fundamentals of systems design interviews comprehensively:
System Design Interview — An Insider's GuideFind a quiet environment with a strong internet connection. Keep your phone on do not disturb. A clear mind is your most valuable tool.
Review past experiences — companies, colleagues, projects — in the context of both successes and failures. We'll discuss key moments and what you learned.
Avoid hypotheticals. Use real-world experiences that quantify and qualify your answers. We care about what you've done and how you handled it.
You have a lot of companies to choose from. Think about what you're looking for and why our team resonates with you.
Don't solve problems in your head. Walking us through your reasoning lets us help if you're headed off-track — and you might find it's easier than you think.
Discuss your approach before diving in. This prevents assumptions and ensures alignment with what the interviewer is looking for.
A working solution beats an incomplete optimal one. Get something functioning first, then iterate toward elegance.
Getting stuck is perfectly fine. Step back, walk through what you have, and ask questions. Interviewers respect clarity-seeking.
Consider how your code would be tested. Clear inputs, clear outputs, purposeful functions. Quality is part of the conversation.
Write clear, maintainable code. Large codebases require comprehension — don't try to impress with cleverness.
This is a two-way street. Prepare different questions for each interviewer — variety shows genuine curiosity. You might consider writing them down ahead of time.
Engineering is a vast field — don't feel you need to know everything. These resources cover the fundamentals.
There's a huge universe of things you could know — don't sweat it, bring your best self forward
Arrays, strings, hash tables, and more — important foundations before diving into programming exercises
Comprehensive resource for systems design preparation
Be prepared to discuss time and space complexity of your solutions
Spend time with easy and medium problems in your strongest language
The classic reference — give it a read if you have a week to spare
It never hurts to hear from an interview coach
The central foundation of our culture. We perform best in a high trust, low blame environment — and that's exactly what we build.
We hire incredibly talented people and give them autonomy in how teams organize and make decisions.
Despite being a distributed team, we believe the largest challenges ahead involve working closely together.
We are not family, but we only win when the team wins.
Altium prides itself in being a leader in innovation — pushing the boundaries of what's possible for electronics design teams.
We are all humans just typing on computers. Let's be real with each other.
Engineering is a massive field with a universe of things you could know. Don't sweat it. Bring the best version of yourself forward, think clearly, communicate openly, and you'll be fine. We're rooting for you.