went through the Google account executive / sales interview process earlier this year for a Large Customer Sales role. posting because there's almost nothing useful online about the sales loop specifically, everyone writes about SWE.
there are 5 rounds total:
recruiter screen (30 min): standard background questions plus "why Google" and a couple of situational sell-me-a-thing scenarios. they want to see you've done homework on the customer segment, not just on the company.
hiring manager screen (45 min): this one matters a lot. they asked about my biggest deal, the competitive situation, how I navigated a champion who went cold. be specific. vague narratives don't land.
role play round (45 min): you get a fictional Google product and a fictional customer scenario about 24 hours before. you do a discovery call, then a mini-presentation. they interrupt on purpose. stay calm, handle objections, don't bulldoze.
peer panel (60 min): two AEs on the team. the questions are softer but this is actually where culture-fit decisions happen. be a real person here.
cross-functional round (45 min): a solution engineer and someone from customer success. they're testing whether you can hold a technical conversation, not whether you can code. you need to understand the product well enough to talk to a CTO credibly.
feedback loop was about 6 weeks from first recruiter call to verbal offer. they did one "hold" for headcount alignment that added 10 days, which is apparently common.
comp at the AE level isn't fully public. my offer was mid-$100s base with OTE about 2x that on target. standard Google equity refresh on top. no sign-on in my case but I've heard of sign-ons being used to backfill unvested equity from previous roles.
one thing nobody tells you: the Googleyness criteria is real in the behavioral portions. they want "genuine enthusiasm" that doesn't read as fake. it's a weird needle to thread when you're clearly performing for a job interview.