Got laid off a few months ago and Linear was one of the first companies I reached out to. Their recruiter phone screen was different enough from the standard that I want to document it.
Most recruiter screens I've had are: comp check, logistics, high-level background, "why us." Efficient but thin. Linear's was 30 minutes and the recruiter asked genuinely good questions.
What they asked me: Walk me through what you've been working on most recently and what part you'd call your. What does your ideal team setup look like day-to-day? What's something you believe about how software should be built that not everyone agrees with? Why Linear specifically, and what have you built or done that's adjacent to the problem space?
That last one caught me off guard. They wanted a real answer, not a "I love your product" response. I talked about a workflow tooling project I'd led and why it connected to what they're building. The recruiter engaged with it, asked a follow-up.
The comp conversation. They asked for my range early. They gave a range back (not specific to level, more of a band). From what I could tell it was in the market for a senior role at a Series C, not big-N levels but solid for a company their size. They seemed flexible on the equity component when I asked about it.
Vibe check. Linear does seem to care a lot about why you're interested in them specifically. Generic "excited about the opportunity to grow" answers probably don't land well here. It's a small enough team that culture fit is load-bearing.
Time from screen to next step: about 5 business days for me before I heard back with a technical screen invitation.