Went through the Retool loop in April 2026 for a senior ops/GTM role. Not SWE, but behavioral rounds seem to be structured similarly across functions based on what I heard from the recruiter and other candidates. Posting because I found almost nothing specific about the behavioral side when I searched.
Retool has an explicit values set and the behavioral round maps pretty directly to it. My interviewer actually told me upfront: "I'm going to ask you about a few of our values. I want real examples, not what you think I want to hear." Refreshing.
Values they probed in my round:
Ownership over comfort. They asked me to describe a time I took on something I wasn't responsible for that would have failed otherwise. They want specificity here. Don't say "I stepped up." Say who owned it, what the gap was, what you actually did, what broke or worked.
Speed with judgment. One question was: "Tell me about a time you moved fast and were wrong." They are looking for whether you can admit a mistake, course-correct, and own the outcome without being defensive. I talked about a vendor decision I fast-tracked that had to be unwound three months later. He leaned in.
Care for the customer. Retool is deeply enterprise-focused. They asked for an example where I advocated for a customer internally when it was inconvenient. They want you to be specific about who the customer was, what they needed, and what you gave up internally to get it for them.
The round was 45 minutes with one interviewer, not a panel. He asked about three values with one scenario each and left 10 minutes for my questions.
Two things I noticed: They don't seem to do the "greatest weakness" trap question. At least I didn't get it. They pushed back once when I was vague. Not rudely, just "can you be more specific about what you did vs. what the team did?" So have your I-statements ready.
Overall the behavioral round felt fair and genuinely diagnostic. More about character than polish.