Did the Samsung EM loop last quarter for a team in their semiconductor/memory division (San Jose). I'm at 15 years so I've been through a lot of these. Sharing what stood out and where candidates tend to trip.
The loop was 5 rounds: a phone screen with a recruiter, a 1:1 with the hiring manager, two behavioral rounds with peers and senior leaders, and a "technical depth" round where they want to see you can still get in the weeds with engineers.
What they're hiring for. Samsung EM roles span a huge range internally: software EMs, hardware-adjacent EMs, platform EMs. Make sure you know which org you're talking to before the loop. The evaluation criteria genuinely differ. The SRD (Samsung Research and Development) roles in San Jose feel more like a classic Silicon Valley EM search. The Ridgefield Park, NJ office has more of a large-corp-process feel.
The technical depth round. This is unique compared to most big-tech EM loops. They'll pick a domain from your resume and actually probe it for 45 minutes. I came from a distributed systems background so they went deep on consensus protocols, replication lag handling, and how I'd staff a team that inherited a poorly-documented distributed system. Be ready. This is not "tell me about your team's architecture" light. They're testing whether you can still speak credibly to engineers.
The people management rounds. Standard but probing. Conflict resolution, underperformer scenarios, cross-functional friction, setting expectations with a skip-level. I noticed they really care about how you handle ambiguity. Samsung's internal product direction shifts more than most companies (it's a hardware-first company that's increasingly trying to be a software company), so they want managers who can steady a team through a lot of pivots.
Offer. For senior EM level, the base was competitive (mid-$200s in SV), but again the equity story is weaker than hyperscalers. They offer Samsung stock which has its own volatility profile. Know what you're getting into.
One thing I'd flag: the process can feel slow. My loop took 7 weeks from first contact to offer. If you're on a timeline, say so early and the recruiter can usually compress it.