Just finished my loop for a Senior ML Engineer role on their recommendations team. Sharing what I found useful.
5 rounds total: Recruiter screen (30 min, pure logistics) Tech screen with the hiring manager -- mostly ML concepts, some Python, light on leetcode ML system design (90 min, the hardest round by far) Coding + ML problem-solving (a mix, not pure DSA) Behavioral + values (45 min, way more probing than I expected)
The ML system design round was serious. They gave me a prompt that was basically 'design a personalized playlist ranking system at Spotify scale.' You need to think through: what signals, how you'd handle cold start, latency constraints, feedback loops, A/B testing strategy. They want to see you actually think about the product tradeoffs, not just rattle off ML architecture.
The behavioral round had three full STAR questions. 'Tell me about a time you disagreed with a stakeholder about a model's direction' was one. They pushed on specifics, what did YOU do, not what the team did.
Got the offer. Total loop was about 5 weeks from first contact. Turnaround on the offer itself was fast, under a week after final round.