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GOLDMAN SACHS · SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (SDE 3)

Goldman Sachs senior engineer interview

The senior software engineer (SDE 3) level at Goldman Sachs is Associate to Vice President, for senior engineers with about 5 to 10 years of experience. The rounds at this level, how each one is scored, and the questions to practise first.

From public candidate reports and Goldman Sachs's careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team. AlgoRung is not affiliated with Goldman Sachs.

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Goldman Sachs titleAssociate to Vice President
ExperienceSenior engineers with about 5 to 10 years of experience
Interviews after screeningAbout 6
System design roundYes

The Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3) rounds, in order

  1. Online assessment · 90 min

    An online test with two or three DSA problems; campus drives may add aptitude sections or a recorded video screen.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Rare. Most companies replace it with a live screen for senior candidates.

  2. Phone / recruiter screen · 60 min

    A live coding screen with an engineer: one or two problems you must run and test, plus a short resume chat.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Often a coding problem plus questions about your past systems; some companies (Uber) use it to set your level.

  3. Coding (DSA) × 2 · 60 min

    Superday DSA rounds, often with two interviewers: mostly medium problems with many follow-ups; Java internals (HashMap, garbage collection) are common.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Usually two rounds. Same difficulty, but interviewers expect quick, confident problem solving and production-quality code.

  4. Low-level design / machine coding · 60 min

    Class and schema design for a small system; concurrency follow-ups are frequent.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Same as SDE 2 plus concurrency (two users booking the same seat) and a clean extension story.

  5. System design (HLD) · 60 min

    For experienced hires, a design round with a resume deep dive and a scalable-system prompt.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): One or two rounds that set your level. Expected to lead, size the system and go deep on two or three hard parts.

  6. Hiring manager · 45 min

    Why you are switching, why this firm, situational questions, sometimes a DSA problem.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Technical leadership, mentoring, and how you choose what to work on.

  7. Behavioral · 45 min

    An HR or behavioral round on ownership, deadlines, conflict and ethics scenarios.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Expected scope: projects across quarters, influencing other teams, mentoring.

What Goldman Sachs interviewers look for

Behavioral rounds are based on the Core values and business principles: Client Service, Partnership, Integrity, Excellence. Questions for each one.

Coding questions to practise for Goldman Sachs Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)

Usually two rounds. Same difficulty, but interviewers expect quick, confident problem solving and production-quality code.

Difficulty
Topic
14 questions
  1. Trapping Rain Water Hard Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce +1
  2. LRU Cache Medium Design Data Structures also Amazon, Microsoft, Apple +4
  3. Decode Ways Medium Dynamic Programming
  4. Number of Islands Medium Graphs also Amazon, Microsoft, Meta +1
  5. Coin Change Medium Dynamic Programming also Google, Airbnb, Salesforce
  6. Container With Most Water Medium Arrays & Hashing also Microsoft
  7. Koko Eating Bananas Medium Binary Search also Amazon
  8. Burst Balloons Hard Dynamic Programming
  9. Kth Largest Element in a Stream Easy Heaps
  10. Kth Smallest Element in a BST Medium Trees & BST
  11. Top K Frequent Words Medium Heaps also Amazon
  12. Longest Palindromic Subsequence Medium Dynamic Programming also LinkedIn
  13. 0 - 1 Knapsack Problem Medium Dynamic Programming also Flipkart
  14. Implement Queue using Stacks Easy Stack also Walmart Global Tech

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

System design at Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)

Analyst Superdays usually include an LLD round on classes, schema and concurrency. Associate and VP loops add HLD on finance-flavoured or high-throughput systems plus a resume deep dive. SQL and schema questions show up across levels.

All Goldman Sachs system design questions

Questions people ask

How many rounds are in the Goldman Sachs Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3) interview?

About 6 interviews after the screening: online assessment, phone / recruiter screen, coding (dsa), low-level design / machine coding, system design (hld), hiring manager, behavioral.

Is there a system design round for Goldman Sachs Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)?

Yes. Analyst Superdays usually include an LLD round on classes, schema and concurrency. Associate and VP loops add HLD on finance-flavoured or high-throughput systems plus a resume deep dive. SQL and schema questions show up across levels.

What coding questions does Goldman Sachs ask at Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)?

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Trapping Rain Water, LRU Cache, Decode Ways, Number of Islands, Coin Change.

What does Goldman Sachs expect in coding rounds at Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)?

Usually two rounds. Same difficulty, but interviewers expect quick, confident problem solving and production-quality code.

Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3) interviews at other companies

Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3) interview questions across all companies · Behavioral questions