Start practising

LINKEDIN · SDE 2

LinkedIn SDE 2 interview

The SDE 2 (mid-level software engineer) level at LinkedIn is Software Engineer / Senior Software Engineer, for engineers with about 2 to 5 years of experience. The rounds at this level, how each one is scored, and the questions to practise first.

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

Track my LinkedIn prep
LinkedIn titleSoftware Engineer / Senior Software Engineer
ExperienceEngineers with about 2 to 5 years of experience
Interviews after screeningAbout 6
System design roundYes

The SDE 2 rounds, in order

  1. Phone / recruiter screen · 30 min

    A recruiter call to confirm level and track (applications vs. infrastructure) and which skills the onsite will cover.

    At SDE 2: One or two problems, a little faster. Some companies mix in a design question.

  2. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

    The technical phone screen has one or two DSA problems with a main interviewer and a shadow.

    At SDE 2: Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.

  3. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

    A traditional onsite coding round, often with two interviewers, where code quality and testing count.

    At SDE 2: Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.

  4. AI-assisted coding · 60 min

    An AI-enabled round has replaced one traditional coding round; you are scored on prompt quality, checking the AI's output and production thinking.

    At SDE 2: Expected to move through all stages and test as you go.

  5. System design (HLD) · 60 min

    System design, often product or backend style, such as typeahead.

    At SDE 2: Present at most companies. A sound end-to-end design with sensible components and basic scaling is enough.

  6. Team-specific round · 60 min

    Technical communication: a no-code walkthrough of a past project's architecture, decisions and impact.

    At SDE 2: Debugging, integration or code review rounds at product companies.

  7. Hiring manager · 60 min

    A behavioral and culture round on ownership, influence, career growth and handling hard migrations.

    At SDE 2: Ownership of features, handling production issues, working with product and other teams.

  8. Hiring committee

    A committee decides hire and level, and team matching follows before the offer.

    At SDE 2: Committees can down-level you instead of rejecting.

What LinkedIn interviewers look for

Behavioral rounds are based on the Culture & values: We put members first, We trust and care about each other, We are open, honest and constructive, We act as One LinkedIn, We embody diversity, inclusion and belonging. Questions for each one.

Coding questions to practise for LinkedIn SDE 2

Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.

Difficulty
Topic
9 questions
  1. Max Stack Hard Design Data Structures also Salesforce
  2. Merge Intervals Medium Intervals also Netflix, Atlassian, Oracle
  3. Word Ladder Hard Graphs also Google, Amazon
  4. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree Hard Trees & BST also Amazon, Meta, Oracle
  5. Minimum Window Substring Hard Arrays & Hashing also Google, Meta, Oracle
  6. Kadane's Algorithm - Simple Medium Arrays & Hashing also Adobe
  7. Permutations Medium Recursion & Backtracking
  8. Longest Palindromic Subsequence Medium Dynamic Programming also Goldman Sachs
  9. Valid Word Abbreviation Easy Arrays & Hashing also Meta

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

System design at SDE 2

Mid-level and senior candidates get one HLD round, usually product or feed style. Staff candidates get design-flavored coding plus deeper architecture discussion, and the technical communication round tests how much scope they owned.

All LinkedIn system design questions

Questions people ask

How many rounds are in the LinkedIn SDE 2 interview?

About 6 interviews after the screening: phone / recruiter screen, coding (dsa), ai-assisted coding, system design (hld), team-specific round, hiring manager, hiring committee.

Is there a system design round for LinkedIn SDE 2?

Yes. Mid-level and senior candidates get one HLD round, usually product or feed style. Staff candidates get design-flavored coding plus deeper architecture discussion, and the technical communication round tests how much scope they owned.

What coding questions does LinkedIn ask at SDE 2?

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Max Stack, Merge Intervals, Word Ladder, Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree, Minimum Window Substring.

What does LinkedIn expect in coding rounds at SDE 2?

Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.

SDE 2 interviews at other companies

SDE 2 interview questions across all companies · Behavioral questions