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LINKEDIN · STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER

LinkedIn staff engineer interview

The staff and principal software engineer level at LinkedIn is Staff, Senior Staff, Principal Staff, for staff, principal and senior staff engineers. 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.

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LinkedIn titleStaff, Senior Staff, Principal Staff
ExperienceStaff, principal and senior staff engineers
Interviews after screeningAbout 6
System design roundYes

The Staff Software Engineer 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 Staff Software Engineer: Frequently a hiring-manager conversation about scope and impact instead of pure coding.

  2. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: One or two rounds, sometimes design-flavoured (build a small class with several methods). Coding is a bar to clear, not where level is decided.

  3. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: One or two rounds, sometimes design-flavoured (build a small class with several methods). Coding is a bar to clear, not where level is decided.

  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 Staff Software Engineer: Where used, scored on design decisions and how you verify, not on speed.

  5. System design (HLD) · 60 min

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: Two rounds at many companies. Expected to handle ambiguity, cost, operations and cross-team trade-offs, and to change the design when the interviewer pushes.

  6. Team-specific round · 60 min

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: Presentations or deep dives on multi-quarter work that crossed teams.

  7. Hiring manager · 60 min

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: Strategy, influence without authority and the biggest bets you have made.

  8. Hiring committee

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

    At Staff Software Engineer: Staff packets get extra scrutiny on design and behavioral scope.

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 Staff Software Engineer

One or two rounds, sometimes design-flavoured (build a small class with several methods). Coding is a bar to clear, not where level is decided.

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 Staff Software Engineer

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 Staff Software Engineer 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 Staff Software Engineer?

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 Staff Software Engineer?

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 Staff Software Engineer?

One or two rounds, sometimes design-flavoured (build a small class with several methods). Coding is a bar to clear, not where level is decided.

Staff Software Engineer interviews at other companies

Staff Software Engineer interview questions across all companies · Behavioral questions