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META · STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Meta staff engineer interview

The staff and principal software engineer level at Meta is E6 Staff, E7+ Senior Staff and above, 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 Meta's careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team. AlgoRung is not affiliated with Meta.

Track my Meta prep
Meta titleE6 Staff, E7+ Senior Staff and above
ExperienceStaff, principal and senior staff engineers
Interviews after screeningAbout 5
System design roundYes

The Staff Software Engineer rounds, in order

  1. Phone / recruiter screen · 45 min

    Two easy-to-medium coding problems in about 35 minutes of coding time, with code execution turned off.

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

  2. Coding (DSA) · 45 min

    One traditional coding round without AI, usually two problems; interviewers expect you to find your own bugs.

    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. AI-assisted coding · 60 min

    Since October 2025 this round gives you a multi-file project with an AI chat assistant, in three phases: fix a bug, build the core feature, then optimize for larger inputs.

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

  4. System design (HLD) × 2 · 45 min

    System design or product design (product architecture), chosen to fit your background; E5+ usually get two design rounds and staff candidates must pass both.

    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.

  5. Behavioral · 45 min

    Conflict, mistakes, missed deadlines, ambiguity and impact; senior candidates need multi-quarter projects with measurable impact.

    At Staff Software Engineer: Expected scope: org-wide impact, setting direction, hard trade-offs with leadership.

  6. Team match · 30 min

    After the loop you meet several hiring managers, and the offer depends on a match where both sides opt in.

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

  7. Hiring committee

    A review meeting recommends hire or no-hire from the packet; a senior committee mainly confirms level and compensation.

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

What Meta interviewers look for

Behavioral rounds are based on the Company values (2022 set): Move Fast, Focus on Long-Term Impact, Build Awesome Things, Live in the Future, Be Direct and Respect Your Colleagues, Meta, Metamates, Me. Questions for each one.

Coding questions to practise for Meta 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
14 questions
  1. Valid Word Abbreviation Easy Arrays & Hashing also LinkedIn
  2. Valid Palindrome II Easy Arrays & Hashing also Apple
  3. Subarray Sum Equals K Medium Arrays & Hashing also PhonePe
  4. Product of Array Except Self Medium Arrays & Hashing also Oracle
  5. Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree Medium Trees & BST also Google, Netflix, Atlassian +1
  6. Diameter of Binary Tree Easy Trees & BST also Adobe
  7. Copy List with Random Pointer Medium Linked List also Amazon, Microsoft
  8. Minimum Window Substring Hard Arrays & Hashing also Google, LinkedIn, Oracle
  9. Group Anagrams Medium Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Oracle
  10. Number of Islands Medium Graphs also Amazon, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs +1
  11. Meeting Rooms II Medium Intervals also Amazon
  12. Alien Dictionary Hard Graphs also Amazon, Airbnb
  13. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree Hard Trees & BST also Amazon, LinkedIn, Oracle
  14. Basic Calculator Hard Stack

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

System design at Staff Software Engineer

E3/E4 design is basic or absent. From E5 there are usually two design rounds and they weigh heavily on level: system design (infrastructure, scale, storage) or product design (APIs, data flow, data models). Prompts are mostly Meta products: Feed, Messenger, Instagram, live comments, typeahead.

All Meta system design questions

Questions people ask

How many rounds are in the Meta Staff Software Engineer interview?

About 5 interviews after the screening: phone / recruiter screen, coding (dsa), ai-assisted coding, system design (hld), behavioral, team match, hiring committee.

Is there a system design round for Meta Staff Software Engineer?

Yes. E3/E4 design is basic or absent. From E5 there are usually two design rounds and they weigh heavily on level: system design (infrastructure, scale, storage) or product design (APIs, data flow, data models). Prompts are mostly Meta products: Feed, Messenger, Instagram, live comments, typeahead.

What coding questions does Meta ask at Staff Software Engineer?

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Valid Word Abbreviation, Valid Palindrome II, Subarray Sum Equals K, Product of Array Except Self, Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree.

What does Meta 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