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ORACLE · SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (SDE 3)

Oracle senior engineer interview

The senior software engineer (SDE 3) level at Oracle is IC3–IC4 Senior / Principal MTS, 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 Oracle's careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team. AlgoRung is not affiliated with Oracle.

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Oracle titleIC3–IC4 Senior / Principal MTS
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. Phone / recruiter screen · 45 min

    A recruiter call on your work history and why Oracle, sometimes with light technical questions.

    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.

  2. Online assessment · 90 min

    An online or live screen with one or two DSA problems that must pass every test; sometimes a design-pattern task.

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

  3. Coding (DSA) × 2 · 60 min

    Rounds that mix DSA with grilling on past projects and Java or REST deep dives.

    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 · 30 min

    Usually half a round: schema or class design.

    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

    From IC3 up, an architecture round on your current system plus a standard design 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 · 60 min

    Project architecture, behavioral questions and sometimes a design prompt.

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

  7. Bar raiser · 60 min

    Cloud infrastructure (OCI) loops often include a bar-raiser round by a senior engineer from another team.

    At Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3): Scope and leadership of your projects; a strong signal for level.

What Oracle interviewers look for

Coding questions to practise for Oracle 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. Group Anagrams Medium Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Meta
  2. Next Greater Element I Easy Monotonic Stack also Adobe, Walmart Global Tech
  3. Search a 2D Matrix II (Young Tableau) Medium Binary Search
  4. Shortest Path in Binary Matrix Medium Graphs
  5. Merge Intervals Medium Intervals also Netflix, LinkedIn, Atlassian
  6. Missing Number Easy Bit Manipulation
  7. LRU Cache Medium Design Data Structures also Amazon, Microsoft, Apple +4
  8. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree Hard Trees & BST also Amazon, Meta, LinkedIn
  9. Minimum Window Substring Hard Arrays & Hashing also Google, Meta, LinkedIn
  10. Course Schedule Medium Graphs also Google, Amazon, Netflix +1
  11. 01 Matrix Medium Graphs
  12. Linked List Cycle Easy Linked List
  13. Product of Array Except Self Medium Arrays & Hashing also Meta
  14. Continuous Subarray Sum Medium Arrays & Hashing also Adobe

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

System design at Senior Software Engineer (SDE 3)

IC2 loops usually stop at LLD or schema design. From IC3 up, expect at least one HLD round plus an architecture walkthrough of your current project; at IC4, architecture matters more than puzzles.

All Oracle system design questions

Questions people ask

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

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

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

Yes. IC2 loops usually stop at LLD or schema design. From IC3 up, expect at least one HLD round plus an architecture walkthrough of your current project; at IC4, architecture matters more than puzzles.

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

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Group Anagrams, Next Greater Element I, Search a 2D Matrix II (Young Tableau), Shortest Path in Binary Matrix, Merge Intervals.

What does Oracle 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