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SALESFORCE · STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Salesforce staff engineer interview

The staff and principal software engineer level at Salesforce is PMTS (Principal), Architect, 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 Salesforce's careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team. AlgoRung is not affiliated with Salesforce.

Track my Salesforce prep
Salesforce titlePMTS (Principal), Architect
ExperienceStaff, principal and senior staff engineers
Interviews after screeningAbout 5
System design roundYes

The Staff Software Engineer rounds, in order

  1. Phone / recruiter screen · 30 min

    A recruiter screen on experience, notice period and expected pay.

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

  2. Online assessment · 75 min

    A proctored online test with two or three medium-to-hard problems.

    At Staff Software Engineer: Almost never used.

  3. Coding (DSA) × 2 · 60 min

    Live coding where interviewers often require the optimal complexity before you start coding.

    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. Low-level design / machine coding · 60 min

    Object and concurrency design, such as a connection pool, often starting with database and sharding questions.

    At Staff Software Engineer: Rare as a standalone round; folded into design discussions.

  5. System design (HLD) · 60 min

    A deep-dive design round on failure handling, distributed transactions and rollout strategy.

    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. Hiring manager · 60 min

    An architecture walkthrough of your current system plus behavioral questions; for AMTS it includes a coding problem.

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

What Salesforce interviewers look for

Behavioral rounds are based on the Core values: Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, Equality, Sustainability. Questions for each one.

Coding questions to practise for Salesforce 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
5 questions
  1. Trapping Rain Water Hard Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs +1
  2. Max Stack Hard Design Data Structures also LinkedIn
  3. Maximum Frequency Stack Hard Design Data Structures
  4. Min Stack Medium Design Data Structures
  5. Coin Change Medium Dynamic Programming also Google, Airbnb, Goldman Sachs

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

System design at Staff Software Engineer

AMTS and MTS loops are mostly coding plus CS fundamentals. SMTS adds a mixed HLD round. LMTS and above get separate LLD and HLD rounds with deep dives into distributed transactions and self-healing systems.

All Salesforce system design questions

Questions people ask

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

About 5 interviews after the screening: phone / recruiter screen, online assessment, coding (dsa), low-level design / machine coding, system design (hld), hiring manager.

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

Yes. AMTS and MTS loops are mostly coding plus CS fundamentals. SMTS adds a mixed HLD round. LMTS and above get separate LLD and HLD rounds with deep dives into distributed transactions and self-healing systems.

What coding questions does Salesforce ask at Staff Software Engineer?

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Trapping Rain Water, Max Stack, Maximum Frequency Stack, Min Stack, Coin Change.

What does Salesforce 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