Chewy Software Engineer interviews typically run 3–6 rounds: recruiter screen, online assessment, technical coding, behavioral, and sometimes system design or debugging. The process completes in under three weeks and is notably customer-mindset-heavy compared to typical SWE loops.
$119K
Avg. Base Comp
$205K
Avg. Total Comp
4-6
Typical Rounds
2-4 weeks
Process Length
What strikes us most about Chewy's software engineer process is how deliberately the company embeds its customer-first identity into the interview itself. This isn't just a behavioral checkbox — it's a recurring theme that shows up at every stage. Multiple candidates reported being asked specifically about a time they went above and beyond for a customer or end user, and the framing of those questions maps closely to Chewy's operating principles. If you can't connect your technical work to real user or business impact, you'll struggle here even if your code is clean.
The technical bar is genuinely approachable — easy-to-medium LeetCode, classic data structures like stacks and trees, and Java fundamentals like ArrayList vs. arrays or hashmap vs. map. What's more telling is how candidates are evaluated on those problems. We've seen candidates who solved everything correctly still get rejected, while others who needed a nudge along the way received offers. The interviewers seem to weight communication and process clarity heavily — one candidate specifically noted the interviewer wanted them to talk through every step out loud and was actively helpful rather than silent. That's a signal about what they're really measuring.
The non-obvious risk in this process is the subjectivity at the senior levels. A recurring pattern in rejections is that Staff Engineers and Sr. Directors probe hard on whether your past projects had organizational impact, not just technical correctness. One rejected candidate explained their business impact clearly but felt the interviewer wasn't convinced of its uniqueness. Stack fit also matters more than candidates expect — one finalist was explicitly told the rejection came down to insufficient Spring Boot and AWS experience. Know the job description cold, and be ready to speak to their specific tools.
Synthetized from 9 candidates reports by our editorial team.
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Featured question at Chewy
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Some candidates receive a HackerRank or OA shortly after applying, sometimes within hours. The assessment is generally easy to medium difficulty and may include an OOP or DSA focus, and is not considered a major filter.
A phone call with a recruiter covering your background, resume, salary expectations, and interest in Chewy. The recruiter may also discuss the role, office locations, and walk you through what to expect in the rest of the process.
A round with a software engineer split roughly evenly between technical or behavioral questions and a live HackerRank or LeetCode-style coding problem. Questions may include Java fundamentals such as ArrayList vs. arrays or hashmap vs. map, plus one easy-to-medium DSA problem.
A conversational deep dive into your current work, past decisions, and how your experience maps to the role. The hiring manager may ask detailed follow-up questions about your responsibilities and the business impact of your projects.
A series of back-to-back interviews, typically two to four rounds, covering behavioral questions in STAR format, a LeetCode-style coding problem, and potentially a system design, debugging, or JavaScript/React round depending on the team. Behavioral questions are Amazon-style but less intense, with a strong emphasis on customer focus and operating principles.