Candidates describe Kraken software engineering interviews as a recruiter screen, a take-home or live coding exercise, technical and systems design conversations, and a team or culture round. Reports are mixed: two offers and one rejection for software engineer roles.
$167K
Avg. Base Comp
$205K
Avg. Total Comp
Not reported
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Kraken software engineer candidates describe a multi-stage process that tests more than coding. One software engineer who received an offer reports a recruiter screen, a deliberately vague take-home, a technical interview built around that take-home, a systems design conversation, and a final talk with an engineering manager. That candidate was asked to defend the take-home and explain Rust internals, including what Mutex::lock returns and how async Rust executes. Be ready to walk through your submission and defend the choices you made.
Systems design appears in more than one report. The offer-receiving software engineer describes it as conversational, focused on trade-offs and scaling rather than textbook patterns. Another software engineer, who was not offered the role, describes a technical interview on systems design and scalability infrastructure, plus a surprise React Query question early in a recruiter call. Be ready to discuss both your stack and how it behaves at scale.
Culture and mission come up as well. A Staff Software Engineer who received an offer reports a recruiter conversation centered on values and fit, plus a one-hour live coding session in a preset environment. An SRE/DevOps candidate who received an offer reports an early culture interview about Kraken's mission, then a technical assignment and technical Q&A, including security practices in code. Read up on the company and be able to say why you want to join.
Experiences are not uniformly smooth. One senior engineer reports repeated interviewer no-shows and a final round with two senior engineers that drifted from the job description. Another candidate reports a long gap after a take-home and unclear preparation guidance. Confirm the role scope with your recruiter in advance. Because these are individual reports across different levels, expect the exact sequence to vary.
Synthesized from 5 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an opening call with a recruiter that confirms basics, gauges interest, and can touch on values and mission. One candidate was asked surprise technical questions early, including React Query, so it is sensible to keep your core stack fresh even for this call.
Reports describe either a take-home exercise or a one-hour live coding session. One software engineer calls the take-home intentionally vague, with nuance that grows the deeper you dig. A staff-level candidate reports a preset environment provided in advance.
One offer-receiving candidate reports a technical interview that walked through the take-home, followed by deeper Rust questions on Mutex::lock and async execution. Another candidate for a different role describes technical Q&A on security practices in code. Expect questions to probe understanding rather than syntax, though this may vary by team.
Candidates report systems design or architecture discussions focused on scaling decisions and real-world trade-offs. A staff-level candidate describes topics ranging from UI layout to backend performance. Prepare to reason through constraints aloud instead of reciting memorized patterns.
Final conversations are reported with an engineering manager and sometimes another engineer, centered on fit and interest in the problems. One senior candidate instead faced two senior engineers whose questions diverged from the job description, so clarify the role scope with your recruiter beforehand.
