Rakuten software engineer candidates report an online coding assessment, technical rounds on DSA and fundamentals, design discussion in some loops, and manager or behavioral rounds that weigh 'why Rakuten' and career history.
$136K
Avg. Base Comp
$159K
Avg. Total Comp
3-5 rounds
Typical Rounds
1-3 months
Process Length
Prepare for Rakuten's software engineer interview as a coding screen followed by fundamentals, occasional design discussion and a substantial fit conversation. Candidates describe loops of anywhere from three to five rounds, and the content appears to shift with the team.
The online assessment is the usual opener. Reports describe Codility-style or LeetCode-style problems, from finding a missing integer in an array to medium hashmap and binary search questions. One candidate saw a string problem alongside a segment tree question. Live coding reports are similar: one candidate described 45 minutes with an easy and a medium-hard problem, and another who accepted an offer recalled medium heap, array and sorting problems with follow-ups.
Technical conversations vary by team. Some candidates were asked about Java OOP, Spring Boot annotations, MySQL or Java 17 features. Others saw database design, HTTP 1.0 versus 1.1, threads versus processes, or the Decorator pattern. System design appears in some loops, including a cashback microservices exercise, a chat application and a card-payment flow, so be ready to discuss caching, scalability and data flow if your team includes one.
Fit rounds deserve real preparation. Several candidates faced 'why Rakuten' questions and project walkthroughs. Some were asked about career moves, and a few said behavioral conversations outweighed the technical ones. Timelines differ too: one candidate described three rounds over about a month, while one software engineer reported nearly three months, with slow HR communication in places. Ask for next steps after each round.
Synthesized from 29 candidate reports by our editorial team.
Had an interview recently?
Share your experience. Unlock the full guide.
Real interview reports from people who went through the Rakuten process.
I went through two rounds of interviews at Rakuten for a Software Engineer role. The first round was a technical interview with an engineer from the department, and the second was with a manager who focused entirely on behavioral and cultural fit questions—no technical content at all.
What stood out most was how much the interview emphasized thinking and problem-solving approach over raw technical skill. In the technical round, they had me open my IDE and work through a code snippet, asking me to refactor it to improve specific aspects like performance or readability. The interviewers were genuinely personable and conversational; they seemed more interested in how I approached problems than in whether I could rattle off algorithms from memory. One round even included a question in Japanese, and there were cultural and behavioral questions woven throughout—things like three adjectives to describe yourself, questions about the company culture, and how I think through challenges.
The process felt less about testing raw knowledge and more about understanding how I'd fit into the team and contribute. The interviewers came across as willing to help you present your best self. Overall, it was a conversational, collaborative experience rather than a high-pressure technical gauntlet.
Prep tip from this candidate
Prepare to explain your problem-solving process out loud when refactoring code—they care more about *how* you think than whether you know the optimal solution upfront. Practice articulating your reasoning for design choices and be ready for behavioral questions about company culture and teamwork.
Share your own interview experience to unlock all reports, or subscribe for full access.
Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Rakuten
Write a function to calculate precision and recall metrics.
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Transformer Encoder Layer | |
| Matrix Rotation | |
| Optimistic vs Pessimistic Locking | |
| A/B Testing a Checkout Button Change | |
| Converted Sessions | |
| Ranking Metrics | |
| Your Strengths and Weaknesses | |
| Statistically Significant Test | |
| Slow OLAP Aggregations | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Employee Salaries | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Prime to N | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Total Spent on Products | |
| String Shift | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| Top 5 Turnover Risk | |
| Like Tracker | |
| Random SQL Sample |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report starting with a resume shortlist, an entry sheet or an in-house recruiter reaching out. One candidate had a recruiter call about background and motivation for Rakuten. Some loops appear to include a separate HR stage, while at least one candidate reported none, so expect variation by team.
Most candidates describe an online coding test as the first technical gate. Reported problems include finding a missing integer, an image-pattern generation task, medium hashmap and binary search questions, and a string question plus a segment tree problem. One report describes two questions in about an hour. Practice clean, correct solutions under time pressure.
Candidates report one or two technical rounds covering DSA basics, live coding at roughly easy-to-medium level, and fundamentals such as Java OOP, Spring Boot, MySQL, database design, HTTP versions or threads versus processes. One candidate described 45 minutes of live coding where all test cases had to pass. Topics likely depend on the team, so review the job description closely.
Some candidates report a design round or a design-heavy technical interview, such as a scalable cashback app on microservices, a high-level chat application, or a card-payment lifecycle on AWS. Others describe a discussion of their current project instead. Prepare to explain trade-offs like caching, fault tolerance and data flow if your loop includes one.
Candidates typically describe a final conversation with a hiring or department manager covering project history, teamwork, conflict handling and 'why Rakuten'. One candidate reported a 30-minute final round spent almost entirely on career moves. Have concise, honest answers about motivation, past transitions and how you handle disagreements.
