Goldman Sachs Interview Guide: Process, Questions, Tips, and Salary

Goldman Sachs sits at the center of global finance, advising companies and governments, powering markets, and building the platforms that move money and data around the world. With more than 45,000 people across 100+ offices and 20 divisions, the firm brings together investment banking, markets, asset and wealth management, engineering, and operations under one umbrella.

If you are preparing for a Goldman Sachs interview, this guide will walk you through what to expect. You will learn how the interview process works from application to offer, how Goldman Sachs evaluates candidates across technical, analytical, and business roles, and how to prepare in a way that reflects the firm’s culture and expectations. Treat it as your roadmap to show strong fundamentals, clear communication, and alignment with Goldman Sachs’ purpose and values. Think of this guide as your core set of Goldman Sachs interview tips that apply across engineering, data, business, and product roles.

If you already know which role you are targeting, you can go deeper with these role specific guides:

• Goldman Sachs Software Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Data Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Data Scientist
• Goldman Sachs Machine Learning Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Data Analyst
• Goldman Sachs Business Intelligence
• Goldman Sachs Business Analyst
• Goldman Sachs Product Manager

Use this general guide for the overall process and culture, then layer on the role guide that fits your path.

Why Goldman Sachs?

Goldman Sachs operates across investment banking, global markets, asset and wealth management, and a large engineering organization that builds trading, risk, data, and client platforms. The result is that your work rarely stays local. A model, dashboard, or system you own can influence capital allocation, risk decisions, and client outcomes across regions.

For engineers and data professionals, the appeal is working on systems that need to be both extremely reliable and extremely fast, in an environment where milliseconds and basis points matter. For business, product, and analytics roles, it is the chance to shape decisions on deals, risk, clients, and new products.

Growth, learning, and inclusion

Goldman Sachs explicitly positions itself as a place for long term careers, not just short tours. The firm highlights internal mobility, structured training, and exposure to senior stakeholders as part of its value proposition for employees.

Alongside growth, the firm emphasizes:

• Diversity and inclusion

  • Recruiting from many academic and professional backgrounds.
  • Building teams that mix technical, market, and domain expertise.

• Wellbeing and support

  Wellness and resilience programs, health resources, and family support benefits that vary by location.

• Community and impact

  Firm wide initiatives such as Community TeamWorks, 10,000 Small Businesses, 10,000 Women, and Goldman Sachs Gives that support local communities and entrepreneurs.

When you prepare for interviews, it helps to have one or two concrete reasons why these themes resonate with you personally.

Purpose and values

Goldman Sachs organizes its culture around a set of business principles and firm values that guide client work, risk decisions, conduct, and collaboration. You can find these in detail on the firm’s purpose and values page.

In interviews, this shows up as questions about:

• How you handle difficult or ambiguous situations.
• How you balance client, firm, and team interests.
• How you work with people from very different backgrounds or disciplines.

You are not expected to recite every principle. Instead, you should use your examples to show judgment, integrity, and a long term view of relationships and risk.

This is the core overview of the Goldman Sachs hiring process, from application to Superday. Goldman Sachs designs its interview process to answer a few core questions:

• Do you have the technical or analytical fundamentals required for the role.
• Can you communicate clearly and work effectively with colleagues and clients.
• Are your decisions and behavior consistent with the firm’s purpose and values.

The exact sequence varies by division and level, but most candidates see some version of the stages below. The structure combines self directed exploration, a formal application, early screening, and a final round of interviews that test both craft and fit.

Goldman Sachs Interview Stages At A Glance

This is the core overview of the Goldman Sachs hiring process, from application to Superday. Goldman Sachs designs its interview process to answer a few core questions:

• Do you have the technical or analytical fundamentals required for the role.
• Can you communicate clearly and work effectively with colleagues and clients.
• Are your decisions and behavior consistent with the firm’s purpose and values.

The exact sequence varies by division and level, but most candidates see some version of the stages below. The structure combines self directed exploration, a formal application, early screening, and a final round of interviews that test both craft and fit.

Goldman Sachs Interview Stages At A Glance

Across roles, Goldman Sachs interviews repeat the same core patterns. You will write code or SQL against realistic financial data, design systems and data models, reason about risk and metrics, and show how you operate in a highly regulated, client focused environment. The mix changes by role, but the themes stay consistent: clarity, structured thinking, and sound judgment under constraints.

Use the categories below to benchmark your prep and map them to the role you are targeting, whether you are aiming for:

• Goldman Sachs Software Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Product Manager
• Goldman Sachs Machine Learning Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Business Intelligence Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Business Analyst
• Goldman Sachs Data Scientist
• Goldman Sachs Data Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Data Analyst

The examples below blend Goldman style questions across engineering, data, analytics, ML, BI, and PM roles. Many appear as interactive problems inside Interview Query if you want to practice with real data, solutions, and detailed walk throughs.

Across roles, Goldman Sachs interviews repeat the same core patterns. You will write code or SQL against realistic financial data, design systems and data models, reason about risk and metrics, and show how you operate in a highly regulated, client focused environment. The mix changes by role, but the themes stay consistent: clarity, structured thinking, and sound judgment under constraints.

Use the categories below to benchmark your prep and map them to the role you are targeting, whether you are aiming for:

• Goldman Sachs Software Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Product Manager
• Goldman Sachs Machine Learning Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Business Intelligence Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Business Analyst
• Goldman Sachs Data Scientist
• Goldman Sachs Data Engineer
• Goldman Sachs Data Analyst

The examples below blend Goldman style questions across engineering, data, analytics, ML, BI, and PM roles. Many appear as interactive problems inside Interview Query if you want to practice with real data, solutions, and detailed walk throughs.

Goldman Sachs interviews reward structured thinking, clarity, and a strong command of your craft. Whether you are applying for an engineering, product, data, or business role, the firm evaluates three pillars:

1. Technical and analytical skill,
2. Judgment under ambiguity, and
3. Communication and culture fit in a client-driven environment.

Below are targeted strategies that apply across all divisions, with links to deeper role guides and practice tools where relevant.

Goldman Sachs interviews reward structured thinking, clarity, and a strong command of your craft. Whether you are applying for an engineering, product, data, or business role, the firm evaluates three pillars:

1. Technical and analytical skill,
2. Judgment under ambiguity, and
3. Communication and culture fit in a client-driven environment.

Below are targeted strategies that apply across all divisions, with links to deeper role guides and practice tools where relevant.

Goldman Sachs offers competitive compensation across engineering, data, product, and business roles, with total annual packages driven by base salary, performance-linked bonuses, and location. Unlike many tech companies, Goldman’s compensation skews more toward cash and annual bonuses than large stock grants—though RSUs appear at senior levels.

Entry-level roles often begin around $95K–$120K total compensation, while Vice Presidents across technical and analytical roles typically fall in the $180K–$250K range. New York City consistently reports higher comp bands due to market competitiveness and cost of living.

The table below summarizes typical total annual compensation ranges for Goldman Sachs’ key technical and analytical roles, based on publicly available data from Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and Indeed.

If you want more context on leveling and expectations, you can compare responsibilities across GS role guides in the Interview Query companies directory.

If you are preparing to negotiate, use Levels.fyi and Glassdoor submissions as your baseline expectations, not fixed rules.

How competitive is the Goldman Sachs interview process?

Goldman Sachs is known for its selectivity, and understanding the Goldman Sachs interview process early can significantly improve your chances. The firm screens heavily for analytical depth, structured thinking, and communication under pressure. Most roles include a recruiter screen, technical or case-based assessments, and a Superday with several back-to-back interviews. Practicing through the AI interview tool and role-specific learning paths in the Interview Query library helps you build consistency across these stages.

How should I prepare for technical interviews at Goldman Sachs?

Preparation depends on the role, but the strongest candidates build structured fundamentals.

Engineers review DSA and system design using the software engineer guide.

Data candidates sharpen SQL, analytics, and modeling through the data analyst, data engineer, and data scientist guides.

PM candidates focus on product sense, prioritization, and metrics using the Goldman Sachs PM guide.

Using the SQL interview learning path and hands-on challenges is especially effective for technical screens.

Does Goldman Sachs ask behavioral questions?

Yes. Behavioral questions are central across all divisions, including engineering and data. Superday interviewers often test judgment, communication, resilience, and client-focused decision making. Prepare 8 to 10 tight STAR stories and rehearse them in the mock interviews platform for timing and clarity.

What should I expect from the Superday?

A Superday typically includes several consecutive interviews with interviewers from the team you may join. These can blend behavioral, technical, and scenario-based questions depending on your division. Review the relevant GS role guide such as the business analyst, business intelligence, or machine learning engineer guide to understand the specific question types used in your track.

Does Goldman Sachs use take-home assignments?

Some roles include take-home tasks, especially in product, analytics, and data-heavy teams. These assignments evaluate clarity, problem framing, data cleaning, and interpretation. Reviewing similar problem types in the takehomes page helps you understand expected structure and deliverables.

Does Goldman Sachs hire remotely or only in major hubs?

Most hiring still centers around New York, Dallas, Salt Lake City, and Bengaluru, but certain engineering and data roles allow hybrid or remote flexibility depending on team needs. You can check role availability through the companies directory.

What level should I apply for?

Titles at Goldman such as Analyst, Associate, and Vice President span broad responsibility ranges. Choose the level that best matches the complexity and independence of your past work. Reviewing compensation ladders in this guide and comparing responsibilities in each role-specific guide such as the data engineer guide or product manager guide can help you identify your fit.

How important are financial concepts in Goldman Sachs interviews?

It depends on the role. Many engineering and data roles require no prior finance background, while roles in risk, markets, and banking expect comfort with domain concepts. When in doubt, prepare foundational topics such as market structure, risk types, and basic financial instruments. Reviewing team expectations inside the appropriate GS guide will help confirm what is needed.

Are Goldman Sachs interviews more analytical or more conversational?

Both. Even behavioral questions often require analytical reasoning, especially in operations, risk, data, and product roles. Interviewers reward structured answers, crisp explanations, and clear trade-off thinking. Practicing with the structured frameworks in the learning paths helps you balance both dimensions.

How to get hired at Goldman Sachs

To get hired at Goldman Sachs, the strongest candidates show consistent fundamentals across technical skill, structured communication, and judgment. They also demonstrate clear motivation for their division and bring thoughtful questions informed by the firm’s work. Practicing realistic problems in the Interview Query question bank is one of the fastest ways to build that consistency.

The Goldman Sachs interview process is known for pushing candidates beyond surface-level answers. It tests how you think, how you prioritize, and how you operate when the stakes rise. This difficulty is not a barrier. It is a signal that preparation matters and the right strategy can put you ahead of the curve.

If you want to show that you can meet their standard, now is the time to put structure behind your prep. Tap into the Interview Query question bank, sharpen your delivery with the mock interview tool, and follow a guided plan through the learning paths hub. Every round becomes more manageable when you prepare with intention.