The interview process was smooth and well-coordinated. While the technical difficulty was relatively lower than typical Bay Area tech companies, the chief people officer was a significant red flag for me. She literally lacked self-awareness and empathy, projecting a rigid "my way or the highway" attitude that felt misaligned with a high-growth tech culture. Her leadership style seems like a potential liability for the company’s long-term health. I would rather skip such a company with bad leadership.

The onsite consists of a takehome you need to do before the onsite, about 2-4 hours. Then, one round talking through your takehome and 2 rounds of common system design topics. The entire process is disorganized with the recruiter forgetting to set you up for certain things and many interviewers being late. Some interviewers are nice but others are condescending for no reason, some will insist your solution is wrong and keep correcting you even though you presented the textbook solution for their question. Overall it gives you the feeling that they are better than everyone else because they are early on the AI hype train.