← Interview experiences
Got the offer

Staff Engineer at Agoda

Difficulty
Process took
2-3 Weeks
Rounds
4
Format
Remote
Applied via
Referral

How it went

Luck matters

What they would tell you

Luck matters

How to prepare

Understand how to design end-to-end flows

Their background

Recently had the chance to interview for a Staff Engineer role at Agoda, and I wanted to share my experience so that others can get a sense of what to expect

Round by round

  1. 1

    DSA Round60 min

    This was a hands-on coding round Questions asked:

    • Reverse Nodes in k-Group (Linked List): Given a linked list, reverse every k nodes and return the modified list.
    • Maximum Sum Circular Subarray: Find the maximum sum of a subarray in a circular array. The expectation was to write clean, correct, and fully functional code on the first attempt.
  2. 2

    Design Round60 min

    Discussion focused on designing a feature for GDPR-compliant user data deletion. Topics covered:

    • How to track deletion requests efficiently
    • How to handle large-scale user data asynchronously
    • Basics of code review, logging, and monitoring The interviewer was more interested in thinking about practical performance issues and system reliability than writing code
  3. 3

    System Design Round60 min

    Design a Hotel Booking Payment Service from scratch. Key areas:

    • Handling multiple payment gateways
    • Ensuring transaction integrity and reconciliation
    • Designing APIs for booking, payment, and refunds
    • Database schema design with scaling and failover considerations This round tested end-to-end system thinking, operational reliability, and handling business logic.
  4. 4

    Behavioral60 min

    Standard behavioral questions, expecting STAR-format answers:

    • Describe a time you fixed a production issue under pressure
    • How you handled a disagreement with a teammate
    • An example of improving a system or process in your previous projects
    • How you approach learning new technologies quickly

What came up

MediumRemote5+ years

A candidate-reported account, lightly edited. Interview processes change by team and date.

Sources