Talkdesk Lead ML Engineer interview questions

**Interviewing at Talkdesk – Role: Lead MLE / MLOps** **Interview Experience:** Neutral **Position:** Lead MLE / MLOps **Status:** Interviewed (4 Rounds) **Review:** I went through four rounds of interviews for a Lead MLE / MLOps role at Talkdesk. The first three rounds — with the hiring manager and two technical interviewers — were aligned with my background in MLOps and GenAI, and the conversations were engaging and relevant to the role. However, the fourth round came as a surprise. It was supposed to focus on MLOps but instead turned into a theoretical deep dive into classical data science concepts — something neither highlighted in the job description nor aligned with the team’s current focus areas (as understood from earlier conversations). My resume also clearly reflects my MLOps and GenAI expertise, not traditional DS research or theory. While I understand the importance of a holistic evaluation, it felt like the fitment round was left until the very end. A more structured and aligned interview process — especially clarifying the expectations upfront — would have made the experience more transparent for both the candidate and the team. Spending nearly 4 hours across rounds only to find a disconnect at the end was disappointing. That said, everyone I spoke with was professional and thoughtful, and I appreciated the chance to learn more about the company and its direction in GenAI