I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Kraków) in Dec 2023
Interview
The interview consisted of 4 stages. I have missed signing the interview NDA, and HR department contacted me about this after the third stage.
I didn't sign it and the process was terminated.
NDA is so vague, that probably most of the interview reports on glassdoor break it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why are the sources of low code quality and readability?
The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk in May 2026
Interview
Recruiter screen - experience check, logistics intro
Hiring manager round - Culture alignment, leadership questions
Pair coding - two questions, 1 easy, 1 medium difficulty
Coding with AI - use AI to code a running web application
Director + PM - Culture alignment, ways of working
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Allow make use of AI tool, do a RAG system which can run locally in a browser.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Singapore) in Nov 2020
Interview
I was contacted by the recruiter in few days after applying for the role. The interview process was very efficient, that I was arranged to share my technical experience with the future team to see if it is fit to the role or not. If it is matched then you'll be arranged for subsequent technical problem solving, culture etc. The technical interview process was very interactive, feel like you're working with the team for brainstorming the given problem, where I enjoyed a lot.
Candidates applying for Staff Software Engineer roles take an average of 21 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Zendesk overall takes an average of 28 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Zendesk as a Staff Software Engineer according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 50%
Personality test: 25%
Skills test: 25%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -