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Hebbia forward deployed engineer interview

How forward deployed interviews work at each company, the questions candidates and employers have published, and practice questions with response guides.

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Hebbia interview

Forward Deployed Engineer

9 stages and 6 questions from 7 sources, newest 2026. 4 open roles in the jobs snapshot.

Process

  1. Recruiter call

    Phone screen. Assesses: Background and fit. [3]

  2. Technical screen

    ~45 min (15 min background, 30 min coding) on CoderPad. Assesses: Coding on an ambiguous text-relevance problem with some statistics. [3]

  3. API design and data modeling

    Interview. Assesses: API and data-model design. [2]

  4. Onsite build day

    Full day (~8 hours) at the office: build and deploy an app from scratch to given requirements. Assesses: End-to-end building and shipping. [2]

  5. Online technical assessment (some loops)

    Two timed parts, about 45 min each: design-doc review and feature work in a small codebase. Assesses: Code-review judgment and working in unfamiliar code. [6]

  6. Coding screen (some loops)

    45 min, practical with an algorithm-design component. Assesses: Algorithms and practical coding. [5]

  7. System design screen

    45 min live. Assesses: Architecture choices, scaling and tradeoffs. [5]

  8. Onsite build, presentation

    Full day (reported 10am to 5pm) building on AWS from a vague prompt, then 1+ hour presentation and discussion. Assesses: End-to-end delivery under ambiguity; explaining decisions. [6]

  9. CEO screen

    15 min, after onsite. Assesses: Final fit. [5]

Questions

System design 1

  • Read a design document, leave review comments, and answer follow-up questions on it.

    System designCandidate reportSenior Software Engineer (not FDE)2024[6]

    Timed, about 45 min

Coding 4

  • Given a text and a list of per-position relevance scores, return the most relevant contiguous span.

    CodingCandidate reportSoftware Engineer (not FDE)2025[3]

    S3 calls it a contiguous subarray; S4 a substring. Output was left undefined, so clarify it

  • Build a React component that displays data and lets the user edit it.

    CodingCandidate reportSoftware Engineer (not FDE)2024[2]

  • In a small unfamiliar codebase, implement several features within a timed session.

    CodingCandidate reportSenior Software Engineer (not FDE)2024[6]

    Timed, about 45 min

  • Over a full day, build a service on AWS from a vague prompt, then present and discuss it.

    CodingCandidate reportSenior Software Engineer (not FDE)2024[6]

    Used own AWS account; a buddy was available. A July 2025 report also describes a full-day toy-app build (S12)

AI build 1

  • In one day, build and deploy an app from scratch to a given set of requirements.

    AI buildCandidate reportSoftware Engineer (not FDE)2024[2]

    Type is a full build exercise; AI use not mentioned

Tips from the sources

  • Ask the interviewer to define the expected output before coding; one candidate said the relevance problem came with inputs but no defined output. [3]
  • Brush up basic statistics; one candidate said the screen involved data-science/stats fundamentals, another that it wanted an analyst/ML/SWE generalist. [3]
  • Budget a full day for the onsite, which involves building and deploying an app. [2]
  • For the coding screen, one candidate who got an offer recommends reviewing algorithm design (Knuth/CLRS) and current distributed-systems tradeoffs for the design screen. [5]
  • Expect an open-ended all-day AWS build with little guidance; one candidate paid small AWS costs on a personal account and found recruiter prep unhelpful. [6]
  • A 2025 candidate who failed the full-day build said they should have read others' interview posts beforehand. [7]

Not found in public sources: Still no FDE-specific interview report; all process detail is from software engineer candidates, and loops vary by year (some include an online assessment, some a CEO screen). A Glassdoor report (excluded) describes an AI Strategist loop with a live client-value case. Hebbia FDE, Forward Deployed Banker/Investor and FDPM postings carry no interview-process text. No AI-use policy published.

Sources

  1. Forward Deployed Engineer - Hebbia. Built In (mirror of Hebbia posting), 2026. Third-party guide
  2. HebbiaAI Software Engineer interview, New York, Feb 2024. Taro (candidate submission), 2024-02. Candidate report
  3. HebbiaAI Software Engineer interview, Apr 2025. Taro (candidate submission), 2025-04. Candidate report
  4. HebbiaAI Senior Software Engineer interview, Apr 2024. Taro (candidate submission), 2024-04. Candidate report
  5. HebbiaAI Senior Software Engineer interview, New York, Jun 2025. Taro (candidate submission), 2025-06. Candidate report
  6. HebbiaAI Senior Software Engineer interview, New York, Aug 2024. Taro (candidate submission), 2024-08. Candidate report
  7. HebbiaAI Software Engineer interview, Jul 2025. Taro (candidate submission), 2025-07. Candidate report