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Netflix · Software engineer · Senior (L5)+

System design (senior)

~60 min spoken whiteboard/diagram discussion; senior candidates are expected to drive

What they actually ask

The question shapes this round uses. Larpy does not read these out. It builds each one from your own resume, because the generic version is the one you have already rehearsed.

  • “Design a video-streaming / playback service.”
  • “Design a content-delivery (CDN) or caching layer.”
  • “Design a rate limiter at scale.”
  • “Design a notification / messaging service.”
  • “Design a distributed key-value store or caching layer.”
  • “Design a recommendation serving pipeline.”

What this round is judged on

  • Requirement scoping · clarifies scale, constraints, and goals
  • Scalability · designs for high throughput and growth
  • Failure handling · resilience, degradation, observability
  • Data modeling · sound storage and access patterns
  • Tradeoff judgment · pragmatic, articulate reasoning

Where this round sits

Netflix’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.

  1. 01
    Recruiter screen
  2. 02
    Hiring-manager screen
  3. 03
    Technical phone/video screen
  4. 04
    Virtual onsite (full loop)this round
  5. 05
    Debrief & decision
What happens in each stage›
Recruiter screen
~30 min spoken call. Motivation, background, compensation expectations, and heavy culture-memo framing (freedom & responsibility, is this a self-directed high performer). Light, no coding.
Hiring-manager screen
~45-60 min spoken. Disproportionately important at Netflix because the HM is the 'informed captain' who owns the hire decision. Past-work walkthrough plus light architecture/technical discussion and culture probing.
Technical phone/video screen
~60 min live coding in a shared editor. Practical, production-flavored problems more than competitive-puzzle problems; clarify-then-code expected.
Virtual onsite (full loop)
Typically 4-6 back-to-back rounds: 1-2 live coding rounds, 1 system design round (senior+), and 1-2 behavioral/culture rounds mapped to the 8 values, often including cross-functional peers.
Debrief & decision
Panel debrief; the hiring manager as 'informed captain' makes the call (Netflix avoids consensus-by-committee). Offers are a top-of-market single cash number with a stock-option election.

Sources

Built from what Netflix publishes about its own process and from real interview data. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.

Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.

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