Get a Job at Stripe: Interview Process and Top Questions

Founded in 2011, Stripe is a dynamic fintech company that offers a unique opportunity to join a growing organization.

Although it’s already a significant player in the tech world, Stripe is still in its growth phase.

With headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and South San Francisco, US, Stripe builds financial infrastructure for the internet and employs over 8,000 people, known internally as “Stripes.”

Stripe values passion over experience, emphasizing that most employees don’t have a background in finance. They offer extensive internship programs, often hiring new graduates who were previously interns.

Interested in a career at Stripe? Here’s a breakdown of the Stripe interview process and the key questions you should be prepared to answer.

What is the Stripe interview process?

The Stripe interview process usually spans about a month and includes:

• A recruiter phone screen,
• A technical assessment,
• Virtual on-site interviews.

There is typically 1–2 weeks between each stage.

Stripe’s interview process is consistent across roles, with variations mainly in the first phone screen and technical assessment.

For roles like product management or data roles, the initial call might be with a hiring manager instead of a recruiter. Instead of an online assessment, some candidates may receive a take-home assignment before their on-site interviews.

Stripe is known for its high standards, so expect a thorough and challenging interview process.

Recruiter Phone Screen

The interview process at Stripe begins with a 30-minute phone call with a recruiter. For certain roles, this call might be with a hiring manager.

This initial screen evaluates your experience, cultural fit, and knowledge of Stripe.

Be prepared to discuss your resume, explain why you’re interested in Stripe, and ask questions about the specific role and team.

To make a strong impression, highlight experiences that demonstrate your technical skills, communication abilities, and leadership qualities—traits that Stripe values in all candidates.

Discuss your career goals and how they align with the role and team you’re applying for at Stripe.

Research Stripe’s operating principles, products, and current projects to express your genuine interest!

These are some highlights of Stripe's operating principles:

• How we work:
  • Users first
  • Move with urgency and focus
  • Be meticulous in your craft
  • Seek feedback
  • Deliver outstanding results
• Who we are:
  • Curious
  • Resilient
  • Humble
  • Macro-optimistic
  • Exothermic
• And leaders:
  • Obsess over talent
  • Elevate ambitions
  • Set the pace and energy
  • Make decisions and be accountable
  • Lead with clarity and context
  • Solve problems

Technical Screen

If you pass the recruiter screen, you’ll move on to the technical screen.

For technical roles like software engineers, this involves a one-hour coding assessment on CoderPad, where you solve one or two problems in the language of your choice.

Most candidates will only have one technical assessment, but those applying for senior positions might have a second round.

Stripe’s coding challenges often involve real-world scenarios, so expect to solve problems based on practical situations rather than standard coding tasks. The questions are typically easy to medium in difficulty, focusing on data structures and algorithms. Stripe expects working code, not pseudocode.

For non-technical roles, expect a take-home assignment instead of a coding assessment. For example, data roles might require a report based on provided datasets, while product managers might need to present a case study.

On-Site Interviews

Stripe’s on-site interviews are conducted virtually and typically consist of 4–6 rounds, each lasting 45–60 minutes, spread over 1–2 days.

For technical roles like engineers, expect coding, system design, integration, debugging, and discussions with a hiring manager. Non-technical roles will involve one-on-one interviews covering various aspects of the role, including presenting your take-home assignment. All candidates, regardless of role, will go through a behavioral loop focusing on cultural fit and soft skills.

Here’s what you can expect during each loop of the on-site interviews at Stripe:

Top Stripe Interview Questions

Here are some real interview questions candidates have reported from interviews at Stripe.

Behavioral

• Tell me about a time when you handled conflict.
• Tell me about a time you managed a difficult stakeholder.
• What are you looking for in your next role?
• Why do you want to work at Stripe?
• Why did you leave your last job?

Coding

• Describe the impact of a technical project you’ve worked on.
• Find the longest substring without repeating characters.
• Find the number of rotations in a circularly sorted array.
• Other common data structures and algorithms questions
• Build a calculator
• Parsing strings

System Design

• Design a metrics service.
• Design an API rate limiter.
• Design a file system API that handles various permission levels.
• Design a rate-limiting solution and integrate it with an HTTP call parser library.

Data

• Tell me about a time when you worked on a tight deadline.
• If you were to offer a small percentage of your customers access to a new feature, how would you decide who to offer it to?

Machine Learning

• Analyze a dataset, develop a model, and assess its performance.
• Tell me about a machine learning project you worked on.
• How do you stay updated on advancements in machine learning?
• Design a product recommendation system.

Product Management

• Name three bad products. Choose one to improve.
• Tell me about a time you had to identify the root cause of a problem.
• How would you improve Stripe Payments?
• List three products you like and are knowledgeable about. Choose one, explain why you like it, and outline how you would adapt it for a new market segment.
• If an engineering team member isn’t performing well, what would you do as a PM?

Stripe Interview Loops Explained

Next, let's break down what to expect in each interview round.

Behavioral

The behavioral loop at Stripe focuses on culture fit, teamwork, communication, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills.

Prepare by reviewing Stripe’s Operating Principles and practicing anecdotes that align with these principles.

Tie your answers to your past experiences whenever possible.

Coding

Stripe’s coding rounds stand out for their focus on debugging and integration.

Each round lasts 45–60 minutes and is conducted one-on-one with Stripe engineers. The virtual on-site coding rounds include:

• General coding,
• Debugging,
• Integration.

Be prepared for questions involving APIs and SDKs, as they play a significant role in many Stripe products.

The general coding round will include questions similar to those in the technical assessment, focusing on data structures, algorithms, strings, arrays, and dictionaries.

You can practice these topics in Exponent’s Software Engineering Interviews course.

The debugging round typically involves designing a solution for an issue within a GitHub repository. The integration round may require you to write code for a feature in a GitHub repo or work with an API.

To prepare, familiarize yourself with different codebases, download open-source repositories to an IDE, and practice implementing features.

In addition to strong technical skills, Stripe looks for engineers with entrepreneurial, communication, and empathy skills.

System Design

Stripe’s system design interviews are fairly standard compared to other big tech companies, but with a strong emphasis on APIs.

To prepare, review Exponent’s APIs system design interview prep, and practice using whiteboard tools like Whimsical, which Stripe recommends for system design interviews.

Data

At Stripe, data analysts, data scientists, and engineers work closely together. In your on-site interviews, expect to be assessed on both your technical skills and your critical thinking process for solving data-related problems.

Think aloud to demonstrate your organized, data-driven approach to decision-making.

Stripe’s data interviews typically consist of 3–4 one-hour rounds.

You’ll begin by presenting your take-home assignment report and answering questions about your findings.

The following rounds will test your knowledge of SQL queries, data analysis, statistical forecasting, and a product analytics case study. Be ready with examples from your past experience that highlight your relevant skills.

Machine Learning

Machine learning engineers at Stripe are responsible for the entire lifecycle of applied ML model development and deployment.

They design, build, deploy, and operate Stripe’s payment decisioning systems, which are powered by ML.

Get familiar with Stripe’s ML use cases by reviewing Stripe’s Engineering blog.

In the ML interview loop, expect case studies that involve data analysis, model development, and performance assessment.

You’ll also discuss fundamental ML concepts, including model building, training, evaluation, and deployment. Support your answers with examples from your past ML experience whenever possible.

Learn about Stripe’s ML-powered products before your interview:

• Radar,
• Adaptive Acceptance,
• Identity.

Product Management

Stripe’s on-site interviews for product management include 3–4 one-hour loops focused on:

• Product sense,
• Technical skills,
• Product strategy,
• Execution.

In the product sense interview, Stripe assesses your ability to generate high-level product ideas and improvements. Be ready to answer questions about specific Stripe products or similar e-commerce products.

Technical interview questions test the hard skills needed for the role. These might include data-driven decision-making, understanding Stripe’s product ecosystems (such as product roadmaps and APIs), and communicating complex technical topics to stakeholders.

Talk through your thought process when answering these questions.

For product strategy questions, demonstrate your skills in product design, problem-solving, and long-term vision. Back up your answers with past experience.

Execution questions assess how you make decisions in the product space. Be prepared to explain your decision-making process, highlighting how you use metrics and data. Stripe wants to understand how you implement ideas in an organized, communicative manner.

Stripe Interview Tips

Emphasize leadership and communication.

Stripe values leadership and communication in all candidates. Highlight experiences that showcase these traits, even if you haven’t held a formal leadership role. For instance, describe a time when you led a project or improved a process. Also, provide examples of effective communication, such as overcoming challenges through collaboration or resolving issues by improving team communication.

Practice for Stripe’s unique coding rounds.

Stripe’s engineering interviews include two unique rounds: integration and debugging. Practice these rounds by familiarizing yourself with different codebases, downloading repositories to an IDE, and implementing features.

Show your commitment to continuous learning.

Stripe values professional development, which is evident in their thorough onboarding process and ongoing workshops led by both internal and external experts. To stand out, mention how you commit to lifelong learning, demonstrating that you share Stripe’s value for continuous improvement.

FAQs

Can I get a job at Stripe without a finance background?

Yes! Most Stripe employees don’t have a background in finance or fintech. Stripe values diverse perspectives from various fields, including engineering, design, operations, consulting, healthcare, and education. They welcome both generalists and specialists who are eager to delve deeper into their field.

Does Stripe hire students and new graduates?

Stripe offers a robust internship program for undergrad and graduate students and often hires previous interns after graduation. Stripe’s internships last 12–16 weeks and are available in locations like Dublin, San Francisco, and Singapore, with housing provided for some interns.

While Stripe primarily recruits engineers for internships, they also offer opportunities in machine learning, data science, sales, business development, and strategy & operations. For more information, visit Stripe’s University Recruiting page.

Does Stripe offer remote work?

Approximately 30–40% of Stripe employees work fully remotely. The rest follow hybrid or in-office schedules at Stripe offices in cities like Amsterdam, Bangalore, Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Hyderabad, London, Melbourne, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, and others.