Head of Engineering Interview Experience - Australia
February 1, 2024
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
I was approached by a recruiter.
There were 5 interviews, apart from the first hiring manager interview.
The interview rounds were as follows:
- Values
- XFN collaboration
- Engineering Leadership
- Architecture deep dive
- Operational Excellence
- Tech Deep Dive
Questions
Q: Example of a tech trade-off and negotiating with dependencies.
Q: Describe the design of one of the systems you own.
Q: Describe when you had to make a trade-off that involved potentially causing pain for a user or customer.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Atlassian Head of Engineering role in Australia.
Success Rate
100%
Pass Rate
Atlassian's interview process for their Head of Engineering roles in Australia is incredibly easy as the vast majority of engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Positive100%
Neutral0%
Negative0%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Atlassian's Head of Engineering interview process in Australia.
Atlassian Work Experiences
2.0
Sinking Culture, Horrible Cto
Head of Engineering • Former Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
April 29, 2025
Pros: Average compensation. Great knowledge sharing.
Cons: Meta wannabe. Sinking culture. Horrible CTO.
2.0
I used to love working here; I would avoid joining as a manager
Head of Engineering • Former Employee
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
September 30, 2024
Pros: The company values used to be top-notch. They probably still are at the engineering level, but as a manager, and if you are Australia-based, you are likely going to be made redundant. All senior positions are moving to the US of A.
If you like performance reviews, which happen every six months and take two months to complete.
If you like handing folks arbitrary performance ratings at the end of a six-month period.
Join if you like stack ranking – sorry, "not stack ranking" – but ranking people against each other and then being pressured to reduce their ratings because apparently your "two-up" (who dealt with your engineers exactly zero times) knows better. Oh, and because the company needs to find another 2% of "did not meets" or "mostly meets."
Cons: Since Rajeev started and brought all his Microsoft friends with him, the company culture has taken a hit. Everyone is ex-Meta or ex-MSFT. Everyone says they "don't know each other," but their LinkedIn shows they all worked with each other, knew of each other, and were hired because they think and work the same.
If you didn't cut it at MSFT, you'll enjoy it here.
If you didn't make it at META, come aboard.
If one of your mates works here, you'll fit in.
Values are no longer being lived by.
The expectation is to work long hours. Yes, you can work from anywhere, as long as you work like the ex-MSFT folks: 10-11 hours per day, and you answer your Slack messages.
5.0
Great in the early days
Head of Engineering • Former Employee
Sydney, Australia
November 8, 2023
Pros: You work with great people.
Cons: Over the years, it got bigger and bigger. Plus, more engineering leadership shifted to the USA, which brought in a very different culture.
- 2.0Sinking Culture, Horrible CtoHead of Engineering • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesApril 29, 2025Pros: Average compensation. Great knowledge sharing.Cons: Meta wannabe. Sinking culture. Horrible CTO.
- 2.0I used to love working here; I would avoid joining as a managerHead of Engineering • Former EmployeeSydney, New South Wales, AustraliaSeptember 30, 2024Pros: The company values used to be top-notch. They probably still are at the engineering level, but as a manager, and if you are Australia-based, you are likely going to be made redundant. All senior positions are moving to the US of A. If you like performance reviews, which happen every six months and take two months to complete. If you like handing folks arbitrary performance ratings at the end of a six-month period. Join if you like stack ranking – sorry, "not stack ranking" – but ranking people against each other and then being pressured to reduce their ratings because apparently your "two-up" (who dealt with your engineers exactly zero times) knows better. Oh, and because the company needs to find another 2% of "did not meets" or "mostly meets."Cons: Since Rajeev started and brought all his Microsoft friends with him, the company culture has taken a hit. Everyone is ex-Meta or ex-MSFT. Everyone says they "don't know each other," but their LinkedIn shows they all worked with each other, knew of each other, and were hired because they think and work the same. If you didn't cut it at MSFT, you'll enjoy it here. If you didn't make it at META, come aboard. If one of your mates works here, you'll fit in. Values are no longer being lived by. The expectation is to work long hours. Yes, you can work from anywhere, as long as you work like the ex-MSFT folks: 10-11 hours per day, and you answer your Slack messages.
- 5.0Great in the early daysHead of Engineering • Former EmployeeSydney, AustraliaNovember 8, 2023Pros: You work with great people.Cons: Over the years, it got bigger and bigger. Plus, more engineering leadership shifted to the USA, which brought in a very different culture.
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