Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - London, United Kingdom
Process
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks.
After the first round of interviews with the talent acquisition team, I had a technical interview with two Senior Software Engineers. The focus was on designing and writing code for a hypothetical search engine that accepts an array of strings and indexes all the words contained within it. I had to use their online notepad instead of a real IDE to write the code, which could be pseudocode. Unfortunately, their feedback was not constructive; it seemed to be based on personal preference. As a result, I didn’t understand why they didn't like my solution in the end, which I found unprofessional.
Questions
Design a search engine that indexes words within an array of strings and retrieves sentences when a user inputs a word.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the DeepL Senior Software Engineer role in London, England.
Success Rate
DeepL's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in London, England is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for DeepL's Senior Software Engineer interview process in London, England.
DeepL Work Experiences
- 1.0Brilliant colleagues overshadowed by attrocious leadershipSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeMay 12, 2026Pros: - Brilliant and dedicated colleagues - An interesting area of workCons: - Leadership is an absolute abomination, has no empathy, and becomes increasingly detached from the workforce every time they open their mouths. - There is a lack of transparency on decision making, and the l-team is straight up lying about things. - There is no accountability for l-team bs. - There is a lack of career options, and goals and criteria for promotion are ever changing. - There is a reorg every 10 minutes, with line managers changing every other week.
- 1.0Leadership need to wake up before it's too lateSenior Software Engineer • Former EmployeeMarch 28, 2026Pros: The product continues to be excellent, despite everything.Cons: The company has gone steadily downhill since the (no longer) new Chief People Officer was appointed. Layoffs disguised as performance issues. Engagement scores steadily plummet, with nobody listening. More and more colleagues taking time off sick with stress. Attrition is alarming—Jarek says it's 'industry standard' but he should look more closely at who is leaving: • Principal Engineers • Senior Engineering Managers • ERG Leads • The Culture Programs Lead • Staff Engineers • People who have been champions of DeepL's culture and mission for a very long time and now no longer feel they can work there This is a sign that something is deeply wrong—as is the fact that the German colleagues now feel they need a Betriebsrat to prevent further mistreatment by leadership.
- 4.0Great culture with opportunities to upskillSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, NYAugust 5, 2026Pros: Great working culture and upskill.Cons: I haven’t found any cons yet.
