Software Engineer Interview Experience - United States
Process
Being a mental health wellness product, this company is the definition of irony. Expect a laborious, time-consuming interview process lasting 3+ months.
1st round: Recruiter. 2nd round: Karat interview. 3rd round: 2-4 hours of back-to-back coding panel interviews.
It took many weeks to schedule each round too. The recruiter themselves even mentioned that the process was botched and they had other candidates walk out, but "it's just the standard way things are in the industry."
Everyone was highly inflexible and had typical corporate vibes. On-the-job reviews are pretty bad on Glassdoor if you read up more. The fact that they can see these reviews and still don't change shows how much they care about their employees.
Not worth applying, especially with so many better jobs out there. This place is so obviously a sinking ship.
Questions
Standard coding questions related to the tech stack. It wasn't the questions that were hard, rather the overall interview process and how many questions they asked.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 9 interview experiences for the Headspace Software Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
Headspace's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having negative feelings for Headspace's Software Engineer interview process in United States.
Headspace Work Experiences
- 2.0Bait and switchSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeJuly 16, 2025Pros: It used to be a great place to work, with great perks and empathetic co-workers. There used to be 4.5-day workweeks (every other Friday off) and remote work focused around some core hours. However, other than some lovely folks working there, these perks are no more.Cons: Incredibly disorganized with no clear pathway to profitability. Mass benefit cuts, but no increase in pay. The 4.5-day workweeks are gone, and the CEO just announced RTO with no clear justification. Poor work-life balance and huge amounts of technical debt. They claim they have achieved recent profitability, but it's only because of mass cost reduction through layoffs, people leaving, and outsourcing.
- 1.0Great Mentors, Broken CultureSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeFebruary 26, 2025Pros: The people. My mentors at Headspace were some of the best engineers I've worked with in my career.Cons: This used to be a company that cared about the mental health of its employees. That ended when the board hired a CEO from DoorDash, of all places. Multiple rounds of layoffs (including laying off people who were out on parental leave), halting employer contributions to 401ks, taking away Fridays off, cutting Forma benefits, dismantling DEI initiatives, on top of no promotions or compensation raises – not even to keep up with inflation – all resulted in a severely demotivated and understaffed workforce.
- 4.0Motivational Company, Active WorkSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomDecember 12, 2023Pros: Visionary company with positive and motivational.Cons: An always active, working environment that brings out the best from employees.
