I applied online. The process took 6 weeks.

The interview process started with a recruiter chat. They use a stack for EM and SWE roles (generic role description, team fit is done after completion of the loop) and I was told there were six open roles at EM. EM screen was a standard behavioral interview and is typically the only screen before commencing the loop. In my case, the interviewer felt they did not get a chance to get the technical signal because of the time constraint, so I was progressed but just as far as the Systems Design interview. I appreciated this flexibility in breaking up the loop when it made sense to do so. Systems Design was a "live listeners" on Spotify example. Simple enough, very good interviewer. After passing this I went on to complete the other loop interviews. The recruiter did a good job of explaining the exact question which allowed me to do proper prep and reduces the variance of not thinking of the right example on the spot.

• Team and Org Management
• Reverse Interview
• Behavioural

I treated the reverse interview as an actual interview and did prep on the types of questions I wanted to task. Kudos to my interviewers here as the conversation was fun and transparent. After the loop I received positive feedback. Again though, the Monzo team felt they were missing signal on one aspect in particular (reflective mindset, learning from mistakes) which to me was a bit curious but they recommended I take another interview with an Engineering Director. This chat was my seventh call now with someone at Monzo (including the initial recruiter call). I did not feel like I performed that well in this interview overall, but apparently I did okay. Now this is where things start to go sideways. Two days after this call I need to chase the recruiter for an update.

We chat and he mentions that I am being considered for a particular role, however there is one other candidate being debriefed that day who is also in consideration. This is now the first time I am hearing about what role I am being actually considered for, and it is objectively a terrible fit for me. The role was within a completely different ecosystem than my technical experience. Not only was I not qualified, I also wasn't at all interested in this area. I tell my recruiter as much - I am not a good fit for that role. The recruiter mentions other openings that are significantly more aligned, some directly with product domains I have worked with in the past.

However, he mentions these roles do not have head count at the moment and he needs to reach out to these teams first. Two days later I again have to email the recruiter for an update, which is when I receive a "thanks for coming, but we don't have anything for you". You can imagine how frustrating this is. Seven interviews, hours of prep, passing the screens and the loop, and nothing to show for it when the initial promise of six open roles surely indicates at least a few opportunities where there is a potential fit. I escalated internally in an attempt to just understand what is going on and was told that, despite performing well in the interviews, there other teams (not sure what they are) were not interested in taking me.

For future candidates I suppose the take away is that they are very picky in the team matching process. You could do very well through the interview process and it be all for naught. You need to decide if this is worth your time commitment. My feedback for Monzo is this: it does not appear that you have either the volume of open roles, or enough similarity between the roles, for using a stack interviewing pipeline at the EM level. It would be greatly preferable in my instance at least to have some visibility in to what role I am applying for. If that role gets filled mid-process then that's fine, we can switch the application to another role if suitable or just drop out of the process entirely.

But getting my CV in front of the hiring manager for a specific role pre-loop at least would greatly help alignment prior to the biggest time commitment (the loop being four interviews typically) Wish there was a different end to this one but that's it! I met a range of smart and genuinely likeable interviewers through this process. It's a shame that the hiring system itself was not more efficient and could have saved us all a ton of time.

How do you evaluate whether your team is successful?

Give an example of the change you made that had a positive impact on your team.

What is a mistake you've made in your team?

Can you tell us about a time you had to change team direction quickly?

Behavioural:

• Time management
• Tough stakeholder/conflict resolutions
• Persuasion and influencing
• Tough feedback from a peer or manager