Monzo

Senior Backend Software Engineer Interview Experience

November 27, 2025

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

I applied online, and the process took two weeks.

I applied online and went up to stage four out of five, which was the take-home task review. I had a good experience with the interviewers, including heavy tech conversations, but my experience with their recruitment team was absolutely disappointing. After the take-home task review meeting, I received a rejection email. The reason and the feedback added were not from my application. I replied back to ask if I could get feedback relevant to me, but the email was never answered. The evidence that the feedback was wrongly added to my email is:

The recruiter noted that my experience in web development was not yet at the level required for a full-stack position; however, I applied for a Senior Backend Engineer role, and I did receive the challenge relevant to this role, not the full-stack one.
The recruiter mentioned a lack of familiarity with foundational web concepts such as accessibility. These topics were not discussed during any of my interviews, as they are typically associated with front-end development. The interview I attended yesterday focused on the discussion of the take-home crawler task, which did not include any front-end requirements.
The recruiter also stated that my experience appeared to reflect shared delivery rather than leadership and ownership, which does not align with what was discussed during the first stage of my interview.

Questions

The process included speaking about a past project, describing a leading initiative, and completing a take-home crawler task.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Monzo Senior Backend Software Engineer role.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Monzo's interview process for their Senior Backend Software Engineer roles is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral0%

Negative100%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Monzo's Senior Backend Software Engineer interview process.

Monzo Work Experiences

Great people working on a great product

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: The Platform team have put a lot of effort into making every engineer's life really easy. There is free lunch from street food vendors twice a week. There are meeting-free Fridays, and time every month to work on a side project.

Cons: Go isn't Rust. I miss enums.

Great people working on a great product

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: The Platform team have put a lot of effort into making every engineer's life really easy. There is free lunch from street food vendors twice a week. There are meeting-free Fridays, and time every month to work on a side project.

Cons: Go isn't Rust. I miss enums.

Impactful work

Backend Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: - Have had plenty of growth opportunities. Always given bigger problems when things get too easy - Building an incredible product that people love to use - Smart colleagues and a nice/flexible/transparent work environment

Cons: - Banking is heavily regulated which can sometimes slow your work down

Backend Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: - Have had plenty of growth opportunities. Always given bigger problems when things get too easy - Building an incredible product that people love to use - Smart colleagues and a nice/flexible/transparent work environment

Cons: - Banking is heavily regulated which can sometimes slow your work down

Huge variation between teams

Web Engineer • Current Employee

January 22, 2026

Pros: Lots of autonomy and opportunity to branch out. No idea is likely to be dismissed without good reason, and good ideas can become reality pretty quickly if well proposed. Pay is good, but it's very hard to increase it once it's set. Share options are generous, with the caveat that Monzo is not public and the value is entirely theoretical.

Cons: While I hear from people in my position in other teams that work happens smoothly, with everyone pulling together, but that is not the reality in my team. The priority, focus, ideas, and assumptions can 180 from minute to minute, a massive disconnect between layers of management, and huge problems and delays caused by fast and slap-dash work constantly being introduced over and over again by making the same short-sighted decisions. Progression is very difficult. Doing good work is not enough; you need to fit, you need to go beyond your role in a way that's impossible to define, and 'who you know' is far too influential.

Huge variation between teams

Web Engineer • Current Employee

January 22, 2026

Pros: Lots of autonomy and opportunity to branch out. No idea is likely to be dismissed without good reason, and good ideas can become reality pretty quickly if well proposed. Pay is good, but it's very hard to increase it once it's set. Share options are generous, with the caveat that Monzo is not public and the value is entirely theoretical.

Cons: While I hear from people in my position in other teams that work happens smoothly, with everyone pulling together, but that is not the reality in my team. The priority, focus, ideas, and assumptions can 180 from minute to minute, a massive disconnect between layers of management, and huge problems and delays caused by fast and slap-dash work constantly being introduced over and over again by making the same short-sighted decisions. Progression is very difficult. Doing good work is not enough; you need to fit, you need to go beyond your role in a way that's impossible to define, and 'who you know' is far too influential.

Great people working on a great product

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: The Platform team have put a lot of effort into making every engineer's life really easy. There is free lunch from street food vendors twice a week. There are meeting-free Fridays, and time every month to work on a side project.

Cons: Go isn't Rust. I miss enums.

5.0
Great people working on a great product
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, England
October 14, 2022
Pros: The Platform team have put a lot of effort into making every engineer's life really easy. There is free lunch from street food vendors twice a week. There are meeting-free Fridays, and time every month to work on a side project.
Cons: Go isn't Rust. I miss enums.

Impactful work

Backend Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: - Have had plenty of growth opportunities. Always given bigger problems when things get too easy - Building an incredible product that people love to use - Smart colleagues and a nice/flexible/transparent work environment

Cons: - Banking is heavily regulated which can sometimes slow your work down

5.0
Impactful work
Backend Engineer • Current Employee
May 27, 2021
Pros: - Have had plenty of growth opportunities. Always given bigger problems when things get too easy - Building an incredible product that people love to use - Smart colleagues and a nice/flexible/transparent work environment
Cons: - Banking is heavily regulated which can sometimes slow your work down

Huge variation between teams

Web Engineer • Current Employee

January 22, 2026

Pros: Lots of autonomy and opportunity to branch out. No idea is likely to be dismissed without good reason, and good ideas can become reality pretty quickly if well proposed. Pay is good, but it's very hard to increase it once it's set. Share options are generous, with the caveat that Monzo is not public and the value is entirely theoretical.

Cons: While I hear from people in my position in other teams that work happens smoothly, with everyone pulling together, but that is not the reality in my team. The priority, focus, ideas, and assumptions can 180 from minute to minute, a massive disconnect between layers of management, and huge problems and delays caused by fast and slap-dash work constantly being introduced over and over again by making the same short-sighted decisions. Progression is very difficult. Doing good work is not enough; you need to fit, you need to go beyond your role in a way that's impossible to define, and 'who you know' is far too influential.

2.0
Huge variation between teams
Web Engineer • Current Employee
January 22, 2026
Pros: Lots of autonomy and opportunity to branch out. No idea is likely to be dismissed without good reason, and good ideas can become reality pretty quickly if well proposed. Pay is good, but it's very hard to increase it once it's set. Share options are generous, with the caveat that Monzo is not public and the value is entirely theoretical.
Cons: While I hear from people in my position in other teams that work happens smoothly, with everyone pulling together, but that is not the reality in my team. The priority, focus, ideas, and assumptions can 180 from minute to minute, a massive disconnect between layers of management, and huge problems and delays caused by fast and slap-dash work constantly being introduced over and over again by making the same short-sighted decisions. Progression is very difficult. Doing good work is not enough; you need to fit, you need to go beyond your role in a way that's impossible to define, and 'who you know' is far too influential.

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