Forward Deployed Software Engineer Interview Experience
December 4, 2025
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
The interview was many rounds, beginning with an OA, then recruiter, then phone screen, then a 3-part onsite, and finally a hiring manager round.
Coding generally was around LeetCode-medium, and interviewers seemed really engaged and interesting.
Questions
Decomp involved breaking down a very general question—like system design. Could take it in any direction, and explain assumptions, etc.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 139 interview experiences for the Palantir Forward Deployed Software Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
11%
Pass Rate
Palantir's interview process for their Forward Deployed Software Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive48%
Neutral30%
Negative22%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Palantir's Forward Deployed Software Engineer interview process in United States.
Palantir Work Experiences
5.0
A great company to grow and learn
Forward Deployed Software Engineer • Current Employee
New York, New York, United States
November 3, 2020
Pros: People are very smart.
There is room to grow. It's not uncommon to see people who have been in the company for 1-2 years becoming Leads.
Huge responsibilities from day 1.
"Choose your own adventure" -> You can create your own growth path in the company if you see the need for it. For example, if you work on X product/customer but you see that there is a need to develop another product, you can start working on that without an issue (as long as you don't jeopardize your other role).
D&I is big here. You can get as involved as you want with this, and that's awesome!
Overall, this is an amazing company. I love it.
Cons: Too much autonomy at times. This is also a pro, but being independent and figuring out things on your own is not for everyone.
4.0
Fast-paced and lots of exposure, but long hours and a sink-or-swim culture
Forward Deployed Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, England, United Kingdom
September 10, 2025
Pros: A very agile and action-oriented environment. FDEs are encouraged to find a need in the project and develop their own slice of it. Resourcing responds to this by moving you to other projects that can best make use of the spike you've demonstrated in the process.
You can quickly build on Foundry. Tackling technical problems at a high level means you get a huge amount of exposure to different problem spaces.
Cons: It can be a very sink or swim environment.
It's also not as technical as your usual software engineering roles, as you're generally building on top of Foundry, which is already a well-built-out platform.
Depending on your project, you can be frequently working long hours.
4.0
Interesting Work, Growing Pains
Forward Deployed Software Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
March 15, 2014
Pros: They deal with some very interesting problems.
Cons: Management is going through growing pains and doesn't know how to allocate work properly.
Sometimes it seemed fairly haphazard in organizing.
Pressure to work a ton.
- 5.0A great company to grow and learnForward Deployed Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesNovember 3, 2020Pros: People are very smart. There is room to grow. It's not uncommon to see people who have been in the company for 1-2 years becoming Leads. Huge responsibilities from day 1. "Choose your own adventure" -> You can create your own growth path in the company if you see the need for it. For example, if you work on X product/customer but you see that there is a need to develop another product, you can start working on that without an issue (as long as you don't jeopardize your other role). D&I is big here. You can get as involved as you want with this, and that's awesome! Overall, this is an amazing company. I love it.Cons: Too much autonomy at times. This is also a pro, but being independent and figuring out things on your own is not for everyone.
- 4.0Fast-paced and lots of exposure, but long hours and a sink-or-swim cultureForward Deployed Software Engineer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomSeptember 10, 2025Pros: A very agile and action-oriented environment. FDEs are encouraged to find a need in the project and develop their own slice of it. Resourcing responds to this by moving you to other projects that can best make use of the spike you've demonstrated in the process. You can quickly build on Foundry. Tackling technical problems at a high level means you get a huge amount of exposure to different problem spaces.Cons: It can be a very sink or swim environment. It's also not as technical as your usual software engineering roles, as you're generally building on top of Foundry, which is already a well-built-out platform. Depending on your project, you can be frequently working long hours.
- 4.0Interesting Work, Growing PainsForward Deployed Software Engineer • Former EmployeePalo Alto, California, United StatesMarch 15, 2014Pros: They deal with some very interesting problems.Cons: Management is going through growing pains and doesn't know how to allocate work properly. Sometimes it seemed fairly haphazard in organizing. Pressure to work a ton.
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