Pennylane

Backend Engineer Interview Experience

October 24, 2025

Positive ExperienceGot Offer

Process

I applied online. The process took 4 weeks.

A lot of companies say they move fast when hiring, but Pennylane truly means it. My whole process, from applying online to receiving an offer, took less than a month. The process itself is pretty straightforward, with three main steps:

An initial call with a recruiter.
A take-home assignment followed by a discussion with engineers. I liked that it emphasized product thinking just as much as technical skill.
A final interview with engineering managers focused on culture fit and experience.

Everyone I spoke with was friendly and approachable. My recruiter kept in touch after each step, shared feedback, and even helped me prepare for the next stage. I felt genuinely supported throughout the process. Other companies could learn from this approach!

Questions

The take-home assignment involved building a Ruby on Rails application and deploying it online. The task was intentionally open-ended, giving you room to interpret the requirements in your own way and later explain your reasoning during the follow-up discussion.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 9 interview experiences for the Pennylane Backend Engineer role.

Success Rate

44%

Pass Rate

Pennylane's interview process for their Backend Engineer roles is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive56%

Neutral11%

Negative33%

Candidates reported having good feelings for Pennylane's Backend Engineer interview process.

Pennylane Work Experiences

Great place to work!

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 14, 2023

Pros: Company culture is fantastic. Founders come from Booking and they try to apply Booking culture and values @ Pennylane. That created a special treat for employees. You're really appreciated and respected in each way. Good work life balance. No overtime if you don't really insist :) A chance to work with really good people and learn from senior engineers a lot. Gatherings at Paris 5-6 times per year They treat remote people the same as employees from France.

Cons: Tech staff grew from 50 to 100 people in 2022 so now the product is quite huge and there are a lot of new people, but this can always be an advantage since it offers learning opportunities.

Great place to work!

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 14, 2023

Pros: Company culture is fantastic. Founders come from Booking and they try to apply Booking culture and values @ Pennylane. That created a special treat for employees. You're really appreciated and respected in each way. Good work life balance. No overtime if you don't really insist :) A chance to work with really good people and learn from senior engineers a lot. Gatherings at Paris 5-6 times per year They treat remote people the same as employees from France.

Cons: Tech staff grew from 50 to 100 people in 2022 so now the product is quite huge and there are a lot of new people, but this can always be an advantage since it offers learning opportunities.

The next Unicorn

Data Engineer • Current Employee

January 10, 2024

Pros: * A really Modern Data stack * Great working conditions * Fast paced

Cons: * Conflicting and changing priorities * Fast paced (:

The next Unicorn

Data Engineer • Current Employee

January 10, 2024

Pros: * A really Modern Data stack * Great working conditions * Fast paced

Cons: * Conflicting and changing priorities * Fast paced (:

Good days off, but terrible management and stress

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

October 4, 2026

Pros: Proper amount of days off Good people on the team trying to help with PM on the top.

Cons: haven’t seen such a terrible way of managing people and teams in my entire career — from senior leadership down to the Engineering Manager level. During my time there: I saw people constantly getting sick due to stress. Employees were indirectly expected to work overtime and were compared to those who did. There was constant turnover and frequent changes of Product Managers and Engineering Managers, which created instability and a lack of clear direction. The management culture created a lot of unnecessary pressure and unhealthy competition. Ah, I almost forgot! Micromanagement — the cherry on top. It was funny to see that the EM kept chasing people and nitpicking instead of figuring out how to improve features and helping with technical decisions. If you are experienced and have a family, I would not recommend joining.

Good days off, but terrible management and stress

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

October 4, 2026

Pros: Proper amount of days off Good people on the team trying to help with PM on the top.

Cons: haven’t seen such a terrible way of managing people and teams in my entire career — from senior leadership down to the Engineering Manager level. During my time there: I saw people constantly getting sick due to stress. Employees were indirectly expected to work overtime and were compared to those who did. There was constant turnover and frequent changes of Product Managers and Engineering Managers, which created instability and a lack of clear direction. The management culture created a lot of unnecessary pressure and unhealthy competition. Ah, I almost forgot! Micromanagement — the cherry on top. It was funny to see that the EM kept chasing people and nitpicking instead of figuring out how to improve features and helping with technical decisions. If you are experienced and have a family, I would not recommend joining.

Great place to work!

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 14, 2023

Pros: Company culture is fantastic. Founders come from Booking and they try to apply Booking culture and values @ Pennylane. That created a special treat for employees. You're really appreciated and respected in each way. Good work life balance. No overtime if you don't really insist :) A chance to work with really good people and learn from senior engineers a lot. Gatherings at Paris 5-6 times per year They treat remote people the same as employees from France.

Cons: Tech staff grew from 50 to 100 people in 2022 so now the product is quite huge and there are a lot of new people, but this can always be an advantage since it offers learning opportunities.

5.0
Great place to work!
Software Engineer • Current Employee
January 14, 2023
Pros: Company culture is fantastic. Founders come from Booking and they try to apply Booking culture and values @ Pennylane. That created a special treat for employees. You're really appreciated and respected in each way. Good work life balance. No overtime if you don't really insist :) A chance to work with really good people and learn from senior engineers a lot. Gatherings at Paris 5-6 times per year They treat remote people the same as employees from France.
Cons: Tech staff grew from 50 to 100 people in 2022 so now the product is quite huge and there are a lot of new people, but this can always be an advantage since it offers learning opportunities.

The next Unicorn

Data Engineer • Current Employee

January 10, 2024

Pros: * A really Modern Data stack * Great working conditions * Fast paced

Cons: * Conflicting and changing priorities * Fast paced (:

5.0
The next Unicorn
Data Engineer • Current Employee
Paris
January 10, 2024
Pros: * A really Modern Data stack * Great working conditions * Fast paced
Cons: * Conflicting and changing priorities * Fast paced (:

Good days off, but terrible management and stress

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

October 4, 2026

Pros: Proper amount of days off Good people on the team trying to help with PM on the top.

Cons: haven’t seen such a terrible way of managing people and teams in my entire career — from senior leadership down to the Engineering Manager level. During my time there: I saw people constantly getting sick due to stress. Employees were indirectly expected to work overtime and were compared to those who did. There was constant turnover and frequent changes of Product Managers and Engineering Managers, which created instability and a lack of clear direction. The management culture created a lot of unnecessary pressure and unhealthy competition. Ah, I almost forgot! Micromanagement — the cherry on top. It was funny to see that the EM kept chasing people and nitpicking instead of figuring out how to improve features and helping with technical decisions. If you are experienced and have a family, I would not recommend joining.

1.0
Good days off, but terrible management and stress
Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee
October 4, 2026
Pros: Proper amount of days off Good people on the team trying to help with PM on the top.
Cons: haven’t seen such a terrible way of managing people and teams in my entire career — from senior leadership down to the Engineering Manager level. During my time there: I saw people constantly getting sick due to stress. Employees were indirectly expected to work overtime and were compared to those who did. There was constant turnover and frequent changes of Product Managers and Engineering Managers, which created instability and a lack of clear direction. The management culture created a lot of unnecessary pressure and unhealthy competition. Ah, I almost forgot! Micromanagement — the cherry on top. It was funny to see that the EM kept chasing people and nitpicking instead of figuring out how to improve features and helping with technical decisions. If you are experienced and have a family, I would not recommend joining.

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