Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - London, England
January 1, 2023
Neutral ExperienceNo Offer
Process
Recruiter was fairly co-operative. They accommodated my scheduling requirements and responded respectfully and in reasonable time.
First round left a good impression about the company by not focusing on details of coding but over problem-solving. They were looking at how I could adapt an existing LRU cache implementation to extend for various alternative cache eviction algorithms/strategies.
Next round was two sys design and two coding interviews, followed by one round of "informational interview aka behavioral/resume".
Questions
First round: n-way self-associative LRU cache.
Second round: How can an existing ride-hailing company extend their system design for food delivery?
System design: Bidding, user store, 3P/1P data provider, find issues in the system & optimize.
Skyline problem (LeetCode hard question).
Design system for running an elevator.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 10 interview experiences for the The Trade Desk Senior Software Engineer role in London, England.
Success Rate
20%
Pass Rate
The Trade Desk's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in London, England is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive20%
Neutral20%
Negative60%
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for The Trade Desk's Senior Software Engineer interview process in London, England.
The Trade Desk Work Experiences
5.0
Great company to work at
Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee
November 30, 2023
Pros: Open and friendly culture, great compensation package, cutting-edge tech stack.
Cons: As it becomes bigger, it gets more bureaucratic.
5.0
A really outstanding culture sustained for many years
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, England, United Kingdom
September 8, 2021
Pros: Colleagues are invariably friendly, generous, and great to learn from and collaborate with. People (especially in the London office) are from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and life experiences.
Work is challenging and stimulating, and generally quite varied. There's a need to be agile about strategy (always more to do than time to do it!), which is a good learning opportunity.
The social side of things is pleasant, with some 'top down' events (well, before COVID anyway) and more 'organic' hanging out with colleagues. Pub, restaurants, board games, sports after work or at lunchtime, etc. Nothing is forced if some or all of those things aren't for you. Great office breakfast and lunch.
Managers typically genuinely care about their direct reports' wellbeing and make an effort to provide challenging, interesting work and growth opportunities.
While engineering is encouraged to proactively attend to real business and customer needs, most of the time the trust and autonomy are there to do things with quality and in a direction dictated by engineering experts. Engineers at all levels are expected to become experts and owners of the areas they work on.
Stock incentives and bonuses have been very generous historically.
Cons: Work can be difficult, and the nature of the business gives a seasonality to things. Challenges and pressure can heat up in the approach to a Q4 of the year or a particularly big release.
The frequent need to respond in an agile way to new opportunities and risks can be daunting and occasionally makes it harder to spend focus time really digging deep on a particular problem.
Some of the higher-ups in sales can come over a bit self-congratulatory, but most of the time they're also actually good at what they do and good collaborators.
4.0
Good environment, needs more tech focus
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, England, United Kingdom
October 21, 2025
Pros: Snacks, food, environment.
Work can be very interesting.
Cons: No CTO. Not an engineering powerhouse, though it does have talent that is underutilized.
Stock isn't very strong, with a high P/E.
- 5.0Great company to work atSenior Software Engineer • Former EmployeeNovember 30, 2023Pros: Open and friendly culture, great compensation package, cutting-edge tech stack.Cons: As it becomes bigger, it gets more bureaucratic.
- 5.0A really outstanding culture sustained for many yearsSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomSeptember 8, 2021Pros: Colleagues are invariably friendly, generous, and great to learn from and collaborate with. People (especially in the London office) are from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Work is challenging and stimulating, and generally quite varied. There's a need to be agile about strategy (always more to do than time to do it!), which is a good learning opportunity. The social side of things is pleasant, with some 'top down' events (well, before COVID anyway) and more 'organic' hanging out with colleagues. Pub, restaurants, board games, sports after work or at lunchtime, etc. Nothing is forced if some or all of those things aren't for you. Great office breakfast and lunch. Managers typically genuinely care about their direct reports' wellbeing and make an effort to provide challenging, interesting work and growth opportunities. While engineering is encouraged to proactively attend to real business and customer needs, most of the time the trust and autonomy are there to do things with quality and in a direction dictated by engineering experts. Engineers at all levels are expected to become experts and owners of the areas they work on. Stock incentives and bonuses have been very generous historically.Cons: Work can be difficult, and the nature of the business gives a seasonality to things. Challenges and pressure can heat up in the approach to a Q4 of the year or a particularly big release. The frequent need to respond in an agile way to new opportunities and risks can be daunting and occasionally makes it harder to spend focus time really digging deep on a particular problem. Some of the higher-ups in sales can come over a bit self-congratulatory, but most of the time they're also actually good at what they do and good collaborators.
- 4.0Good environment, needs more tech focusSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomOctober 21, 2025Pros: Snacks, food, environment. Work can be very interesting.Cons: No CTO. Not an engineering powerhouse, though it does have talent that is underutilized. Stock isn't very strong, with a high P/E.
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