Interview Questions / LinkedIn

LinkedIn Interview Questions & Process

Software Engineer, Infrastructure/SRE Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, and Data Engineer

Updated July 2026

LinkedIn hires software engineers across its consumer apps, ads and monetisation, data and AI, and core infrastructure, and runs a well-structured, communication-heavy loop. The shape is a recruiter call, one technical phone screen, and a five-round onsite — but two details stand out: many coding screens run on Collabedit and pair the algorithm question with an SQL challenge, and the onsite ends with a team-matching stage.

LinkedIn weights how you think as much as whether you reach the answer — interviewers, often paired with one leading and one shadowing, look for clear edge-case reasoning, honest trade-off discussion, and a line from your technical choice back to user or business impact. Expect a coding round, an SQL round, system design, and a hiring-manager conversation on culture fit.

The cost of walking in unprepared

LinkedIn's process runs 5 stages. Most candidates only find out they weren't ready once the result lands.

Merra: run the LinkedIn interview before it counts

Hope, Merra’s AI interviewer, runs a LinkedIn-style mock out loud — the same question styles, real follow-ups — then scores you on the five dimensions real interviewers use, with a recording and transcript.

  1. 1Sign up free — no card, 5 full interviews available until used.
  2. 2Take the diagnostic — 15 minutes with Hope, get your baseline score.
  3. 3Practise LinkedIn-style — company-tuned questions, honest feedback, watch your score climb.

No card details required. Your first 5 interviews are free.

Practise the LinkedIn interview now

5 free interviews. Instant scored feedback. Know where you stand before LinkedIn decides for you.

Start your free interviews5 free interviews · no card needed · cancel anytime

The LinkedIn interview process

  1. 1Apply and align your background to a specific apps. Apply and align your background to a specific apps, ads, data/AI, or infrastructure team.
  2. 2Recruiter phone screen (15–30 minutes). background, motivation, and logistics.
  3. 3Technical phone screen. a plus an SQL challenge.
  4. 4Onsite loop of about five rounds. a coding challenge, an SQL assessment, a system design interview, and a hiring-manager conversation on culture fit; rounds often have two interviewers (one leading, one shadowing).
  5. 5Team-matching phase to place you with a specific group. Team-matching phase to place you with a specific group, then decision and offer.

Real LinkedIn interview questions

As reported by recent candidates. The same styles Hope asks in a LinkedIn-style mock.

“Perform a level-order traversal of a binary tree and return the values by depth.”
SWE — Trees
“Find the shortest path between two nodes in an unweighted graph and justify BFS.”
SWE — Graphs
“Write a query to find the most-engaged members over a rolling 7-day window.”
Data — SQL
“Implement an autocomplete/typeahead and discuss how it scales to millions of members.”
SWE — Strings
“Design LinkedIn's "People You May Know" at scale.”
Systems — Design
“Tell me about a technical decision you made and how it affected users or the business.”
Behavioural

Prepping alone vs with Merra

Without Merra

  • ✕Read questions, rehearse answers in your head
  • ✕First time answering out loud is the real interview
  • ✕No structured feedback on how you actually come across
  • ✕Find out you weren’t ready from a rejection email

With Merra

  • ✓Practise out loud before the real interview
  • ✓Structured evaluation and feedback after every session
  • ✓Review your session history and track improvement
  • ✓Personalise practice by role, company, and focus areas

Pricing

5 interviews free
then £12.99/mo or £29/quarter · Pro from £29/mo
  • ✓No card needed · 5 free interviews available until used
  • ✓Full scored feedback on every interview
  • ✓Company-tuned mocks for LinkedIn and others
  • ✓Recording and transcript included
  • ✓Cancel anytime
Start your free interviews

LinkedIn interview FAQs

Does LinkedIn use HireVue?

LinkedIn's official process centres on live recruiter, phone, and onsite interviews (coding often on Collabedit); its pages don't describe a universal recorded-video HireVue stage.

How many rounds are there?

A recruiter call, one technical phone screen, and a ~5-round onsite (coding, SQL, system design, hiring-manager), followed by team matching.

How hard is it?

Medium coding with a real SQL component, but LinkedIn grades communication and trade-off reasoning as heavily as the final answer — think out loud.

How long does it take?

Usually a few weeks, plus a team-matching step that can add time.

Related interview guides

AMD interview questionsAdobe interview questionsAirbnb interview questionsAnthropic interview questions

Merra is an independent interview practice platform and is not affiliated with LinkedIn. Interview formats vary by role, region, and year.

Know where you stand

Your first interview with Hope takes 15 minutes and gives you a baseline score. Free, no card, instant feedback.

Start your free interviews5 free interviews · no card needed · cancel anytime