Interview with Engineering Manager (30 min, video)

This is a chance for us to get a better sense of your experience and how it aligns with the role, and for you to ask questions and learn more about how we work. We’ll cover your background, past projects, and the way you approach engineering challenges.

🤔 What We’ll Talk About

We’ll start with a brief 2–3 minute overview of your background — no need to cover everything on your CV, just highlight what’s most relevant.

Then we’ll dive deeper into a few areas like:

Your technical experience: We may ask you to walk us through a backend system you’ve built or worked on — what problem it solved, your specific contributions, and any challenges you faced.
Ownership and initiative: We value engineers who are proactive. Be ready to share a story about a time you took the lead or solved a problem independently.
Development practices: We might explore how you work in a team, what development methodologies you're used to, or how your current team is structured.
Anything that stands out from your CV: This could be impressive achievements or things we’re curious about, like short tenures or career gaps — nothing to worry about, just an honest conversation.

✅ Tips

Be yourself and speak honestly about what you’ve done and how you work.
Bring any questions you have about the team, the role, or our tech stack — we want this to be a two-way conversation.
Don’t stress about having perfect answers. We’re looking for thoughtfulness, not perfection.

Stage 2

Pair Programming Session (60 mins, video)

At FundApps, we use pair programming as both a day-to-day collaboration tool and a key part of our interview process. It helps us understand not only how you code, but how you think, communicate, and learn.

You can use either Java, C# or Python, and we’ll clarify whether you're comfortable working in C# moving forward.

You won’t be expected to know everything, solve everything perfectly, or have commercial C# experience. What we care about is how you approach problems.

🔎 What We’re Looking For

We’ll be focusing primarily on:

Problem Breakdown: Can you take a loosely defined problem and break it into smaller, solvable parts?
Technical Competence: Do you write clean, logical code? Can you make reasonable trade-offs?
Communication: Do you explain your thinking clearly? Are you open to input and collaboration?
Curiosity + Learning: How do you handle something new or unfamiliar?
Sustainable Engineering: How do you think about the solution’s behaviour in production, and its maintainability and adaptability?’

We pair program regularly at FundApps, but we know it’s not everyone’s ideal way to work. So don’t worry—we’re assessing your thinking, not your polish.

⚒️ What You’ll Be Working With

You’ll be given a small, real-world-inspired problem in the financial compliance space. We’ll ask you to write a short program that:

Works with realistic domain data that involves time-based considerations".
Requires basic data structures (think: lists, objects, loops, filters)
Has a real-world flavour and works with realistic domain terms (drawn from the financial compliance space such as “portfolio”, “market value”, etc.)

🤖 Using AI Tools During the Session

We actively encourage the use of AI tools — just like you would in a real engineering environment. You’re welcome to use:

In-IDE tools like GitHub Copilot
External tools like ChatGPT or Claude (e.g., to ask questions, generate code, or debug)

We’re not just looking for how well you can write every line by hand — instead, we’re interested in how you work with tools, make decisions, and solve problems.

✅ Tips for Success

Think aloud – Share your reasoning and ask questions if anything’s unclear.
Start simple – You don’t need the perfect design upfront. Break down the problem and build iteratively.
Handle ambiguity – Some edge cases may be fuzzy. Talk us through your assumptions.
Ask about trade-offs – Whether it’s performance, readability, or future-proofing, showing that you consider these is a plus.
Check AI output - don’t blindly rely on it!

Stage 3

Final Interview & Team Meet

We want you to feel prepared and confident, so here’s a high-level look at what our ~90-minute final interview might include. Don’t worry—we’re not looking for perfection, just a clear, honest conversation about your experience and how you approach problems.

👋 Getting to Know You (5 mins)

We’ll kick off with quick introductions and a chat about what attracted you to FundApps and your ideal next role.

⚒️ Deep Dive into Your Experience (40 mins)

We’ll explore the systems you’ve worked on, how you’ve contributed to your teams, and what kinds of technical and business problems you’ve solved. We’re especially interested in how you:

Take ownership and show initiative
Break down and work through complex challenges
Learn, adapt, and collaborate with others

Expect to walk us through one or two real examples from your current or past roles.

👩‍🏫 Design Exercise (20 mins)

You’ll be asked to design a small internal service based on a realistic scenario we’ve encountered at FundApps. This is an open-ended discussion—not a live coding task—and we’re more interested in your thought process: how you approach system design and structure, communicate your thinking, and consider how the service would be implemented, deployed and run in production, rather than a “perfect” architecture.

What We're Looking For

Problem breakdown: How do you approach an open-ended challenge?
Design thinking: Can you balance simplicity, scalability, and reliability?
Communication: Can you explain your thinking clearly and collaborate as you go?

How to Prepare

Think out loud: We want to understand your reasoning—talk us through your choices, even if you're unsure.
Brush up on fundamentals: You don’t need to know every design pattern, but reviewing topics like RESTful APIs, service boundaries, and data flow might help.
Consider trade-offs: There's no single “correct” solution. We're interested in how you weigh different options and make decisions based on context.
Be pragmatic: We're not looking for an overengineered masterpiece—focus on what’s good enough to solve the problem well.
Think about the full lifecycle: From building to running the service — how would you take it from an idea to something running in production?

🧑‍💻 Technical Questions (10 mins)

Depending on your background, we may ask a few follow-ups on your technical practices (e.g. testing, deployment, teamwork) or standout items from your CV.

Your Turn (5 mins)

We’ll wrap up with your questions—ask us anything!

✅ Tips for Success

Be yourself—we want to get to know how you think, not just what you know.
Share real stories—examples from your experience go a long way.
Ask questions—we love curious candidates.