Head of Engineering Round

What they ask

After the technical round there is a one-hour conversation with the head of engineering, followed by a 30-minute HR wrap-up. This round is less about patterns and more about judgement. The core of it is your previous technical experience in your current organisation, examined closely:

• Walk me through the system you own today. What is the weakest part of it?
• Tell me about a technical decision you made that you would now reverse.
• How do you decide what to refactor and what to leave alone?
• What does your release process look like, and what broke last time?
• Why a fintech, and why one built around savings circles?

For design-leaning roles the same round focuses on your design process instead: how a feature goes from idea to shipped, and how you handle disagreement with product.

The HR part covers notice period, salary expectations, and hybrid working. The whole process, from first recruiter call to answer, tends to run about ten days.

What they look for

• Honest ownership of trade-offs, including the ones that did not work out.
• Evidence you think about users and money at the same time: a payout that arrives late is a trust problem, not just a bug.
• Communication with non-engineers, since product and operations sit close to engineering.
• Signals that you will stay: curiosity about the product, questions about the roadmap.

A known weak spot: candidates who were rejected report vague or slow feedback. Ask at the end of this round when and how you will hear back.