BioNTech Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

It started with a phone screening with HR. Then, a week later, there was a 30-minute Zoom interview with the hiring manager. The following week, I had another call with HR to discuss my thoughts on the process. After that, I attended a full-day event which included an hour-long seminar I presented, followed by several interviews with different team members, each interview being with two people. The communication after this was pretty unprofessional. The hiring manager mentioned that if they were going to extend an offer, they would ask for my references to check. The week after, they requested my references, which made me think an offer was likely, given how they phrased things. Since I had just finished grad school, I didn't have many professional references besides my professors, so I used some coworkers, expecting an offer based on our conversations. They told me I'd hear back in a week or two after submitting references, regarding an offer. Coincidentally, the same week they said I'd hear back was a big conference week in our field. After that, they kept me waiting, not extending an offer. Every week, I had to reach out for updates, and they'd say they had one more interview to wrap up and I should know within a week. About 4 weeks post-conference (about as long as the whole process), they finally told me they wouldn't be offering me the job. My guess is that after checking my references, they found someone they preferred at the conference and just stringed me along. The fact that I might have put my current job at risk for this and was seemingly used is incredibly unprofessional, and I wouldn't want to work for them in the future because of it.

Had a first interview with the Manager, which was pretty standard. We talked about my resume, my past experiences with some techniques, and they asked why I was interested in this role and BioNTech, and why I left academia. Then, I had a second interview with the whole team for this role, plus two associate directors, about 8 people in total. I gave a presentation on my previous research, and the team asked technical questions. No "soft skill" questions at this point. They said a decision would be made in a few weeks. About a month later, they told me they chose someone else. The hiring manager gave me feedback on what they liked and why they picked another candidate, which was good because it was transparent. He also referred me to another opening.

I applied for a role in Cambridge in late November and HR reached out about a week later. After a couple of initial calls, they scheduled a seminar followed by several interviews with selected candidates. Instead of one-on-one meetings, interviewers were grouped in pairs, which was a positive aspect as I didn't have to repeat answers to common questions. The interviews were conducted via Zoom due to COVID, and everyone was pleasant and professional. The interviews themselves were engaging. I received an offer less than a week after the seminar. The HR team was aware of other offers I had and expedited the interview process to accommodate these and the upcoming holiday season.