Climate Data Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online for the Geospatial Data Scientist role and heard back from a recruiter within 2 hours after submitting a detailed cover letter. The whole process took about 2 months, with roughly a week between each stage. First, there was a 30-minute recruiter screen where they went over my resume and the job details. Then, a 30-minute call with the hiring manager, focusing on my resume and some behavioral questions. The next step was a 60-minute technical screen with the Science team. It started with 30 minutes using pandas to describe data and general data questions, followed by using geopandas for geospatial data manipulation and plotting. The onsite interviews included three parts: a 75-minute quantitative reasoning session on machine learning and modeling (reasoning only, no coding), a 60-minute onsite with a 30-minute project presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A, and finally a 30-minute meeting with another hiring manager for behavioral and cultural fit questions. The recruiters were really communicative and helpful, and the interviewers were smart and made me feel comfortable.

It started with a recruiter call, then a phone screen with the manager. After that, there was a coding screen involving simple descriptive stats using pandas. The final stage was a three-hour on-site which included a presentation and Q&A, then a quantitative reasoning assessment. The assessment was strange, no code involved and it was vague, I wasn't sure what kind of answer or narrative they wanted. Lastly, there was a soft skills call with another manager.

The interview process was pretty straightforward and not overly difficult or complicated. It lasted around 20 to 30 minutes, and I received feedback within about a week. The recruiter was mainly interested in my research experience and asked some general behavioral questions.