Klaviyo Engineering Manager Interview Questions
& Process

I had an initial screen call with the recruiter. After that, there was a 1-hour phone call with the hiring manager. It was a bit strange that it wasn't a video call, considering the length of the discussion. The hiring manager spent about 25 minutes explaining the role, which mostly repeated what was in the job description. Then came some behavioral questions about management, like asking about a time I handled conflict and what makes a good engineer. I didn't feel like the manager was very interested in my experience, more just checking off a list. I only had about 5 minutes for my questions. I asked about success in the first 90 days and how it would be measured, but he just said onboarding takes time and didn't really answer. I also asked about the next steps. He mentioned a technical exercise with 2 engineers if I passed this stage, followed by 6 more interviews with the team if that went well. I thought that was excessive. A week later, the recruiter called to say they were going with another candidate, but they were nice enough to share some feedback, which I appreciated. Overall, I felt the hiring manager didn't conduct a thorough interview, ask relevant questions, or seem keen on a real discussion.

The interview process included a brief recruiter chat, followed by a 1-hour chat with the hiring manager. After that, there was a 1-hour technical interview, and finally, a lengthy 5-hour session covering cultural fit, product, and design aspects. It was a really pleasant experience, everyone was quite approachable.

Went through a basic coding challenge online, then an engineering manager screen. The first two rounds were pretty basic. They mentioned they were looking for someone from a startup background because the team operates that way. The final round involved blocking off a full day for 5 interviews. These were pretty standard, including a well-structured system design interview. The last interview was another engineering manager behavioral interview where they asked big corporation management questions from a sheet, which was unexpected given I'm from a startup. This led to rejection because I lack large organization and multi-team experience. It was a bad experience, wasting a full day plus the previous 3 interviews, when they knew they wanted a big corp type EM and I wasn't that. Klaviyo is for those who want to work for an extremely big corporation. Don't believe them when they say they operate like a startup.