National Security Agency Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

It was a single virtual interview, I recorded video answers to about 15 questions, most were behavioral and some technical. Practicing responses beforehand based on other posts here helped a lot. A month after the interview, I got a conditional job offer which I accepted. The job needs a security clearance (TS/SCI with Polygraph), which can take months and usually has little to no updates. I'm in that waiting period now. If I don't get cleared or the job is no longer available, I won't get the final offer. This clearance involves several interviews with me and them contacting many references I had to give them.

Applied specifically to "software design engineer" role, but got selected for the Applied Computing Development Program instead. The interview was a 45-minute Hirevue. You don't get retries, and you have about a minute to prep for each question and about 4 minutes to answer. There were ten questions in total. They mostly asked about technical background like what programming languages you know and your familiarity with operating systems, and also about your toughest technical challenge. There were a few behavioral questions too, like when you've led a team or dealt with a team conflict. One question was about why you want to work at the NSA. They also asked a tough one about the impact if all encryption was breakable. The last question was for your questions and last thoughts. My advice is to use the prep time to organize your thoughts so you know what you want to say. It's a recorded interview, so you won't get live feedback to adjust your answers.

The whole thing took about nine months total. I got a Conditional Job Offer around the three month mark, but then the security clearance part took about six months. It's not a sure thing even with the CJO, because you have to actually pass the security clearance stuff.