Rafael Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 130 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Which role are you interviewing for?
30 roles · 130 reportsCandidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Rafael.
Rafael
Electrical Engineer
Intern Easy Neutral experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Coding
So first, there was a quick chat with HR, then about two weeks later, I talked to the team lead over the phone. After that, I had a technical interview where they asked about my studies, a main hardware question, and a main programming question.
Confirmed questions5 questions
- Could you design a finite state machine to recognize a specific bit sequence for a safe's code, and what edge cases would you consider?
- How would you go about verifying the correctness of your finite state machine design?
- Tell me about your academic background.
Rafael
Material Engineer
Entry Average Positive experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Coding
I interviewed for an R&D role focused on developing complex materials for rockets. The first interview was with the group manager and another material engineer. They introduced themselves and gave a brief overview of their work (much is classified). Then, I introduced myself and answered personal questions about my major choice, military background, and hobbies. After that, I was asked theoretical material engineering questions about complex materials, SEM, and TEM. I was then presented with an engineering problem relevant to the job. Following this, I had a Zoom interview with HR to discuss personal matters and employment terms. Finally, there's a background security check and a classification interview.
Confirmed questions1 question
- If a new complex material in a tubular shape deformed with large grooves along the diameter when put into a pressure chamber, what actions could be taken to prevent this?
Rafael
Managing Director
Executive Average Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Presentation
It was a long interview process with several breaks, and they checked for both personal and logical skills, which is expected for senior roles. They preferred an online meeting instead of an in-person one, even though we lived close by. The hiring manager met with me online just once for 30 minutes. I wasn't entirely clear on the role's specifics, but it sounded interesting from a management and scientific perspective. I was also considering another offer at the same time, which I ended up accepting because their response took too long (and it turned out to be the right decision not to wait, as they ultimately rejected me).
Confirmed questions1 question
- What would be your approach to employees who are reluctant to come to work?
Rafael
Stress Analysis Engineer
Mid Difficult Negative experience Accept offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral Other
The interview had two interviewers, one of whom was impatient and quite rude, asking questions and demanding answers under pressure. The other interviewer seemed embarrassed by their colleague and tried to salvage the situation. The interview was generally difficult, requiring a good understanding of engineering dynamics and mechanics of materials, as well as FEA knowledge. It's important to have patience, stay focused, and ignore the rude interviewer; it seems to be part of their process.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you explain the HIC criterion and its application?
Rafael Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Rafael interview reports.
“Given an integer array nums, find the contiguous subarray (containing at least one number) which has the largest sum and return its sum. A subarray is a contiguous part of an array.”
Read reports →“Given a stream of digits, determine divisibility by 3 after each new digit is added.”
Read reports →“Reverse a string of words, so that the last word becomes the first, the second to last becomes the second, and so on, until the first word becomes the last. For example, "abc def ghi" should be transformed into "ghi def abc".”
Read reports →“The prime 41, can be written as the sum of six consecutive primes: 41 = 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13 This is the longest sum of consecutive primes that adds to a prime below one-hundred. The longest sum of consecutive primes below one-thousand that adds to a prime, contains 21 terms, and is equal to 953. Which prime, below one-million, can be written as the sum of the most consecutive primes?”
Read reports →“Given an integer array nums, return an array answer such that answer[i] is equal to the product of all the elements of nums except nums[i]. The product of any prefix or suffix of nums is guaranteed to fit in a 32-bit integer.”
Read report →“How can we find the intersection node of two linked lists in O(n) time and space complexity?”
Read report →“If a derived class inherits from an abstract class but fails to implement a pure virtual function, what occurs? a) Compile-time error, b) Runtime error, c) Derived class also becomes abstract, d) No issue arises.”
Read report →“Return a vector (p1,p2,p3) that is an isosceles triangle with sides of size x and p1,p1 locations (or a fallback value if it doesn't exist)?”
Read report →“Design a module where y equals 5 times x, given an n-bit input.”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 130 Rafael interview reports.