Shield AI Recruiter Interview Questions
& Process

I spoke with the recruiter initially, and they then arranged a meeting with the hiring manager. This meeting had to be rescheduled, but it turned out to be a productive discussion once it happened. I opted out of the next phase because I'm unable to relocate at this time. The overall process involves a hiring manager interview, a coding assessment, and then a final interview round. The recruiter mentioned the final round is typically a half-day session, but I'm not entirely sure what that entails.

It started with a 30-minute phone screening, followed by a final 2-part interview. Part 1 was a group interview with 3 recruiters where I had to complete a worksheet of job-related tasks (took about 3 hours). Part 2 was a 1-on-1 values interview. The experience was mostly good until the final interview process. About an hour before my last interview, they canceled it, which was confusing since I thought things went well. I assumed it was a reschedule because the interviewer had to adjust their schedule. Then, I got a call saying they made a late decision the previous night and didn't want to call because of time zones, deciding to move on with another candidate. They apologized and hoped I'd still consider Shield AI, acknowledging it wasn't what I wanted to hear. They offered to sync with the team for feedback. After the call, I asked for feedback via email about a week later. They responded saying they were available that day if I had time. I didn't because I was already in other interviews after a month+ of waiting, especially since this was over Christmas and New Years. I asked them to email the feedback, which I still haven't received after two weeks. I'm not sure what went wrong, and I likely won't find out. I was sick during the final interview but had to proceed because it took weeks to schedule. I felt I was a perfect candidate technically, and I mentioned being LGBTQ+ when asked about diversity, even though they/them was used in the worksheet example. Given that the company has about 90% veterans, I suspect discrimination played a role.

I had an initial phone call with the Head of Talent to talk about my background and the job and the cool stuff Shield is doing. Then, I had a more technical, deep dive call with someone who would be my colleague. After that, they invited me to an all-day onsite at the Shield AI offices in downtown San Diego. They sent a really detailed interview prep email that included where to park (they cover parking for the day) and what to bring. My onsite interview included a presentation I had to get ready and give on a topic I picked, and different 1:1s, plus a lunch with people from across the business team. The whole onsite was from around 9 AM to 2 PM, and it had an office tour and a hardware walkthrough where you get to see the robot.