Tessera Therapeutics Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty straightforward and well-put-together. It gave me a good feel for the team, how they're organized, and their culture. They covered both technical stuff and behavioral questions. Overall, it was a really positive experience!

So first there was like an HR and manager interview, just a quick screen call. Then after that, it was about four hours total, technical stuff and then some HR to get to know me and my background, and I also got to chat with some of the team members and ask them questions.

I interviewed at Tessera for a lipid nanoparticle research role that had interesting career growth opportunities. The interview process started standard with a phone screen with the hiring manager, then a remote seminar and individual interviews. But then things got weird. On the day of my seminar/interviews, the hiring manager had a personal emergency and couldn't make it. Instead of rescheduling, they still wanted me to do my seminar and interviews, and I never got to talk to the hiring manager again, and he never rescheduled. This made me think Tessera might not have the best company culture. The point of screening someone for an important, early research job should be to understand how they work and their strengths/weaknesses. But instead, I was just pushed through an interview panel where nobody asked about my specific LNP research or how I'd actually do the job. I got questions like 'How do you fare working in a lab for most hours of the day?' and 'How do you approach strict goals and timelines from leadership?', which was funny because they then said research scientists there shouldn't expect much autonomy. I get that companies need structure, but to say you're on the cutting edge of LNP research while limiting your researchers' innovation? Their platform will probably just be average. Look somewhere else if research is important to you. Other jobs there might be better.

The interview process was pretty out there. It started normally with an HR and hiring manager screen. Then it went into 6 separate 1-on-1 team interviews, and finally another HR call. The weird part was that my references got surveyed through an online portal. After that, I had another interview with the hiring manager where I think she questioned what the reference surveys said. I felt like I answered those questions well. At this final interview, they mentioned there were still other candidates. I assume they did this whole reference check thing with the other candidates too. I decided to withdraw from the process because it felt really disrespectful and a waste of time for everyone involved, including my references. It feels like the kind of culture they have there, maybe the next Moderna.