United Launch Alliance Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was a bit of a mess. The manager missed our first scheduled phone interview. I called HR and rescheduled, and the manager called about 40 minutes late for that one. The conversation was okay, basically a vague job description and open-ended questions like "describe yourself." HR then invited me for an on-site interview at headquarters. ULA requires you to pay for all expenses upfront, like flights, hotel, car, and food, and they reimburse you later. So, if you're jobless, this could be an issue. My reimbursement check arrived about a month after the interview and I submitted the forms. The on-site itself was better. The manager seemed friendly and knowledgeable and answered my questions. This and the conversations with other engineers (a panel of three, one at a time) were mostly behavioral. They asked about my work experience, school projects, and teamwork, but these were generally non-technical questions focused on my work habits and ability to work with others. HR said the on-site would be an hour, but it took about three times as long, so plan your flights accordingly. There wasn't a clear schedule provided. Getting feedback or a final reply after the interview was really difficult; I had to call repeatedly for over a month and a half to get any results.

A former college of mine works there and contacted me about applying for a position they knew I would be good at. The HR screener called about 3 days after submitting my resume and asked a series of questions (all about my work experience). Two weeks later they called again and asked almost the same questions but said my resume would be forwarded to the hiring manager. I was told I should hear back within 3 weeks. It has been 3 months and nothing. I’ve repeatedly tried to contact the HR person that interviewed me, by email and phone, but get no response. My college says they never interviewed anyone but doesn’t feel comfortable asking the manager what the holdup is. Not sure I want to work for a place where you can’t ask your manager a simple question and can’t return a quick yes/no email.

This was just the phone screening part of the interview. It was a short phone call, no longer than 20 minutes, and there were about 4 to 5 questions. They could ask about any relevant experience for the job.