
New grad
Push LLVM optimization and code-gen changes that ship in Google's C++ toolchain
This early-career role is on Google's Compilers, Runtimes and Toolchains (CRT) team within Core, working alongside senior SWEs on LLVM optimization and code generation to improve build scalability, toolchain velocity, peak performance, and safety — including landing changes upstream in LLVM. Minimum bar is 1 year of experience with data structures/algorithms and C++/Python development; compiler/toolchain/LLVM knowledge is a plus, not required.
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What this interview tests
- Core data structures and algorithms in C++ and Python
- Compiler/toolchain fundamentals: optimization passes, code generation
- Build scalability and toolchain performance thinking
- Debugging and reasoning about correctness in systems-level code
- Collaboration on a shared codebase with upstream (LLVM) dependencies
Common question themes
Standard data structures & algorithms coding question in C++ or Python
Explain what a compiler optimization pass does and why correctness matters there
How would you approach debugging a subtle code-generation bug
Tell me about a low-level or systems programming project you've done
How would you contribute a change to a shared upstream project like LLVM responsibly
How candidates describe it
Real Software Engineer interview stories — retold from candidates' public write-ups, with sources.
Google · L3 Software EngineerOfferGoogle L3 software engineer interview: phone screen, four coding rounds, and the Googleyness round
A candidate with two years of experience went from recruiter outreach to offer over about four months. The onsite was four 45-minute coding rounds — three of them featuring binary trees — and one round turned into a 25-minute chain of follow-ups about approximating an optimal solution at scale.
Interviewed June 2020 · Bangalore, IN
Google · L4 Software EngineerNo offerGoogle L4 Software Engineer Interview: Eight Rounds, No Offer
An L4 Software Engineer candidate went through two phone screens, three onsite rounds, a culture conversation, and a team-matching call with a Google hiring manager, then watched the process stall for about a month and a half over a tightened experience requirement before an added extended round ended without an offer.
Interviewed February 2024 · Not specified
Google · L5 Software EngineerNo offerGoogle L5 software engineer interview: phone screening, three onsite rounds, system design, and a late rejection
A candidate interviewing for an L5 role went through a phone screening, three onsite coding rounds, a mobile system design round, and a Googleyness and Leadership round. Two of the four technical rounds went poorly by the candidate's own assessment, and after roughly two months of silence the recruiter reported that the role had been closed.
Interviewed January 2023 · Not specified
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