Distributed systems engineer standing up Netflix's Data Platform charter in Poland — ZooKeeper ownership, experimentation infra, or data connectors

This role is part of Netflix's new Data Platform presence in Poland, joining one of three spotlighted teams: Online Data Stores (owns ZooKeeper and other datastores), Experimentation Platform (A/B testing data infra), or Data Movement (connector ecosystem for streaming/batch data integration). Interview should center on RESTful service design, fault-tolerant distributed systems experience, and Java/Python proficiency, with emphasis on cross-functional leadership since this is a new regional team standing up its charter.

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What this interview tests

Distributed systems fundamentals (2+ yrs building large-scale features/apps)
RESTful web service design
Building and operating scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems
Java plus scripting (e.g., Python) proficiency
Multi-threading problem solving
Cross-functional leadership in a newly-forming team/charter

Common question themes

Design a fault-tolerant RESTful service for a datastore or connector system

How would you take ownership of a critical piece of infra like ZooKeeper

Describe a multi-threading challenge you debugged in Java or Python

How would you design the data model behind an experimentation allocation system

Tell me about leading a cross-functional initiative with ambiguous scope

What would 'automated systems integration testing' look like for streaming and batch connectors

How candidates describe it

Real Distributed Systems Engineer 4 interview stories — retold from candidates' public write-ups, with sources.

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