Design the data model and permissions behind Notion's database block

Notion is hiring an experienced full-stack TypeScript engineer for its Collections Experience team, which owns the database block — properties, views, forms, and permissions — used across the entire product. With 10+ years of experience expected, you'll design database properties/views and permission models that hold up at massive customer scale, and partner with the Agent team on tool development for Notion Agent. This interview weighs long-term data-model judgment and end-to-end ownership over any single framework or language trivia.

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What this interview tests

Data model design with long-lived consequences (databases, schemas, collaborative editing)
Permission/authorization system design at scale
End-to-end full-stack ownership in TypeScript (backend + frontend)
Scoping ambiguous product problems and making technical tradeoffs
AI/agent tool development and eval-driven iteration (nice-to-have)

Common question themes

Describe a data model or schema decision you made that had long-term consequences — what would you change in hindsight?

Walk through a permission/authorization system you designed — how did you handle scale and edge cases?

Tell me about a feature you owned end-to-end, from ambiguous problem to shipped UI and backend.

How do you decide what to cut when scoping a technically ambiguous, underspecified feature?

Have you built tools or evals for an AI agent? Walk through how you approached iteration.

How candidates describe it

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

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Google L4 Software Engineer Interview: Eight Rounds, No Offer

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Google L5 software engineer interview: phone screening, three onsite rounds, system design, and a late rejection

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Interviewed January 2023 · Not specified

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