How Long Does It Take to Hear Back After a Starling Bank Interview?

Candidates report about a week for a reply after the first interview with an engineer, and about ten days to three weeks after submitting the take-home test. The take-home review is the longest wait in the process, and several candidates report sending follow-up messages during it. After the technical interview, reported waits run from a few days to about two weeks.

End to end, software engineering candidates commonly report about four weeks, which matches the average across all Starling roles in aggregated reports. About one in five candidates report a process longer than a month. Graduate engineering hiring is reported as the slowest, at three months or more.

Timeline by Stage

Does Starling Bank Send Rejection Emails?

Candidates report that rejection emails do arrive, but not always quickly, and not always before the candidate follows up. Several report weeks of silence followed by a short email. Others report being given a date for the decision and then hearing nothing by that date.

Requests for written feedback often go unanswered, and candidates who spent a day or more on the take-home test name that as the most frustrating part. Some candidates do receive useful comments after the technical interview, so it is still worth asking for them. Treat silence as a reason to follow up once, not as a final answer.

How to Follow Up

Send one short email to your recruiter when a promised date passes, or after about ten working days of silence. Keep it brief and easy to answer.

"Hello [name], thank you again for the technical interview last week. I am writing to ask whether there is any update on the next step. I remain very interested in the role, and I am happy to send anything further that would help. Many thanks, [your name]."

Wait another week before a second message. Two polite follow-ups are reasonable. A third rarely changes the outcome, and it uses time you could spend on other applications.

Can You Reapply, and How Soon?

Starling does not publish a waiting period for rejected candidates, and candidates do not report one. For companies of this size, a wait of about six months is typical before reapplying, though that is not confirmed for Starling. Apply for a different role or a different team rather than the same posting, and say in your application what has changed.

New evidence is what makes a second application work: a finished project, a new language, or depth in the area that caused the rejection. If the take-home test ended your process, build something similar on the public developer API and publish the code. If the design part of the technical interview ended it, that is the part to study before you return.

What to Wear

Most Starling interviews are held over video, including the first interview with an engineer, the technical interview, and the final interview. Graduate candidates report a recorded video screen as well. Wear a plain shirt or top in a solid color, with no strong pattern. Check your camera, your microphone, and your lighting before the call, and sit somewhere quiet.

Starling is a technology company, so a suit is not expected. Its technology job postings ask staff to attend an office at least one day a week, so you may be invited in at some point. Dress the same way for an office visit: neat, plain, and comfortable.

How to Prepare

• Know the stages before you plan your wait. What is the Starling Bank interview process like? lists what follows each reply.
• Spend the waiting weeks on design. Study the Starling Bank system design interview with Grokking the System Design Interview.
• Have the motivation answer ready. How to answer why Starling Bank covers the first stage and the last one.
• Keep other processes running. The take-home test and its review take weeks, so continue interviewing elsewhere.
• Practice the behavioral side. Grokking Modern Behavioral Interview prepares the final interview and the follow-up conversation.