What Is the Deliveroo Interview Process Like? (Round by Round)

Deliveroo publishes its own engineering interview guide, and it names five stages. The stages are the prescreen, the technical screen, the full loop, the hiring committee, and allocation. The prescreen is an informal recruiter call of 20 to 45 minutes. The technical screen is usually a test on HackerRank, an online service for timed coding tests, and the guide puts it at 60 to 90 minutes.

The full loop is two to three interviews of 60 minutes each. The last two stages include no interviews. Candidate reports describe a total of about two weeks to about two months.

Quick Overview

Stage 1: The Prescreen

Deliveroo describes this stage as an informal chat with a recruiter, by video or phone. Expect the motivation question here, so prepare it with How to answer why Deliveroo.

Stage 2: The Technical Screen

Most disciplines take a HackerRank test at home, and the length depends on the role. The backend guide describes a 90 minute test in three sections. Section one gives you 20 minutes for 15 multiple choice questions on testing, system design, microservices, and REST APIs. A REST API is a web interface where each address names one resource.

Sections two and three give you 70 minutes for coding problems on algorithms, data structures, and REST APIs. You cannot return to a section once you leave it, so read the rules before you start.

Inside Stage 3: The Coding Interview

This round runs 60 minutes, and for several disciplines the interviewer reviews work you finished at home. Backend candidates submit a solution at least 48 hours before the interview, and the interviewer then spends 10 to 15 minutes on a walkthrough of that code. You spend about 25 to 30 minutes adding two or three extensions live, with your screen shared.

Frontend candidates instead pair with the interviewer on a code sample they provide, for about 45 minutes. Deliveroo states that AI generated code is not accepted in this round. The backend guide also asks for tests of both valid and invalid inputs, which it calls happy and sad paths.

Inside Stage 3: The Architecture Interview

Another 60 minutes, with about 45 on the design itself, and the guides suggest practicing on draw.io or Excalidraw, two shared whiteboard tools. Backend candidates design a system and defend its production readiness, its scale, and its trade-offs.

Frontend candidates cover production ready interfaces instead, including accessibility, browsers, security, and performance. Accessibility means the interface works for people using screen readers or only a keyboard. The full topic list is in What to expect in the Deliveroo system design interview.

Inside Stage 3: The Behavioral Interview

This round scores communication, leadership, flexibility, growth mindset, and decision making. The engineering guide says the full loop also checks your alignment with company values. The careers site publishes those values as Global Operating Principles, and named examples include "Customer obsessed", "Bias toward action", and "1% better every day". Prepare one story for three or four of those principles, and end each story with a measured result.

Stages 4 and 5: Hiring Committee and Allocation

Neither of the last two stages includes a conversation with you, so expect a quiet period here. A hiring committee reviews the whole process and decides, then allocation matches your results to a suitable team.

The Loop Differs by Role

Deliveroo publishes separate guides for backend and full-stack, frontend, mobile, infrastructure, machine learning, and Salesforce, and the technical screen is where they differ most. Frontend candidates get a 70 minute test with a React debugging task and a REST API task, while infrastructure candidates get a 50 minute test on networking, AWS, AWS security, and Terraform. Terraform is a tool that defines cloud infrastructure in code.

The machine learning guide lists no HackerRank test. It names a recruiter screen of 20 to 30 minutes, a 60 minute technical screen, and a timed take home of two and a half hours. The final stage then includes machine learning theory, machine learning practical, and a 45 minute behavioral round.

Timeline and Decision

Self reported figures on Glassdoor average about 24 days across all Deliveroo roles, and the reported averages for some roles reach about two months.

A frequent complaint in those reports is slow feedback between stages, and several candidates describe a month or more without a decision. Waiting and following up are covered in how long it takes to hear back.

Questions to Ask Them

Each interview ends with 5 to 10 minutes for your questions, and the backend guide tells candidates to come prepared with them. Ask which team you would join, because allocation happens only after the loop ends. Ask how one engineer owns a feature from design through production.

How to Prepare

• Drill the screen first. The HackerRank test is the first technical stage for most disciplines, so practice timed problems with Grokking the Coding Interview.
• Study the building blocks for the architecture round. Grokking the System Design Interview covers the queues, caches, and database splits that logistics problems need.
• Reread your own take home before the loop. You present that code yourself, so list the trade-offs you chose and the tests you left out.