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

Candidates report three to five rounds at Zepto, usually across about two to four weeks. The most common reported order is a coding round on data structures and algorithms, then a low level design round, then a hiring manager round, then a short HR conversation.

Senior candidates also report a separate system design round, and frontend candidates report a different set of three rounds. Candidates also report that the technical rounds are conducted through BarRaiser, an outside service that supplies trained interviewers.

Quick Overview

Is There an Online Assessment?

Not for every candidate. Some reports describe an assessment with three coding problems and five multiple choice questions on computer science fundamentals, SQL, and program output.

Other candidates report no assessment at all, and a live technical interview as the first step. Zepto has also run a software engineer hiring challenge on HackerEarth as a separate entry route. Confirm your own path with the recruiter, because the reports do not agree. If this format is new to you, read what an online technical assessment is first.

Stage 2: The Coding Round

This round runs about 60 minutes and contains two problems at easy to medium difficulty. One candidate reports roughly 25 minutes for each problem, so speed is part of the grade.

Reported problems include Maximum Product Subarray, Binary Search Tree to Greater Sum Tree, and Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II. Others report Rotting Oranges, Bus Routes, Word Search, and Largest Rectangle in Histogram. One report describes problems written in Zepto's own terms, such as counting the maximum number of orders active inside a time window. Interviewers ask for your approach first, then the code, then the running time and the memory cost.

Stage 3: The Low Level Design Round

Low level design means classes, their responsibilities, and the relationships between them. Candidates report about 60 minutes for this round, and some reports include writing working code inside it.

Reported questions include a database schema for a ride hailing service, a chess game with move validation, and a simplified inventory and order assignment system. A coupon creation service and a calendar application also appear in reports. Interviewers ask about the classes, the design patterns, the database schema, and the API design. The shape of this round is explained in what a low level design interview is.

Stage 4: The System Design Round

Senior candidates report a separate design discussion of about 60 minutes. Reported questions include a ride hailing service, a customer order system, and a calendar application. Expect the usual sequence of requirements, core APIs, the services involved, and the database design. The full topic list is in the Zepto system design interview.

Stage 5: The Hiring Manager Round

This round is about 60 minutes with a senior engineering leader. Candidates report questions about their projects, what they like and dislike in their current company, and their reasons for applying.

One report includes indexing in relational databases. Another report includes two tree problems inside this round, so keep your coding preparation active until the end. Prepare the motivation part with how to answer why Zepto.

Stage 6: The HR Round

This conversation is short, and one report describes about 15 minutes. Reported questions include why you want to join Zepto, a time you received critical feedback, and a disagreement with a manager or a senior colleague. Notice period and joining date are also discussed here.

How the Frontend Loop Differs

Frontend candidates report three rounds rather than four or five. The first is a JavaScript round, with questions such as implementing infinite currying.

The second is a machine coding round in React, which is a timed session where you build a small working interface. Reported tasks include a custom hook for local storage, a data fetching hook with loading and error states, polling for updated data, and a tabs component. The third round is the hiring manager conversation. One candidate reports that working slowly in the machine coding round left no time for the discussion, and the result was a rejection.

Timeline and Decision

One detailed report lists two days after the coding round, five days after the design round, and four days after the hiring manager round. Aggregated interview reviews give an average process length of close to two weeks. Other candidates report no reply at all after the final round. The reported numbers are collected in how long it takes to hear back.

Questions to Ask Them

Every round ends with time for your questions. Useful ones here: which product area the team owns, how on-call works during peak evening demand, and how the team measures delivery time and order failure. A specific question also proves that you studied the product.

How to Prepare

• Practice under a timer. Two medium problems in one hour is the reported standard, so rehearse at that speed.
• Drill the patterns. Grokking the Coding Interview covers the array, tree, and graph patterns these rounds use.
• Prepare class design separately. Grokking the Object Oriented Design Interview covers the schema and pattern questions reported here.
• Write down three ownership stories. The hiring manager asks what you decided, not what your team delivered.