Vercel

Engineering Interview Prep Guide

Note: This guide includes prep for all engineering interview types—please refer only to the sections relevant to your scheduled interviews.

Interview Timeline

Recruiter Phone Screen

Initial conversation to understand your background and interest in Vercel.

Hiring Manager Interview

This conversational interview is a chance to explore your experience, interest in the role, and ask questions about Vercel.

A technical assessment may be included, and your recruiter will update you if that applies.

Collaboration Stage

  • Technical Interviews
  • Vercel Values

Please refer to the interview types below for your appropriate Technical Interviews.

Leadership Interview

During this interview you will meet with a senior leader to discuss your vision for working with Vercel.

Final Decision

We'll get back to you promptly with next steps.

Interview Types

Reverse Deep Dive

Learn a real Vercel system and provide design guidance.
  • In this interview, a Vercel engineer will introduce you to a piece of software or infrastructure that was (or is) in production at Vercel. You will then be asked to evaluate that system.
  • We will want you to identify potential or real issues with the design of the system presented, and suggest solutions or changes to the system to mitigate those issues.
  • We will be using https://excalidraw.com to present the system and collaborate on changes. The URL for your interview will be provided by the interviewer.

Fullstack Coding Challenge

Develop a full stack application in your preferred tools and languages.
  • In this interview, a Vercel engineer will introduce a set of functionality for you to implement as a web application.
  • You will implement this on your own machine using whatever tools and languages you like.
  • The problem space will not require anything beyond a standard web framework. You will not need to stand up databases or any other external infrastructure.
  • You should share your screen while you work so that we're on the same page regarding how and where you employ AI coding assistance.
  • Throughout the interview the interviewer will be available for any questions you may have, support you through any roadblocks you run into, and will regularly check in on progress.
  • After the interview, we ask that you upload your project to share with the recruiter you have been working with. This can be uploaded as a GitHub repository or a ZIP file on a storage provider like Google Drive or Dropbox.

System Design

Design a new system from base principles.
  • In this interview, a Vercel engineer will introduce a set of functionality and ask you to produce a design which implements the requirements.
  • You will describe your design decisions in diagrams or text in a shared editor.
  • The problem space in this exercise tends to involve technologies used by the role you are interviewing for.
  • We use https://excalidraw.com for diagramming and https://rustpad.io for when diagrams are insufficient. The URL for your interview will be provided by the interviewer.

Data Structures and Algorithms

Solve a practical problem in your preferred language.
  • In this interview, a Vercel engineer will describe a problem, which you will implement a solution to.
  • You can use any language you like, and we will be evaluating your ability to express correct solutions in that language; but we're not expecting perfection — missing semicolons, typos, and hand-waved APIs are fine.
  • While these problems require data structures and algorithms, we avoid brain-teaser or puzzle style problems. They are practical problems that we have come across in building Vercel.
  • We use https://rustpad.io for this interview which provides basic syntax highlighting for all mainstream languages. The URL for your interview will be provided by the interviewer.

Deep Dive

Discuss your impact and technical ability with evidence from past projects.
  • In this interview, you'll walk us through one or two engineering projects that you played a meaningful role in. We're looking to understand how you think, build, and ship-especially how you balance shipping velocity, quality, and impact. Note this is a conversational interview, not a presentation.
  • The best projects are ones where you had direct experience with at least some phases of the research, design, implementation, and launch lifecycle.
  • You don't need to bring us a perfect project. We're more interested in your problem-solving process and learnings than a flawless outcome. If something didn't land as expected, that's okay—we're interested in your thinking, decision-making, how you navigated the inevitable challenges that arose, and what you learned.
  • For each project, we'd love to hear:
    • The environment and context you were operating in – e.g., startup vs. large org, monolith vs. microservices, team size, internal process constraints
    • The problem you were solving, and how it was scoped or prioritized.
    • The approach and tradeoffs you made to move quickly. How did you prioritize competing demands while maintaining speed?
    • How you ensured technical quality and managed potential risks.
    • The outcomes—what impact did this work have? How was it measured?
    • Your specific role: Was this your idea or strategy? Were you leading, collaborating, or executing?
    • How many teams or cross-functional stakeholders were involved?
  • You're welcome to share two different projects if they highlight different strengths. You'll walk us through code, designs, or documentation—whatever best helps you tell the story.
  • We will never ask you to disclose any proprietary information.

Values

All Vercelians are aligned behind a single mission— to enable the world to ship the best products

Our Core Values

Same Team

Dig Deep

KYC

ITG

  • In this conversation you'll meet a cross-functional teammate, offering a unique chance to explore beyond your core function, and learn how you might contribute to our bigger picture.
  • To learn more about this interview, including tips on how to prepare, please review our Vercel Values Interview Guide.

Resources

  • Interview Recording

    At Vercel, we are committed to radical transparency, continuous improvements and eliminating bias from hiring decisions.

    To support this and ensure we are able to focus on you, not on taking notes, this interview might be recorded using brighthire.ai. If you wish to opt out of your interview being recorded using BrightHire, click here.

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How To Prepare

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What Does Vercel Do?

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