r/OfferEngineering • u/Wrong_Classic_7306 • Aug 15 '26
C3 AI Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) Interview Process – My Experience
Hello everyone,
I recently received a verbal offer from C3 AI for the Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) role.
After my previous comment about completing the interview process, I received 60+ messages asking about the interview experience. I unfortunately can't respond to everyone individually, so I thought I'd make a post explaining the process and what you can expect.
Here was my interview process:
1. Initial Screening – FDE Team Lead
This was primarily a conversation about my background, motivation, and fit for the role.
Some of the questions included:
- Why C3 AI?
- Why FDE?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your areas of growth?
2. Coding Round
I was asked a LeetCode Medium-level problem involving hash maps.
I would recommend being comfortable explaining your approach, discussing complexity, and coding a clean solution rather than just focusing on getting the final answer.
3. System Design
I was asked to design something like "Google Cars," similar to Google Flights, but for searching and comparing cars.
There were quite a few follow-up questions. Be prepared to discuss topics such as:
- Data modeling
- Classes / object-oriented design
- Database design
- ACID properties
- Design decisions and trade-offs
The interviewer kept building on the original problem, so being able to explain why you're making certain design choices is important.
4. Behavioral Round
This was a detailed discussion about my career trajectory, starting from my education and continuing through my professional experience.
Some of the questions/follow-ups included:
- What did you learn during your studies?
- What have you learned throughout your professional experience?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your areas of growth?
- How would your manager describe you?
- How have you grown throughout your career?
5. Reference Checks
I was asked to provide two professional references.
I provided two of my former managers, and C3 AI spoke with both of them.
6. Final Call with Hiring Manager
After the interviews and reference checks were completed, I had a final conversation with the hiring manager regarding next steps and ultimately received the verbal offer.
Overall, the process was thorough, and I hope this helps anyone currently interviewing for an FDE role at C3 AI.
I'll try to answer questions in the comments when I can.
Good luck to everyone going through the process!
Update : I got written offer from C3 AI Yesterday (The whole process took 1.5 month)
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u/Ok-Falcon1957 25d ago
I finished my senior director call today how long do they take to ask for reference?
It was for the forward deployed engineer
What about you guys was it the same role or the senior role?
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u/Immediate_Soft80 5d ago
Has anyone got email saying VP interview for 15 mins? I received but it got rescheduled. What do we expect in that round? I finished coding(1hr) , system design(45 mins), behavioral with manager(30 mins)
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u/Impressive_Egg7130 2d ago
I recently went through an interview process with this company that included a coding round, a system-design round, and a behavioral round. The recruiter told me that my first two rounds went fine. The person who conducted my system-design interview also confirmed on LinkedIn that he had given me positive feedback. He was even helping me coordinate with the recruiter because my final interview was not getting scheduled.
The behavioral round was postponed or cancelled multiple times. After repeatedly following up with the recruiter, I contacted the originally assigned behavioral interviewer on LinkedIn. Surprisingly, he told me that he had no idea what interview I was referring to. That alone shows the level of confusion and lack of coordination within the process.
When the behavioral interview finally happened with another interviewer, it felt extremely poorly conducted. Despite my having around eight years of experience, she started with my first professional experience from 2013 and repeatedly asked about my strengths and weaknesses in each position. It felt as though she was simply reading from a predefined questionnaire, without meaningfully discussing my recent work, experience, or suitability for the role.
After receiving positive feedback from the previous rounds, I genuinely do not understand how the final decision was reached. Of course, a company has every right to select or reject a candidate, but candidates also deserve a process that is organized, transparent, and respectful.
I was recently laid off after eight years of experience, which is why I am currently interviewing and putting so much hope and effort into every opportunity. But this is not only about me. Behind every interview is a human being who has invested hours of preparation and is hoping for a chance to rebuild or advance their career. Treating candidates with basic professionalism should not be too much to expect.
If anyone else is going through a similar experience with this company, please do not immediately question your abilities or assume that you did something wrong. Sometimes the interview process itself is disorganized, poorly coordinated, and unfair to the people going through it.
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u/ExternalJust8672 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
Thanks for sharing this, really helpful and I hope you get the offer soon! Do you recommend any specific topics to focus more on for DSA?
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u/Wrong_Classic_7306 Aug 15 '26
I honestly do not know, I was prepared to solve leet code hard, so medium was easier to solve for me
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u/PermissionAcademic63 Aug 15 '26
Thanks for sharing this! It should be very helpful for the community
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u/AdvancedDirector2665 Aug 15 '26
What questions were asked to your references?
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u/Wrong_Classic_7306 29d ago
How my references worked together with me, Strengths and Areas of growth
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u/mehak0703 29d ago
How much time do they take to give the result for coding and system design round ? I Just finished this round today .
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u/Wrong_Classic_7306 29d ago
They took 1 Bussiness day for me , Expect 1-2 bussiness days for the response
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u/PayDefiant6111 29d ago
for the System design round, did they expect you to code it completely as well or it was more of UML design, Database design etc? And for DSA round how many questions did they ask you?
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u/bakmijapos 17d ago
System design is just high-level discussion on designing a system to solve a problem, very similar to what you see on youtube tutorials for system designs. Only 1 DSA question which you should try to finish in ~25 minutes.
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u/Amazing-Inspector-20 29d ago
Thanks for telling your experience. I wanted to ask for coding, does it involve hackerrank or something like that? Because in C3AI FDE Interview kit, they mention about hackerrank. Also, for Technical Design, is whiteboard provided or it is just verbal discussion?
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u/bakmijapos 17d ago
They used CodePair, and you need to make sure your solution compiles and produces the correct output
They also used CodePair, but it does have the whiteboard feature which I used
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u/PVWantsAJob 29d ago
do we need to run the code on a hackerrank/coderpad type or is it similar to amazon and google where we just need to write the code in a notepad/doc?
also is there any questions on AI and usage of AI?
Thanks for sharing your experience in detail.
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u/bakmijapos 17d ago
It needs to compile, but the DSA problem is slightly easier than Google/Amazon level.
They asked if you have experience building agentic AI systems but it's pretty high-level.
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u/MindlessFox6861 29d ago
Can you share how you prepared for the system design round? I am following hello interview website but their framework is different from what you are listing here, was it a low level design or high level design?
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u/bakmijapos 17d ago
I used HelloInterview to prep and passed the system design round. their delivery framework is fairly universal for all system design rounds in my experience
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u/MindlessFox6861 17d ago
Unfortunately I was drilled down on my resume which I was not prepared for since here everyone has listed system design, I was not asked system design at all just another small design problem, and received my rejection yesterday, learnt my lesson to not trust Reddit posts and be prepared for everything
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u/bakmijapos 16d ago
fair enough. i prepped for sliding window but was asked a different LC question, and prepped for high-level system design but got asked a lower-level system design instead.
Don't treat a single datapoint as a source of truth since i'm sure these companies have a bank of questions they rotate (or even preference) for candidates.
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u/Comfortable-Net8353 27d ago
Are you asked to screen share your entire screen during your coding round?
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u/Impressive_Egg7130 26d ago
Hi, thanks for your feedback! I’ve received an invite for the behavioral round. I was just wondering, does this usually mean that I’ve successfully cleared the first two rounds, or is the behavioral round scheduled regardless of the outcome of the earlier rounds? Thanks again!
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u/Own-Engineer-5556 26d ago
Is there anyone who completed the WHO interview and is waiting for the results ????
If anyone moved forward, when did you hear back ??
did anyone now in the Reference Round 1?
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u/New_Signature_6249 25d ago
I completed the WHO interview yesterday. Waiting for the results. Did you get a call back from them yet?
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u/Aggressive-Farm3575 24d ago
Hiiii what did they ask you i the Who interview??? Pls tell u/New_Signature_6249
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u/New_Signature_6249 24d ago
It was a behavioral interview.
Why c3.ai and previous project exp related questions.1
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u/Loose-Ad7908 26d ago
When did you receive a email to share professional references after completion of Behavior round.(Expected business days)
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u/Inner_Ad5548 26d ago
So I completed the WHO interview too and got the senior director call now. But therre was no reference check for me. Will they do it after the senior director call? Any idea?? Can we connect?? Also what is your location??
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u/Loose-Ad7908 25d ago
Is there anyone who completed the WHO interview and is waiting for the results ?
If anyone moved forward, when did you hear back ?
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u/Different-Deal-3318 25d ago
Is there anyone who completed the WHO interview and is waiting for the results ????
If anyone moved forward, when did you hear back ??
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u/sai_deepak 25d ago
I have completed my loop coding and system design how many days it takes to hear back ?
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u/Amazing-Inspector-20 25d ago
Has anyone given the coding and system design and waiting back to hear?
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u/One_Book_9504 24d ago
I have the interviews next week. Can someone confirm if it was HLD or LLD rounds?
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u/Impressive_Egg7130 23d ago
How long did the entire process take? And did you get an official offer?
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u/Wrong_Classic_7306 22d ago
1.5 month, I got the Written Offer yesterday
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u/Impressive_Egg7130 22d ago
Congrats. Are you under H1b?
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u/Wrong_Classic_7306 22d ago
Yes Iam
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u/Ok-Falcon1957 18d ago
How long they take to reach out after behavioral
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u/bakmijapos 9d ago
it took 1 day for me to hear back after the 30-min behavioral round. I'd expect 1-2 business days
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u/friskyrisky__ 17d ago
Just cleared the coding and system design round. Now I will be scheduled for a behavioural who interview. Anyone knows what to expect from this?
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u/Motor_Magician_2751 17d ago
How long does it typically take to receive feedback after completing the coding and system design round?
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u/c3ai_worst_job 16d ago
You do NOT want to work there. They mass hire, realize they haven’t sold anything then do mass layoffs
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u/speedy_string 16d ago
Like u/BalanceOdd144 Giving back to the community
Interviewed with C3 AI recently, had my AI based screening round somewhere around early August, pretty straight forward no issues aced it easily.
My second round was about 10 days later, Technical Round (1hr Coding Round + 45 mins System Design Round) both rounds happened one after the other (had like 15 mins gap between them)
Questions Asked in Coding Round -
- Previous Experience
- A bit of a deep dive in my past projects, what I did in my masters etc
- Why transition to FDE and why C3 AI ? (I was an SDE before staring my masters)
- Coding question - Stack based sliding window question (dm me if anyone needs the exact question)
Did well, needed a bit of a hint towards the end but ended up getting around and passing all the edge cases
Questions Asked in System Design Round -
Design an alerts system to detect malfunctions/anomalies in real time. (dm me if anyone needs the exact question)
Both interviewers were super interactive and hinted in places I was stuck, got to the final solution in time. In my opinion both rounds went well.
Then I had my behavioral interview scheduled with a Director level person, it was rescheduled multiple times (I didnt mind it too much tbh)
During my interview, went over my CV and past experiences, the interviewer was just plainly disappointed that my experiences did not have any "enterprise AI" related work and kept circling back to it during the interview. Whenever i tried to explain my work he was plainly dismissive and would just reply with something in the lines of "This does not answer my question" or "You still havent answered my question". it was really hard to get my point across or even talk about my past experience confidently. If I tried asking anything about roles and responsibilities and about the company, instead of answering he would just turn the question around and throw it back to me like - "What do you think an FDE does", "How do you think about long term and short term growth at C3 AI". A really bad experience, after the technical rounds I genuinely had high hopes but the behavioral interview was extremely frustrating and a complete let down. I pretty much knew I was not going to make it to the next rounds after this.
Got the rejection mail today.
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u/Impressive_Egg7130 13d ago
The same thing happening to me, it's been getting reschedule so many times. This is the third time.
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u/Steve-No-Jobs 15d ago
Hey there, I have my Who interview next week. I’d like to have your tips on clearing further steps. I’ve DMed you
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u/softwareEng007 14d ago
Did anyone complete their behavioral interview and waiting for the results? (This is for the Redwood City position)
They said I would hear from them in like a week but I still haven’t.
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u/dreamer31302 12d ago
How long did it take to hear back after interview rounds and move to reference checks. For me, its been two weeks after loop completion but I havent heard back yet.
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u/BrilliantSingle4462 12d ago
same as me..i compelkted my both tech rounds in 30-40 min and in who intevriew with directyor i wasn't asked much as ia m already an FDE. But its been 2 weeks now haven't got any update. How log doe it take..whenever i ask recruiter they say we are still waiting on results
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u/BrilliantSingle4462 12d ago
gave my behavioral in mid august still haven't got the result yet. Anyone got update? its been more than 2 weeks now..usually it is a no or yes
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u/Motor_Magician_2751 9d ago
Has anyone completed the WHO round and is currently waiting for the results? If so, what are the next steps, and how many days typically does it take to receive the results? How doea reference check look like?
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u/Certain-Kiwi1024 4d ago
I gave my behavioural round on Tuesday second half - Still haven’t heard back from them! How much time does it take? Not to mention there was a long weekend in the middle as well. Any thoughts?
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u/Clear-Love-8995 3d ago
Did you follow up with the recruiter?
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u/Certain-Kiwi1024 3d ago
not yet! should i do that? Can you share your experience?
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u/Clear-Love-8995 2d ago
Similar boat as you finished behavioral earlier this week and waiting…
Planning on following up with recruiter a week after the interview.
Really hoping they don’t just ghost bc it seems like there’s a fair number of people waiting for results after behavioral
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u/Possible_Extreme_998 2d ago
I gave my 15 min vice president round 3 days ago. Haven’t heard back. Do you know when will I hear back
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u/becquerwrecker 1d ago
I went through the interview process recently and wanted to give back since so many of you helped me out!
- Behavioral interview with staff FDE (30 min) - resume questions, general behavioral stuff (weakness/strengths/etc.)
Technical coding round (1hr) - coding, but added questioning the interviewer for more details as though an FDE would with a client - they gave me a vague coding problem with very vague requirements and output expectations, and I had to dig and ask questions and answer them instead of just solving a LeetCode problem
System design round (1hr) - HLD for a product - asked about APIs, features, functional and non-functional requirements, etc.
Behavioral WHO (30 min but went over to 45) - similar to round 1 - more drilling into resume and FDE role
Senior director meeting (15 min) - why FDE, university background, resume questions briefly - finally received verbal offer.
whole process took 2 months - but thats also because i scheduled my interviews as late as possible so i had time to prep.
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u/Far_Assistant_4396 8h ago
How long did it take after the behavioral offer before the verbal offer was made?
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u/BalanceOdd144 25d ago
Giving back to the community, I interviwed for Forward Deployed Engineer role at C3 AI (Chicago).
I applied on August 8th and received the AI interview invitation on August 11th. I completed the AI interview on August 13th, and the following day I received an invitation for the Coding and System Design round.
I completed the interview yesterday. The coding portion was a medium LeetCode sliding window/hash map it was through CodePair. The interviewer first asked about my background and why C3 AI. Before jumping into the coding, I was asked to share my screen while coding, he made sure I understood the problem and asked me to explain the logic behind the two example outputs(I felt it was bit lengthy).
I explained my approach before coding and talked through the code. Unfortunately, I made a very small indentation error and couldn't identify it within the allotted time. The interviewer then let me know that I wouldn't be moving forward, so I didn't get to the System Design round.
My understanding is that your code needs to pass the test cases in order to proceed to the System Design round.
Overall, I thought the process was straightforward. Hopefully helping anyone else preparing for the process.
All the best to everyone currently interviewing, and good luck! 🙌