Three stages over several weeks. An introductory video call with the head of engineering walking through the role and the company's drug turnaround thesis. A timed take-home coding assessment of around two and a half hours, mixing multiple-choice and Python problems. Then a full onsite day in Cambridge with two rounds: a cultural-fit conversation with the science team, and a technical conversation with two engineering leaders. The introductory call and the onsite were thoughtful and the technical questions were substantive.
The disappointing part was at the end. Candidates put in real time and money to get to this point: weeks of preparation, hours of unpaid work on the take-home, and time taken off the day job to travel to Cambridge for the onsite. After reaching the final two, the outcome came indirectly through the external agency recruiter, with no personalised written feedback from the company itself. A five-to-ten-minute email summarising the decision and what would have made the difference would have closed the process properly, given the candidate something concrete to learn from, and cost the company a fraction of what each candidate had already invested. That basic courtesy was not extended.
The interviews were good. The way candidates are released at the end is worth knowing about before you decide to apply.