Design a distributed system and explain the moving parts, edge cases and how the stakeholders were satisfied. Discuss implementation details and justification for specific technologies. Review legacy code and suggest refactor techniques and abstractions. Solve an algorithmic problem in any language - time limited but not expected to complete it. The phone screen was fairly awkward but being on site was fun.

Typically, an interviewer asks around 6–12 core technical questions, plus 3–5 behavioral questions for this role. In system-heavy roles like this, expect deep follow-ups, so total discussion often expands to 15–20 question threads rather than standalone questions.