Grammarly Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Grammarly is a leading AI-driven writing assistance company, trusted by over 30 million users and 70,000 professional teams daily. Renowned for its innovative approach, Grammarly has consistently been profitable while maintaining high ethical standards. The company has been recognized by Inc., Glassdoor, TIME, and Fast Company for its impact and workplace culture.

The Software Engineer position at Grammarly is a pivotal role, offering the chance to contribute to the development of advanced writing tools that improve communication for users worldwide. The interview process is thorough, consisting of multiple stages focusing on technical skills, system design, and cultural fit. Success in the interview process is often rewarded with a competitive offer, reflecting the high-value Grammarly places on acquiring top talent.

This guide from Interview Query will navigate you through the interview process, sharing insights and tips, especially on commonly asked Grammarly software engineer interview questions, to help you succeed. Let’s get started!

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority; however, you can expect the following on a Grammarly software engineer interview:

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from Grammarly’s Talent Acquisition Team will make contact and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the Grammarly hiring manager is present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The whole recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Grammarly Software Engineer role is usually conducted through virtual means, including video conferences and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour-long interview stage may revolve around algorithms, data structures, coding challenges, and possibly a system design question.

Depending on the seniority of the position, take-home assignments and coding challenges may also be assigned. Your proficiency in system design, coding principles, and problem-solving will be assessed during this round.

Onsite Interview Rounds

If you successfully navigate the virtual technical interview, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during this stage. These could include:

1. Coding Interviews: Focused on data structures, algorithms, and potential domain-specific queries.
2. System Design Interviews: Assessing your understanding of large-scale system architecture.
3. Behavioral Interviews: Discussing your previous work experiences, cultural fit, and alignment with Grammarly’s values.
4. Work History Interviews: Verification of your professional history and evaluating your impact in previous roles.

Typically, interviews at Grammarly vary by role and team, but commonly, Software Engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

1. How would you assess the validity of the AB test result with a .04 p-value?

Your company is running a standard control and variant AB test to increase conversion rates on the landing page. The PM finds a .04 p-value in the results. How would you assess the validity of this result?

2. How would you differentiate between scrapers and real people in a dataset of page views?

You are given a dataset of page views where each row represents one page view. How would you differentiate between scrapers and real people?

3. Can you explain the unexpected results in the financial rewards experiment and suggest improvements?

You designed an experiment to measure the impact of financial rewards on users’ response rates. The treatment group with $10 rewards has a 30% response rate, while the control group without rewards has a 50% response rate. Can you explain what happened and how you could improve this experimental design?

4. How would you create control and test groups for Instagram Stories’ close friends feature to account for network effects?

You want to test the close friends feature on Instagram Stories. How would you make a control group and test group to account for network effects?

5. Create a function to find the length of the largest palindrome that can be made from a string’s characters.

Given a string, find the length of the largest palindrome that can be made from the characters in the string. A palindrome reads the same forward and backward, ignoring spaces, punctuation, and capitalization.

6. How would you explain linear regression to a child, a college student, and a mathematician?

Explain the concept of linear regression to three different audiences: a child, a first-year college student, and a seasoned mathematician. Tailor your explanations to each audience’s understanding level.

7. How would you evaluate the suitability and performance of a decision tree model for predicting loan repayment?

As a data scientist at a bank, you need to build a decision tree model to predict if a borrower will repay a personal loan. Evaluate whether a decision tree is the correct model and how you would assess its performance before and after deployment.

8. How would you justify using a neural network model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders?

Your manager asks you to build a neural network model to solve a business problem. Justify the complexity of the model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders.

9. How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression?

Explain how a random forest generates its forest of trees. Additionally, discuss why one might choose random forest over other algorithms like logistic regression.

10. What are the key differences between classification models and regression models?

Describe the main differences between classification models and regression models.

To prepare effectively for your Grammarly interviews, consider these tailored tips based on real interview experiences:

1. Be Thorough in Your Preparation: Ensure you are well-prepared with algorithms, data structures, and system design concepts. Practice extensively on Interview Query to sharpen your skills.
2. Understand Grammarly’s Core Values: Grammarly values ethics, adaptability, grit, empathy, and remarkable performance. Tailor your responses to reflect these values during behavioral interviews.
3. Familiarize Yourself with Coding Challenges: Commonly, interview questions can resemble those found on practice platforms. Practice these scenarios to navigate the coding assessments seamlessly.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Grammarly?

What technical skills are essential for a Software Engineer role at Grammarly?

Grammarly looks for candidates with a strong command of modern front-end or back-end technologies, depending on the position. Proficiency in algorithms, data structures, and system design is highly valued. Specific technologies such as Java, ReactJS, Scala, AWS, and Terraform are commonly mentioned.

What is Grammarly’s company culture like?

Grammarly prides itself on a culture built around its EAGER values—ethical, adaptable, gritty, empathetic, and remarkable. The company promotes a remote-first hybrid working model with a highly collaborative environment supported by regular team meetings and employee resource groups.

What opportunities for professional growth does Grammarly provide?

Grammarly supports professional development through training, coaching, and regular feedback. Team members are encouraged to innovate and contribute to the product roadmap. The company also offers various stipends and learning and development opportunities to foster continuous growth.

Grammarly’s interview process is comprehensive and insightful, echoing a commitment to thoroughly vetting candidates across various dimensions.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Grammarly Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Grammarly’s interview process for different positions.

You can also check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!