Itaú Unibanco is the largest financial conglomerate in Latin America, committed to innovation, sustainability, and customer-centered banking solutions. Established in Brazil, Itaú Unibanco has a significant presence across multiple countries, playing a pivotal role in the financial sector globally.

Joining Itaú Unibanco as a Data Engineer means becoming a part of a dynamic and forward-thinking team. The role involves designing, developing, and maintaining robust data pipelines, optimizing data storage and retrieval, and ensuring data quality. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to support data-driven decision making. Strong proficiency in data engineering concepts, programming languages like Python or Java, and expertise in cloud platforms are essential skills for this position.

At Interview Query, we provide a detailed guide to help you navigate through Itaú Unibanco's interview process, common questions, and insightful tips to secure your role as a Data Engineer. Let’s dive in!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Itaú Unibanco as a Data Engineer. Whether you were contacted by an Itaú Unibanco recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Itaú Unibanco 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 Itaú Unibanco Data Engineer hiring manager stays present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also engage 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 Itaú Unibanco Data Engineer role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conferences and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Itaú Unibanco’s data systems, ETL pipelines, and SQL queries.

In the case of data engineering roles, take-home assignments regarding data architecture, ETL design, and big data technologies (like Hadoop, Spark) are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency in data modeling, cloud platforms, and coding in Python or Java may also be assessed during the round.

Depending on the seniority of the position, case studies and similar real-scenario problems may also be assigned.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Followed by a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at the Itaú Unibanco office. Your technical prowess, including programming and data pipeline capabilities, will be evaluated against the finalized candidates throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also await you during the onsite interview for the Data Engineer role at Itaú Unibanco.

Quick Tips For Itaú Unibanco Data Engineer Interviews

You should plan to brush up on any technical skills and try as many practice interview questions and mock interviews as possible. A few tips for acing your Itaú Unibanco interview include:

• Understand the Business Context: Itaú Unibanco emphasizes the application of data engineering in the banking context. Be prepared to discuss how data solutions can solve financial problems and drive business decisions.
• Master Big Data Technologies: Given the scale at which Itaú Unibanco operates, proficiency in big data technologies like Hadoop, Spark, and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) is crucial. Ensure you're well-versed in these.
• Showcase Problem-Solving Skills: Demonstrate your ability to tackle complex data problems, from data ingestion and transformation to real-time data processing and analytics. Practice explaining your thought process clearly.

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

• Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list. Given two sorted lists, write a function to merge them into one sorted list. Bonus: What's the time complexity?

• Write a function to find the maximum number in a list of integers. Given a list of integers, write a function that returns the maximum number in the list. If the list is empty, return None.

• Write a query to get the top 3 highest employee salaries by department. Given the employees and departments table, write a query to get the top 3 highest employee salaries by department. The output should include the full name of the employee in one column, the department name, and the salary. The output should be sorted by department name in ascending order and salary in descending order.

• Write a function to combine sorted integer lists into one sorted list. Given a list of sorted integer lists, write a function sort_lists to create a combined list while maintaining sorted order without importing any libraries or using the 'sort' or 'sorted' functions in Python.

• Write a function to swap nodes in a singly linked list. Given the head of a singly linked list represented as a ListNode, and two zero-indexed positions x and y, write a function swap_node which swaps the positions of nodes x and y and returns the new head. Note that you cannot simply swap the values of these nodes; you must swap these two using pointer manipulation.

• How would you investigate a decrease in credit card payment amounts per transaction? You work for a financial company and notice that the credit card payment amount per transaction has decreased. How would you investigate the cause of this decrease?

• How would you build a strategy to find the best small businesses to partner with? You are a credit card company looking to partner with more merchants. You have 100K small businesses to reach out to but can only contact 1000. How would you strategize to identify the best businesses to reach out to?

• What features would you include in a model to predict a no-show for pizza orders? Imagine you run a pizza franchise and face a problem with many no-shows after customers place their orders. What features would you include in a predictive model to address this issue?

• How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression? Explain the process by which random forest generates its forest. Additionally, discuss why one might choose random forest over other algorithms such as logistic regression.

• How would you build a fraud detection model with a text messaging service for a bank? You work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on its platform. The bank also wants to implement a text messaging service that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction, allowing the customer to approve or deny the transaction via text response. How would you build this model?

• What is the relationship between PCA and K-means clustering? Describe the relationship between Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering.

What is the average salary for a Data Engineer at Itaú Unibanco?

Q: What is the interview process at Itaú Unibanco for a Data Engineer position?

A: The interview process at Itaú Unibanco typically involves several stages including an initial phone screening with HR, a technical interview with the hiring team, coding challenges, and a final onsite or virtual interview. The goal is to assess your technical competencies, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit within the company.

Q: What skills are required to work as a Data Engineer at Itaú Unibanco?

A: For the Data Engineer position at Itaú Unibanco, you should have strong knowledge in ETL processes, data modeling, and familiarity with big data technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka. Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, SQL, or Scala is also essential, along with experience in cloud platforms.

Q: What kind of projects will I work on as a Data Engineer at Itaú Unibanco?

A: As a Data Engineer at Itaú Unibanco, you will work on projects involving the design and implementation of data pipelines, data warehousing solutions, and data integration processes. You will collaborate with data scientists and analysts to ensure data quality and accessibility for business analytics.

Q: How can I prepare for the technical challenges in the Itaú Unibanco interview?

A: To prepare for the technical challenges, it is advisable to practice coding problems and data engineering scenarios on platforms like Interview Query. Make sure you are comfortable with algorithmic challenges, data structure manipulation, and SQL queries. Reviewing big data concepts and ETL processes will also be helpful.

Q: What is the company culture like at Itaú Unibanco?

A: Itaú Unibanco values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. The company fosters a dynamic and inclusive work environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas and take initiatives. Being proactive and open to learning are highly regarded traits at Itaú Unibanco.

Securing a Data Engineer position at Itaú Unibanco requires robust technical skills and an understanding of the financial industry. If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Itaú Unibanco 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 Itaú Unibanco’s interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every challenge in your Itaú Unibanco interview journey.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation. Good luck with your interview!