Remitly Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Remitly is on a mission to transform the lives of immigrants and their families by providing the most trusted financial products and services on the planet. Since 2011, they have been committed to delivering their promises to those sending their hard-earned money home. Expanding beyond international payments, Remitly builds new products to deepen global customer relationships, employing over 2,700 people across 10 offices.

As a Software Engineer at Remitly, you will develop modern platforms, IT infrastructure, and user interfaces. You will collaborate with various teams to enhance and grow the user base. Key responsibilities include driving long-term impact through system upgrades and ensuring quality software development practices.

This guide will detail the interview process and commonly asked Remitly software engineer interview questions, providing essential tips to help you prepare effectively.

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

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV is among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Remitly Talent Acquisition Team will contact you and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be part of the screening process.

Sometimes, the Remitly hiring manager stays 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. This call typically lasts about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will invite you to the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Remitly Software Engineer role is usually conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this one-hour interview stage often revolve around data structures and algorithms.

Depending on the interviewer’s interest, the technical round may cover various areas, including a LeetCode-style coding problem, system design, and some data structure and algorithm questions. There were instances where some candidates reported straightforward behavioral questions and focused on previous work experiences.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Following the successful technical screen, candidates will be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds will be conducted during your day at the Remitly office, varying with the role. Your technical prowess, including programming and system design capabilities, will be evaluated throughout the day.

The onsite interview generally consists of:

1. One behavioral and design interview.
2. Two coding interviews involving LeetCode-style problems.
3. An additional interview, which may focus on broader system design problems (e.g., designing an elevator).

Overall, candidates report mixed experiences. Some reported positive interactions with recruiters and team members, while others mentioned being “ghosted” post-interview without feedback.

Typically, interviews at Remitly vary by role and team, but common software engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

1. How much would the overall advertising cost per transaction be?

You own an eCommerce platform and want to place an advertisement on Facebook. The cost of the ad placement is $0.05 per impression, with a 1% click-through rate. Your website has a 2% transaction rate based on historical data. Calculate the overall advertising cost per transaction.

2. Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list.

Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list. Bonus: What’s the time complexity?

3. Create a function to simulate coin tosses based on a given probability of heads.

Write a function that takes the number of tosses and the probability of heads, returning a list of randomly generated results for each toss.

4. Develop a function most_tips to find the user who tipped the most.

Given two nonempty lists of user_ids and tips, write a function most_tips to find the user that tipped the most.

5. Select the top 3 departments with at least ten employees and rank them by the percentage of employees making over 100K.

Given the tables for employees and departments, select the top 3 departments with at least ten employees and rank them according to the percentage of their employees who make over 100K in salary.

6. Write a function sorting to sort a list of strings in ascending alphabetical order from scratch.

Given a list of strings, write a function sorting to sort the list in ascending alphabetical order without using the built-in sorted function. Bonus: Have your solution be (O(n \log n)).

7. How would you explain a p-value to someone who is not technical?

Explain the concept of a p-value in simple terms to someone without a technical background.

8. When would you use the mean vs. the median, and how do you calculate their confidence intervals?

Given a dataset, explain when to use the mean versus the median and describe how to calculate the confidence interval for each measure.

9. What is the probability that the second card picked has a different color or suit than the first card?

Calculate the probability that the second card drawn from a deck without replacement has a different color or suit than the first.

10. Can an unbalanced sample size in an AB test result in a bias towards the smaller group?

Analyze whether an AB test with one variant having 50K users and another having 200K users will be biased towards the smaller group due to the uneven sample sizes.

11. How would you build a fraud detection model using a dataset of 600,000 credit card transactions?

Imagine you work at a major credit card company and are given a dataset of 600,000 credit card transactions. Describe your approach to building a fraud detection model in the comments.

12. When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm?

We’re comparing two machine learning algorithms. Explain the scenarios where you would use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm and provide examples of the tradeoffs between the two.

13. How would you generate respawn locations for an online third-person shooter game like Halo?

Describe your approach to building a model or algorithm to generate respawn locations for an online third-person shooter game like Halo.

14. What is the difference between XGBoost and random forest algorithms?

Explain the difference between the XGBoost and random forest algorithms and when you would use one over the other.

You should prepare comprehensively for your Remitly software engineer interviews, keeping the following tips in mind:

1. Communicate Clearly: Given some of the experiences of unresponsiveness from interviewers, ensure you ask questions clearly and confirm receipt to avoid any communication gaps.

2. Practice Core Concepts: Ensure you are comfortable with data structures, algorithms, and system design, focusing on typical coding problems on practicing platforms. Use resources like Interview Query to review common questions and scenarios.

3. Understand Remitly’s Values: Demonstrating your understanding of Remitly’s mission and how it meshes with your career goals can help in behavioral rounds.

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

What kind of technical skills and experience does Remitly look for in a Software Engineer?

Remitly looks for candidates with strong software design, development, testing, and implementation skills. Preferred experience includes familiarity with full-stack development, modern platforms, and various programming languages such as Java, Kotlin, Python, and Go. Knowledge of cloud infrastructure, ML models, and data processing systems is also highly valued.

How does Remitly handle candidate communication during the interview process?

Feedback from candidates indicates that communication can be inconsistent. While some candidates report smooth and timely communication, others have experienced delays or lack of follow-up after interviews. It’s beneficial to stay proactive in contacting the recruiting team if needed.

What benefits does Remitly offer to its Software Engineers?

Remitly offers a range of benefits, including flexible paid time off, health, dental, and vision benefits, a 401k plan with company matching, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). They also provide continuing education benefits, mental health, family forming benefits, and paid parental, medical, military, and family care leave.

If you’re preparing for an interview with Remitly, it’s crucial to be well-prepared for technical and behavioral assessments.

For more insights about the company, check out our main Remitly 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 Remitly’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 contact us.

Good luck with your interview!