I applied online. I interviewed at AstraZeneca (Beijing, Beijing) in May 2026
Interview
I went through a total of five rounds of interviews. The first was a phone screening with HR; since the position is based in China, the call was conducted in Chinese. The second round was a 30-minute informal chat with the hiring manager. For the third round, it was a panel interview where I presented one of my past projects, followed by a Q&A session with the panel—who are basically my potential future team members. The fourth round was technical, focusing on a simplified version of a real-world problem where I discussed my design and solution. This was followed by a very basic Python proficiency check, where I just wrote two for-loops and was asked whether I know Git and unit testing, and that was it. The final round was an executive interview, which lasted 30 minutes and was mostly a casual chat.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Do you work with Git often? Any preferred libraries for unit testing in Python?
First a video interview. Followed by two teams interview with 2 different people on each at odd times to account for overseas colleagues.
Very friendly. Situational questions based on their values and the job ad.
Heard back within a week. Overall a positive experience. Also, happy to accomodate wrt interview dates etc.
I applied online. I interviewed at AstraZeneca (Cambridge, England) in Aug 2024
Interview
I went through an extensive interview process, starting with an online application. Two weeks later, I was invited for a call with HR, followed by a Teams meeting with the hiring manager two weeks after that. A week later, I was invited for an in-person interview, which included a 30-minute presentation plus 10 minutes of questions, a 1-hour technical interview, and a 1-hour interview on values and behaviors. The overall experience was very positive, though the values and behaviors interview was particularly challenging. At the end, the hiring manager also gave me a tour of the offices and labs.
While the process was well-structured and engaging, I was disappointed by the lack of communication after the final interview. The hiring manager mentioned that I would hear back the following week, but after waiting three weeks and sending several follow-up emails, I found out they had offered the position to another candidate. It would have been appreciated if they had communicated their decision sooner.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a situation where you had a handle a conflict? Describe a situation where you upheld integrity? etc