Associate Principal Scientist applicants have rated the interview process at AstraZeneca with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 33% positive. To compare, the company-average is 60.1% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Associate Principal Scientist roles take an average of 26 days to get hired, when considering 3 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at AstraZeneca overall takes an average of 36 days.
Common stages of the interview process at AstraZeneca as a Associate Principal Scientist according to 3 Glassdoor interviews include:
Skills test: 25%
Phone interview: 25%
One on one interview: 13%
Presentation: 13%
Group panel interview: 13%
Other: 13%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at AstraZeneca
Interview
Initial Screening interview with HR. After a couple of days, I had a teams interview with the hiring manager. 10 days later I was asked to schedule a panel interview which included a presentation and 1-on-1 interviews with more senior members of collaborating teams, the director and team members. Pretty standard interview questions. Positive aspects: Interviewers were friendly and respectful. Negative aspects: out of the 8 total interviewers scheduled, I only interviewed with 4! No feedback offered (as usual).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. What is your leadership style?
2. How many projects have you led at the same time?
3. How many direct reports have you had?
4. How do you deal with timelines and priorities?
5. How do you handle conflicting priorities (i.e.: from different departments)?
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