Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Zendesk with 2.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 57% positive. To compare, the company-average is 49.6% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 25 days to get hired, when considering 30 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Zendesk overall takes an average of 28 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Zendesk as a Software Engineer according to 30 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 28%
One on one interview: 23%
Skills test: 14%
Presentation: 10%
Background check: 9%
Group panel interview: 7%
Personality test: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Other: 1%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. I interviewed at Zendesk (San Francisco, CA) in Apr 2017
Interview
The typical format:
1) Recruiter screening
2) Technical screening
3) Onsite
The onsite itself was for about a half day, with 4-5 rounds and lunch with the potential boss. In one round, the interviewer literally made up the question on the spot. I had to help him compose the question. In two other rounds, the questions were almost exactly identical. I could tell that they did not coordinate with each other at all before asking me these questions. The last round was a system design question and the interviewer there was nice and polite.
I just had a up and down experience with this process. None of the questions were difficult, but none of the questions seem to be prepared either. It was almost too easy and open ended that I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong. I had extra time to spare in each round, but there wasn't much substance in each question to adequately test my knowledge of the subject matter.
No call to explain what happened, just the standard rejection email. Kind of a bummer, and a waste of my time.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Dublin, Dublin) in Apr 2026
Interview
It was a four-round interview:
1. HR screen call
2. Hiring manager
3. Technical
4. One more behavioral interview
After just the HR recruiter's call, they assigned a meeting for the hiring manager. One day before, they cancelled it.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Zendesk (Tallinn) in Jan 2026
Interview
First interview was with HR rep, second one with a technical team lead. There was supposedly a third interview with another technical manager or something, but it seemed they had already a strong candidate in mind, so after second interview I immediately got an email that they had gone the other way.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk
Interview
The interview process was straight forward. The process moved quickly across the different stages of the hiring process. Questions were related to the job and it's requirements instead of being generic questions
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Walk through my resume to explain previous experiences