Senior Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Zendesk with 2.9 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 35% positive. To compare, the company-average is 49.6% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Software Engineer roles take an average of 17 days to get hired, when considering 17 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 Senior Software Engineer according to 17 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 33%
One on one interview: 25%
Presentation: 10%
Skills test: 10%
Group panel interview: 8%
Background check: 8%
Drug test: 3%
Personality test: 3%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Zendesk (Melbourne) in Jun 2020
Interview
First interaction with Zendesk I was lowballed by the recruiter - they tried to offer me 20k less p/a than what I was earning at my then job - I politely declined. Second interaction I was grilled by the interviewer about contracts I had taken and why I had moved about, then when I asked what the turnover for the team they wanted me for was I was told "That's confidential information" - I declined again Third interaction - the PM gave me a look at the start of the interview that strongly felt like "We don't hire people your age" I was then given a tech test that had nothing to do with the role (they were hiring for a microservice/http developer, the task was for a CLI app (Melbourne is unimaginative, they all use the 'test' someone from the REA group thought was brilliant a decade ago) There was one interesting piece in the test, dealing with some badly formed JSON efficiently.
1st round HR round then a screen round with Engineering manager, and then a live coding test with 2 engineers.
I got rejected after the coding test so don't know the process beyond it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Basic react query about build process and optimizations
I applied online. I interviewed at Zendesk (Singapore) in Sep 2025
Interview
There were 5 rounds
- Screening round with HR
- Manager round
- Technical Coding round
- System design round
- Product manager
The turnaround time was quick. The entire interview process took around 2 weeks.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
General cultural fit questions during manager interview round
I applied through other source. I interviewed at Zendesk (Melbourne) in Sep 2025
Interview
The first round is a behavioral interview with the manager.
The second round is a system design interview with the technical lead.
The third round is a coding interview with a staff engineer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Behavioral interview: Common behavioral questions.
2. System design: Design Jira.
3. Coding: Implementation of several React components.