What should you focus on for a Solutions Architect interview?
How much design depth should you prepare for?
System design and architecture stand out for this role. They appeared in 71% of these interviews, compared with 20% across all interviews. Also, 63% of the questions were senior-level. Check whether you can explain your choices, not just name tools.
- Can you compare a monolith with microservices for an application?
- Can you explain how APIs and messaging fit into your design?
- Can you describe how the application handles transactions and concurrency?
Can you turn unclear requirements into a design?
Requirements gathering and business analysis were more common in these interviews than across all interviews. The questions cover requirements discovery, design documents, and architecture choices for a mission-critical payment system.
Use these prompts to test how you move from a request to a design:
- What would you ask to discover a customer’s requirements?
- Can you explain how you decide between a quick solution and a robust solution?
- Can you compare architecture options for a payment system and justify your choice?
- Can you explain what belongs in a high-level design document and an architecture decision record?
Can you explain how your work guides other teams?
Leadership and stakeholder questions appeared in 22 of 49 interviews. The questions include a technology roadmap that guided teams outside the candidate’s own team.
For that roadmap question, can you say what you helped develop and how other teams used it? Also check these points:
- How would you discover what a customer needs?
- How would you plan for people to adopt a solution?
- Can you explain delivery priorities and how you measured outcomes?
Which specialist topics should you check?
Telecom systems were more common in these interviews than across all interviews. Can you explain the different telecom BSS hierarchy types and how they affect billing?
For cloud and operations topics, can you explain how you would choose a cloud, update a legacy system, or troubleshoot performance? Can you discuss security trade-offs?
AI questions cover RAG, model selection, evaluation, governance, and operating costs. Can you explain how you would choose a model, evaluate it, and account for its running costs?
Do you need to write code?
Coding tasks appeared in 2 of 49 interviews. Can you implement a class that validates payment cards and processes transactions? For SQL, can you find deny-listed users who attempted a booking, regardless of whether it was accepted?
What Solutions Architect interviews cover
The 20 most asked Solutions Architect questions
Counted by interview, not by mention: a question asked twice in one conversation counts once.
Tell me about a technology roadmap you helped develop that guided teams outside your own.
Asked in 2 of 49 interviews · last asked Oct 16 · Behavioral · Senior
Show answer
I wrote a cloud migration roadmap for services owned by other teams. I worked with their leads to agree on goals, dependencies, and team responsibilities. The roadmap covered a pilot, shared security rules, and staged migrations, with clear criteria for each stage. Teams used it to plan their work and resolve dependencies before moving production services.
- Explain what you personally wrote and which teams used it.
- Show how service owners helped shape priorities and agreed on responsibilities.
- Explain how phases balanced business needs, technical risk, and team capacity.
- Describe how teams used the roadmap, not just how you presented it.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can guide technical decisions across teams without owning their systems.
Other ways it was asked
- “Could you give me an example of a technology roadmap or reference architecture you personally wrote that other teams used, rather than just your own implementation documents?”
- “Tell me about a technology roadmap you helped develop for a system you did not own.”
How would you prepare an ecommerce startup's architecture for a high-traffic event like Black Friday?
Asked in 2 of 49 interviews · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
I would estimate peak requests and checkout rates, then load-test the full buying journey to find bottlenecks. I would cache product content, prepare scaling capacity, and protect checkout and inventory from overload. Before the event, I would test failure recovery, set alerts, and agree on rollback steps within the startup's budget.
- Total users do not define load; estimate concurrent users, request rates, and traffic spikes.
- Use a CDN and caching, and verify database capacity, autoscaling limits, and payment provider limits.
- Make payment retries safe and reserve inventory atomically to prevent duplicate charges and overselling.
- Queue background work, disable optional features under load, and prioritize checkout.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you can turn traffic estimates into a tested, affordable plan that protects sales during overload.
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you prepare an ecommerce platform to support 2,000,000 users or handle Black Friday traffic?”
What hierarchy types exist in telecom BSS, and how do they differ and affect billing?
Asked in 2 of 49 interviews · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
Show answer
Common BSS hierarchies are customer, billing account, and service or subscription hierarchies; names vary by platform. Customer hierarchies show business ownership, while service hierarchies group subscriptions and services. Billing hierarchies define where charges go and whether bills are separate or consolidated. Payment responsibility and shared discounts may follow different relationships.
- A parent customer does not automatically receive one bill for all child accounts.
- Bill generation follows billing account rules, billing cycles, and consolidation settings.
- Shared allowances and discounts need clear rules for eligible services and usage allocation.
- Hierarchy changes need effective dates and validation to prevent cycles and charges reaching the wrong account.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you separate customer structure from billing responsibility and explain how hierarchy rules affect bills.
Other ways it was asked
- “What types of hierarchy are used in telecom BSS, and how do they differ?”
- “How is a customer hierarchy structured and managed in a telecom BSS environment?”
- “What are the different hierarchy types, what challenges do you face with hierarchies, and how is bill generation handled when there are different hierarchies?”
What is the difference between a Solution Designer and a Technical Architect?
Asked once · last asked Aug 26 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
A Solution Designer usually defines how a solution meets business needs across systems. A Technical Architect usually defines the technical structure, including components, interfaces, security, and performance. They work closely together, and their duties can overlap. The exact split depends on the company.
- Solution design connects business requirements to system choices and integration needs.
- Technical architecture focuses on technical decisions, quality requirements, and implementation guidance.
- Both weigh cost, risk, and constraints; neither role works only on business or only on technology.
- Titles vary: a Solutions Architect may cover both areas but is not necessarily a Solution Designer.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you understand the different focus areas without assuming job titles have fixed meanings.
Other ways it was asked
- “What is the difference between a technical architect and a solutions architect?”
What does ADR stand for in software architecture, and what information does an ADR document contain?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
ADR stands for Architecture Decision Record. It records an important architecture decision, the problem and context behind it, and why it was chosen. It usually includes a title, date, status, options considered, and consequences, including benefits and drawbacks.
- Context explains the problem, constraints, and requirements.
- The decision and rationale explain what was chosen and why.
- Alternatives and consequences show the trade-offs.
- Status shows whether the decision is proposed, accepted, or superseded.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you know how to preserve architecture decisions and their reasoning for future teams.
Other ways it was asked
- “What does ADR (Architecture Decision Record) stand for, and what information does an ADR document contain?”
What information should a high-level design (HLD) document include?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
An HLD document should explain what the system must do and how its main parts fit together. It should cover scope, key requirements, architecture diagrams, major components, data flows, and external connections. It should also describe security, performance, scaling, availability, and key design choices, including assumptions, risks, and trade-offs.
- State business goals, scope, key requirements, and constraints.
- Show system boundaries, major components, data flows, and external dependencies.
- Describe deployment, security, scaling, availability, and recovery at a high level.
- Explain major design choices and trade-offs; leave detailed code and class design to low-level design.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can explain a system’s architecture clearly without getting lost in implementation details.
How do you decide between a quick solution and a robust solution?
Asked once · last asked Jun 23 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
I weigh the deadline against the impact of failure and the cost of changing the solution later. I choose a quick solution when the risk is low and it is easy to replace. I choose a more robust solution for critical or long-lived systems. I agree on the trade-offs with stakeholders and plan any follow-up work.
- Consider business urgency, expected lifetime, security, reliability, and future maintenance.
- Quick solutions must still meet essential safety and compliance requirements.
- Prefer reversible choices when requirements are uncertain.
- Record technical debt and agree on an owner and a trigger for revisiting it.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you balance delivery speed with business risk and long-term costs.
How would you evaluate architectural options for a mission-critical payment system and justify your chosen approach?
Asked once · last asked Jun 30 · Behavioral · Senior
Show answer
I would compare a single payment service with microservices against correctness, availability, security, recovery targets, and cost. I would choose the single service with a transactional ledger and queues for noncritical work, unless scale justified splitting it. I would document the trade-offs and support the decision with load tests, failure tests, recovery drills, and cost estimates.
- Use database transactions for ledger changes, idempotency for retries, and reconciliation to find payment mismatches.
- Run redundant instances and test failover against agreed downtime and data-loss limits.
- Minimize stored card data, enforce access controls, and meet applicable PCI DSS requirements.
- Microservices allow independent scaling but add network failures, coordination, and operational work.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you compare realistic options, protect payment correctness, and justify trade-offs with evidence.
Other ways it was asked
- “Describe a major architectural decision you made for a mission-critical payment system, including the options you considered and why you chose your approach.”
How should a software architect collaborate with a development team on solution design and approvals?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
A software architect should design with the development team, not hand down a finished plan. I agree on goals and constraints, discuss options, and test risky ideas with small prototypes. I record key decisions and get approval from the people responsible for them. Routine design choices stay with the team within agreed rules.
- Involve developers early to check feasibility, effort, and maintenance needs.
- Explain trade-offs and record important decisions and their reasons.
- Agree who approves which decisions, including security and operations when needed.
- Keep reviews timely and revisit decisions when requirements or evidence change.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you guide design collaboratively, make decision ownership clear, and avoid becoming a bottleneck.
When would you customize a platform's core rather than use extension points or a separate service?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Design · Senior
Show answer
I would change the core only when a critical need cannot be met safely through supported extensions or a separate service. I would first check vendor support, security risks, and the cost of future upgrades. I would keep the change small, with a clear owner, tests, and a rollback plan.
- Prefer supported extension points because they usually reduce upgrade and support risks.
- Use a separate service when the work can run outside the platform without breaking latency or transaction needs.
- Change the core only when the business value outweighs long-term maintenance costs.
- Confirm who will maintain the change and test it with every platform upgrade.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you balance business needs with support, reliability, and long-term maintenance costs.
How do you structure software solutions and technical designs?
Asked once · last asked Jul 17 · Design · Senior
Show answer
I start with the business goal, key use cases, and limits such as budget and deadlines. I define components, data flows, interfaces, and deployment, including security and failure handling. I record key decisions and trade-offs, review the design with the team, and test risky assumptions before building.
- Agree on measurable needs for performance, availability, and security.
- Give each component a clear role and define how components communicate.
- Compare options against cost, complexity, and team skills.
- Plan monitoring, testing, deployment, and recovery from failures.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer wants to see a clear process that connects business needs to a practical, well-explained design.
How do you handle client requirements when they are incomplete, ambiguous, or constantly changing?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
I clarify the business goal, ask focused questions, and confirm assumptions with the client. I use small prototypes to test unclear needs and agree on priorities and acceptance criteria. When requirements change, I explain the impact on cost, time, and design, then agree on scope changes before updating the plan.
- Record assumptions, open questions, and decisions so everyone shares the same understanding.
- Agree on who approves requirements and changes.
- Deliver in small steps and use regular feedback to reduce uncertainty.
- Keep likely changes easy to make without adding unnecessary complexity.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can reduce uncertainty, work with clients, and manage changes without losing control of delivery.
For a healthcare system, how would you gather and break down functional and nonfunctional requirements?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Case · Senior
Show answer
I would interview clinicians, patients, administrators, and security teams, then map key care workflows. I would split requirements into system functions and measurable quality needs. Functions include booking and patient records; quality needs include uptime, response time, privacy, and recovery. I would confirm legal duties, rank priorities, and agree on acceptance tests.
- Break workflows into user roles, actions, data, integrations, and failure cases.
- Set measurable targets for peak load, response time, downtime, and acceptable data loss.
- Confirm applicable healthcare laws, access controls, audit logs, and patient safety needs.
- Link each requirement to its owner and acceptance test; resolve conflicts before agreeing on scope.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you can turn healthcare needs into clear, testable requirements while balancing safety, compliance, and cost.
What SLAs and nonfunctional requirements should be defined for a marketing microservice?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Design · Senior
Show answer
I would define availability, response time, campaign completion deadlines, and support commitments with the business. I would also set requirements for peak traffic, security, consent, data retention, recovery, and cost. Internal service targets should support the SLA, while delivery promises must account for email or SMS provider limits.
- Specify measurement periods, latency percentiles, exclusions, and what happens when an SLA is missed.
- Define peak campaign volume, scaling limits, and acceptable queue delays.
- Protect customer data, enforce opt-outs, and prevent duplicate sends during retries.
- Set recovery time, acceptable data loss, monitoring, and behavior when providers fail.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can turn business needs into measurable, realistic service commitments and operational requirements.
How do you identify dependencies between applications, cloud infrastructure, networking, and operations?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
I map each application's dependencies using design documents, configuration, monitoring data, and discussions with service owners. I trace calls and data flows through cloud resources and networks, including DNS, identity, and shared services. I also check deployment, backup, and support dependencies, then confirm the map with owners and controlled tests.
- Use logs, traces, cloud inventories, and network flow records to verify documented connections.
- Record dependency direction, service owners, and which connections are critical.
- Check how failures or changes affect connected systems and recovery order.
- Include operational tools and processes, and keep the map updated as systems change.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you can build a verified dependency map that supports safe changes and recovery.
How would you establish an enterprise architecture function from the ground up?
Asked once · last asked Oct 16 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
I would start by agreeing on business goals, scope, and an executive sponsor. Then I would form a small team and map key systems, capabilities, and risks. With business and technology leaders, I would define shared principles, a target architecture, and a phased roadmap. I would introduce simple design reviews and track business results.
- Define the team’s responsibilities, decision rights, and links to delivery teams.
- Assess the current state before choosing standards or tools.
- Keep reviews lightweight, with a clear process for exceptions.
- Start with a useful pilot and measure outcomes such as lower costs or faster delivery.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can build a practical architecture function that supports business goals without slowing delivery.
How can business capability maps be used to influence technology decisions?
Asked once · last asked Oct 16 · Concept · Senior
Show answer
Business capability maps guide technology choices by showing what the business needs to do. I link capabilities to business goals, then map the systems that support them. This helps find gaps and duplicate tools, set investment priorities, and decide where to build, buy, reuse, or retire technology.
- Capabilities describe what the business does, not its team structure or software.
- Prioritize investment using business value, current weaknesses, cost, and risk.
- Map applications to capabilities to find missing support and overlapping tools.
- Use the map to guide choices, then check technical requirements and dependencies.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer wants to know whether you can connect technology decisions to business needs and priorities.
How would you describe the application landscape of a knowledge graph project, including its initial driver, implementation, and current state?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Design · Senior
Show answer
I would describe why the knowledge graph was needed, how it connects to other systems, and what runs today. I would cover source systems, data loading, the graph model, and the applications using it. Then I would explain its current use, business results, ownership, and known limits.
- Start with the business problem and why relationships in the data made a graph useful.
- Show how source data reaches the graph and how applications access it.
- Explain how records from different sources are matched, updated, and protected.
- Separate planned features from live capabilities, and report results supported by evidence.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can connect the business need, system design, and current operation clearly.
Who should make the final decision when stakeholders disagree about the meaning of a term in an ontology or knowledge graph?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Senior
Show answer
The final decision should sit with the business owner or governance group responsible for that domain, as defined by the governance process. Domain experts should explain the meaning, and the architect should explain the technical impact. If different contexts need different meanings, model them separately rather than force one definition.
- Use a named decision owner and a clear escalation path.
- Base definitions on domain knowledge and agreed business needs.
- Keep separate concepts when the same term has valid meanings in different contexts.
- Document the decision, its reasons, and any affected mappings.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you treat meaning as a business governance decision, not just a technical choice.
What phases would you define for a knowledge graph project, and what criteria would mark the transition between phases?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Design · Senior
Show answer
I would use five phases: discovery, modeling, pilot, production rollout, and operation. Discovery needs agreed goals and usable data; modeling needs a validated graph model and entity matching rules. The pilot must meet agreed quality, business value, and performance targets. Rollout moves to operation when security, monitoring, ownership, and update processes are ready.
- Agree on measurable success criteria and data access before building.
- Validate entities, relationships, and entity matching rules with domain experts using representative data.
- Test pilot results against business needs, data quality targets, expected scale, and cost limits.
- Before handover, test updates, access controls, recovery, and monitoring; assign support ownership.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can turn a graph idea into a phased delivery plan with clear approval criteria.
Solutions architect fundamentals and requirements interview questions
Explore the architect’s role, requirements gathering, design documents, roadmaps, and how architecture decisions are made. 22 questions.
What documents and deliverables do you typically prepare for solution architecture work?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
I prepare requirements, architecture diagrams, and a solution design that covers security, data, and system connections. I record key decisions, trade-offs, risks, and cost estimates. I also prepare delivery and migration plans, plus guidance for testing and operations. I adjust the detail to the project and audience.
- Capture business goals, constraints, and quality needs, such as availability and performance.
- Show system boundaries, components, data flows, and connections to other systems.
- Record important decisions, rejected options, assumptions, and risks.
- Include rollout, rollback, and support plans, with clear ownership.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you create useful documents that guide decisions, delivery, and ongoing support.
Can you explain the layers in a software architecture and their responsibilities?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Concept · Mid-level
Show answer
A common layered architecture has presentation, business, data access, and storage layers. Presentation handles user input and output, while the business layer applies rules and coordinates tasks. Data access reads and writes data, while storage keeps it and enforces database constraints. The exact layers depend on the system.
- Each layer has a clear responsibility and exposes an interface to other layers.
- Keep business rules separate from user interface and database details.
- Logical layers do not have to run on separate servers.
- Layers improve testing and maintenance, but too many can add unnecessary complexity.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you can separate responsibilities and explain how layers work together.
Solutions architect leadership and stakeholder interview questions
These questions cover customer communication, adoption planning, team development, delivery priorities, and measuring outcomes. 43 questions.
If the university currently uses Microsoft 365 for their productivity suite, how would that factor into your implementation plan for Gemini and Google Workspace?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “If a university is set on continuing to use Microsoft 365 (Word, Outlook, Calendar, etc.), how would that change or factor into your implementation plan for Gemini and Google Workspace adoption?”
How do you deliver value beyond the SOW in a client engagement and build trust with sponsors and senior leadership?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Behavioral · Senior
If I were a senior, nontechnical law firm partner, how would you explain what SharePoint is to me?
Asked once · last asked May 8 · Tooling · Mid-level
What do you think the technical consultant’s role is in managing a project’s scope?
Asked once · last asked May 8 · Concept · Mid-level
In a customer onboarding transformation, how would you distinguish an existing journey from a newly introduced one?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Scenario · Senior
If a customer is difficult and your solution is not working, how do you handle the situation?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Scenario · Mid-level
How do you maintain the technical quality and depth of your deliverables when you cannot deliver everything at once, and what controls do you use?
Asked once · last asked Jun 23 · Scenario · Senior
How would you manage complex tax processes while leading development modernization and strategically implementing AI solutions to optimize operations?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How do you build a strategic plan and translate it into goals for the team?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral · Senior
What is the biggest result you and your team have delivered? What was the context, and what was the outcome?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral
Which metrics do you track in your area, and what management routines do you use to monitor them?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral · Senior
Tell me about a metric your team was failing to meet. How did you identify the problem and lead the team to resolve it?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral · Senior
Show 8 more
How do you communicate architectural trade-offs to stakeholders, and how do you measure success after implementation?
Asked once · last asked Jun 30 · Scenario · Senior
How do you approach leading teams when balancing architecture trade-offs and payment security?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How do you approach career growth for senior developers on your team, and how do you use that framework in hiring and development?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral
Tell me about a practical initiative you led through implementation. What results did it produce for the business?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Behavioral · Senior
How do you prioritize work when projects have dependencies and one team is overloaded?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How would you handle a sudden rush of demand related to tax reform when multiple teams want to work on it?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How can incoming invoices be imported and classified to determine whether a client is eligible for tax credits?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Case · Mid-level
Which agile flow and code-quality metrics would you track, who should monitor cumulative flow diagrams and bottlenecks, and how would you assess code quality's impact?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
System design and integration interview questions
Work through questions on monoliths, microservices, APIs, messaging, transactions, concurrency, and connecting systems. 40 questions.
How would you scale a monolithic system if vertical scaling reaches its limits or the client grows significantly?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you scale a monolithic system horizontally?”
Where should business logic be applied in a file-ingestion pipeline that loads data into multiple database tables?
Asked once · last asked Oct 7 · Design · Senior
What does API-first mean, and how does the approach apply when working with existing products that already have APIs?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
How would you implement a class that validates payment cards and processes transactions?
Asked once · last asked Jul 17 · Write code · Mid-level
How would you design a software architecture to ensure transactional atomicity?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “Can you describe the software architecture and explain how it ensures transactional atomicity?”
How are domain events managed or captured?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Concept · Senior
Why would you use optimistic concurrency with a version field instead of a lock, and how would you verify that it is wired end to end?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Concept · Senior
What would happen if we use pessimistic locking in high concurrency systems?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Concept · Senior
How does an end-to-end wallet adjustment flow work, from initiating an adjustment through completion?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Design · Senior
Design an ordering and payment system for a canteen that handles tens of thousands of parents submitting orders between 07:30 and 08:30, with 99.9% uptime and low cost per transaction. Can you whiteboard it?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Design · Senior
How would you optimize the architecture of a three-tier monolith for performance during the MVP phase of an ecommerce startup?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Design · Senior
How do you integrate Genesys Cloud with Epic or Cerner?
Asked once · last asked Aug 5 · Scenario · Senior
Show 7 more
Why might you place a durable queue between a user-facing API and a background worker?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Concept · Mid-level
What assumptions do you want to clarify before proposing an architecture for bursty asynchronous customer requests?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Design · Senior
How would you architect a system for bursty asynchronous requests, keeping workers private while autoscaling them to handle demand?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Design · Senior
How would you implement idempotency end to end so duplicates are prevented even if the API times out and the client retries while a worker is mid-processing?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Scenario · Senior
How do you design microservices for scalability and resilience to outages?
Asked once · last asked Aug 26 · Design · Senior
How would you design Kafka topics, brokers, partitions, and Flink jobs to handle millions of user requests?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
How would you build a microservice from scratch, and what development and maintenance challenges would you anticipate?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Behavioral · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “Tell me about a microservice you built or maintained and the challenges you faced.”
- “How would you approach building a microservice from scratch?”
Database design and SQL interview questions
Database questions cover SQL, database selection, indexes, replicas, partitioning, data access, and migration. 17 questions.
How would you optimize a slow-running SQL query?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you optimize slow database queries?”
How would you query for users who are deny-listed and have attempted a booking, regardless of whether the booking was accepted?
Asked once · last asked Apr 15 · Write code · Mid-level
When should repositories use entity tracking versus no-tracking queries, and why?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Concept · Mid-level
When would you use read replicas, and what problem do they address?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you improve database read performance?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Mid-level
What are the drawbacks of denormalizing tables, particularly for write performance?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “What are some caveats of denormalizing tables?”
- “How would denormalization impact write performance?”
What are the caveats of swapping database engines completely?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Senior
How would you choose a database for a transactional workload, considering DynamoDB, Aurora, and RDS?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “For a transactional workload, what kind of database would you recommend?”
- “How would you choose between DynamoDB, Aurora, RDS, or a combination for a transactional workload?”
How do you handle database scaling when a single table or entity grows rapidly?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Design · Senior
How do you optimize query performance and data retrieval when a single database table scales rapidly with historical data?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
If a database table is partitioned, when might splitting the data into separate tables still be necessary?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Senior
When an integration is decommissioned or a term's meaning changes, how do you detect the change and update the knowledge graph?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Senior
Show 5 more
When evaluating a tool for ontology or knowledge graph creation, what would it need to do to earn your trust, and what would make you stop using it?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Mid-level
What tools are used at each stage of a knowledge graph project, beyond Neo4j?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Tooling · Mid-level
How do you validate a knowledge graph?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Mid-level
How do users typically consume knowledge graph data: through BI tools such as Power BI or directly in Neo4j?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Mid-level
What should someone new to ontology or knowledge graph creation understand before contributing effectively?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Concept · Junior
Cloud architecture and networking interview questions
Review cloud choices, updating legacy systems, hybrid infrastructure, networking, storage, and cloud costs. 30 questions.
What information do you generally need from networking teams when you are starting a project?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “What challenges do you face when gathering information from networking teams at the start of a project?”
A university wants to deploy a distributed file system for students and staff. Compare NFS, HDFS, and cloud object storage, and explain how name resolution, replication, and access control would work.
Asked once · last asked Mar 19 · Design · Senior
What DWDM interfaces are used, and how do service distances affect DWDM deployment?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Concept · Senior
What is the function of a data center POP or Meet-Me Room, and how does it connect hosted customer infrastructure to a carrier or telco?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Why are POPs or Meet-Me Rooms important to data center customers?”
What are cloud on-ramps for hyperscalers such as Microsoft and AWS, and how are they used?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you assess and modernize an undocumented estate of more than 150 legacy applications—including mainframes, Cognos reporting, applications without APIs, and older HTML front ends—from current-state discovery through target architecture and implementation?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Design · Senior
What are the benefits and drawbacks of using AWS Transform or CAST to accelerate a current-state application assessment?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Tooling · Senior
How would you evaluate whether migrating workloads to the cloud is justified by TCO and ROI, and when might a hybrid-cloud recommendation be more appropriate?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Scenario · Senior
How would you optimize costs for a cloud architecture supporting an ecommerce startup?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
How would you migrate a startup from a monolith to a serverless architecture?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Design · Senior
What would be your approach to designing the cloud modernization architecture?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
What AWS services would you use, and how would you design the modernization of a Java application?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
Show 8 more
How would you design an AWS deployment for a web application using Docker images that are initially available in US East (N. Virginia)?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
How would you decide between Google Cloud Platform and a custom on-premises setup?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
How would you handle deployment and infrastructure setup on local servers when a client's budget is constrained?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
What strategy would you use to migrate an existing system to a cloud platform such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Design · Senior
How can you migrate an application to the cloud without rewriting it?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Senior
How would you design a strategy to address Ministry of Education legacy software dependencies while demonstrating the security, manageability, and financial benefits of a Ministry-wide Chrome OS deployment?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
How do you determine the right infrastructure setup for a workload based on its requirements?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
Tell me about a recent project involving cloud infrastructure and networking, and describe how you worked with the networking team.
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Behavioral · Mid-level
Security and compliance interview questions
Security questions focus on zero trust, application and network protection, secrets, privacy, regulatory requirements, and security trade-offs. 19 questions.
How would you coordinate security fixes across teams while balancing performance and security?
Asked once · last asked Jun 30 · Behavioral · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How have you coordinated across teams when implementing security fixes, and how have you balanced performance and security?”
How do you guide a team through a difficult trade-off between speed and security?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How would you assess and explain the production security posture of a school portal?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Scenario · Senior
How do you handle last-minute tax or accounting rule changes in a system that must remain compliant and stable?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
How would you improve the security posture of a cloud architecture?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
How would you protect against OWASP Top 10 attacks and DDoS or DoS attacks?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
How would you handle traffic originating from countries where a company does not want to do business?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Mid-level
How would you design data loss prevention policies for Power Platform in a bank?
Asked once · last asked Sep 16 · Scenario · Senior
As an architect, where would you keep secrets used by the deployment pipeline?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Scenario · Senior
Where would you keep AWS credentials and other secrets for an on-premises Java application connecting to AWS?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
How would you proceed with cloud deployment if a security scan flags credentials in a property file?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Scenario · Senior
Walk me through zero-trust architecture and where you use it.
Asked once · last asked Sep 28 · Concept · Senior
Show 7 more
When should cybersecurity teams be involved in a project, and how do you determine when their involvement is needed?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Scenario · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Should networking teams be involved in projects alongside cybersecurity teams, and when?”
How would you identify networking or security issues that could make an ERP platform a project blocker or risk?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Behavioral · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Tell me about a project where NetSuite created a blocker or risk because of networking or security issues. How was the issue discovered?”
How do you maintain security while still moving quickly?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How do you manage privacy in a school portal?
Asked once · last asked Jul 19 · Scenario · Mid-level
Can you tell me what exactly is HIPAA?
Asked once · last asked Aug 5 · Concept · Junior
What is secret injection?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Concept · Junior
What compliance requirements, beyond federal regulations, should an enterprise architect consider?
Asked once · last asked Sep 28 · Concept · Mid-level
DevOps, Kubernetes, and reliability interview questions
Check your knowledge of CI/CD, containers, Kubernetes, testing, deployments, observability, performance troubleshooting, and incident response. 37 questions.
When increasing memory is only a short-term fix for a Node.js application, what long-term fixes would you consider?
Asked once · last asked Jun 12 · Scenario · Mid-level
How would you approach a database migration or troubleshoot a complex Kubernetes issue?
Asked once · last asked Jun 30 · Scenario · Senior
How would you assess and improve quality, testing, and acceptance processes in a development team?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
What monitoring and observability practices would you use to assess the health of software systems?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How would you trace a deployment from a developer's commit or merge through to production completion?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Scenario · Senior
Which parts of a deployment platform might you design or implement, such as pipeline definitions, artifact versioning, environment promotion, or smoke-check tooling?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Design · Senior
A repository starts an application and its cloud dependencies locally with one command. All containers report as running, but the API intermittently errors and some background jobs never complete. How would you investigate?
Asked once · last asked Aug 10 · Scenario · Senior
During peak holiday shopping, an IVR's order-status Lambda function querying DynamoDB hits its concurrency limit and times out amid a call spike. How would you change the architecture or AWS configuration to handle the bottleneck, prevent dropped calls, and manage the customer experience during delays?
Asked once · last asked Sep 6 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “During peak holiday shopping hours, an IVR experiences a massive spike in concurrent calls, causing the AWS Lambda function that looks up order statuses in Amazon DynamoDB to hit its concurrency limit and time out. How would you modify the system design or AWS configuration to handle the bottleneck, ensure a smooth customer experience without dropping calls, and handle the customer experience during the delay?”
How would you design a deployment pipeline that pushes Docker images from on premises to Amazon ECR?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How do you design the pipeline from on premises to Amazon ECR?”
- “How do you design a deployment pipeline that moves Docker images from on premises to Amazon ECR?”
What else should you consider in a CI/CD pipeline besides building and pushing the image?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
How would you design a CI/CD pipeline for a Git repository that securely uses AWS secrets?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
How would you design the deployment of artifacts into an AWS EKS Kubernetes cluster?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
Show 8 more
What are the key strategies for a production-ready deployment in AWS?
Asked once · last asked Sep 17 · Design · Senior
What performance metrics would define "fast" for a marketing microservice, and how would you verify it meets those targets?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Scenario · Senior
Describe a complicated incident you had to troubleshoot while providing on-call support.
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Behavioral · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “Have you been involved in on-call incident support, and can you describe a complicated incident you had to troubleshoot?”
How do you identify the cause of a race condition in a production service, and assess its impact?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Scenario · Senior
How would you address bottlenecks or performance issues with Amazon SQS, and what architectural changes might you consider?
Asked once · last asked Sep 25 · Scenario · Senior
After an application goes live, how do you monitor its health, identify who should investigate an issue, and determine whether it is network-related?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Scenario · Senior
Which metrics and error signals would you monitor using Azure Monitor and Application Insights?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Tooling · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “What are the key metrics and signals you want to monitor in Azure Monitor or Application Insights?”
- “How do you observe error rates and operational metrics using Azure Monitor and Application Insights?”
How do the metrics that matter to an architect, a data engineer, and a networking team differ on the same project?
Asked once · last asked Oct 6 · Concept · Mid-level
AI and RAG architecture interview questions
AI questions cover model selection, RAG, agents, GPU infrastructure, deployment, evaluation, governance, and operating costs. 43 questions.
What is model fine-tuning, and when would you use it?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Mid-level
Which metrics would you monitor during AI model training?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Which metrics do you monitor when benchmarking AI models?”
How do AI workloads differ from traditional workloads in their data center power, space, and cooling requirements, and what drives increasing demand for these resources?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Concept · Senior
How do you scale systems to millions of users while addressing security, infrastructure, and the components of an AI solution beyond its models and agents?
Asked once · last asked Jun 12 · Design · Senior
How would you advise a startup technical founder on selecting the right model for a chatbot use case?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
What approaches would you take to optimize or improve the performance of a generic LLM that isn't performing well out of the box?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
Walk me through a RAG chatbot workflow, starting when a user asks a question.
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “Can you explain what exactly happens in a RAG workflow?”
- “Can you walk me through the technical steps of a RAG workflow for a chatbot, starting from when a user types a question?”
Why are citations important in a RAG workflow, and what happens without them?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you approach a model customization process from a high level, and what information would you gather before starting?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Scenario · Senior
From an infrastructure perspective, how would you design a GPU cluster and select the right GPUs for model customization?
Asked once · last asked Jul 27 · Design · Senior
As an adviser to a leader, how would you approach using data and AI to improve demand forecasting and inventory optimization for a large global retailer with 2,000 stores and a significant e-commerce business that is experiencing both product stockouts and excessive overall inventory?
Asked once · last asked Sep 15 · Design · Senior
How would you architect a healthcare RAG system that ingests patient medical histories and recommends tests, medications, or supplements?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Design · Senior
Show 8 more
How can you set up multiple coding agents in Claude?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Tooling · Mid-level
How do you use Kubernetes to deploy AI models, and what other tools or platforms do you use for different use cases?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Tooling · Senior
How do you select models for different AI workloads?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
What types of AI workloads are vLLM and Ray Serve used for?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Mid-level
What are the trade-offs between Kubernetes and managed endpoints for testing and deploying AI workloads?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Concept · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “What are the benefits of testing AI workloads on Kubernetes rather than using a managed endpoint?”
- “What are the trade-offs between a managed endpoint and Kubernetes for deploying AI workloads?”
How should responsibilities and handoffs across teams work when moving an AI workload into production?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
How should teams divide responsibilities for model selection and output evaluation in an AI solution?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
When an AI model deployment has an issue, how do you identify who should detect it and determine whether the cause is the model or the deployment?
Asked once · last asked Sep 24 · Scenario · Senior
Telecom BSS and OSS architecture interview questions
Telecom questions explore BSS and OSS frameworks, account hierarchies, charging, billing, wallets, order activation, shared platforms, and migrations. 28 questions.
Can you name some TM Forum APIs and explain their current names and purposes?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “What TM Forum APIs do you work with? Can you name any and say what they are called now?”
Can you explain the bill run process from usage through to the invoice, end to end?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Case · Senior
How is a customer or party hierarchy structured and managed, and how are relationships between its levels defined?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
What is a party role in a telecom BSS model, and how is it used?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
How are level-one, level-two, and level-three accounts represented in a billing hierarchy?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
At which level of a billing hierarchy is an invoice generated, and can invoices be generated at each level?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
Other ways it was asked
- “At which level is the invoice generated? Can you generate an invoice at each level?”
What APIs should a billing system expose to support a mobile wallet integration?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Design · Senior
Is balance-based wallet integration generally applicable to prepaid billing rather than postpaid billing, and why?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you use Kafka to integrate a billing system with other systems?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Design · Senior
What are charge codes, and how do they work?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Mid-level
What does end-to-end billing architecture involve, from defining requirements to documenting integrations?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “What does end-to-end billing architecture mean?”
- “What activities are involved in end-to-end billing architecture, such as defining billing requirements and documenting integrations?”
When integrating CRM, billing, and OCS systems, how would you document the integration, and what should the integration document contain?
Asked once · last asked Jun 18 · Concept · Senior
Show 7 more
How would you design a multicountry order-to-activation flow with minimal fallout?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “Walk me through how you design a multicountry order to activate flow with minimal fallout.”
What happens if a downstream activation is failing, and how do you prevent double activation?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How would you handle real time prepaid balance checks?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Design · Senior
How would you design a single broadband order-to-activation platform for multiple countries while avoiding market-specific customizations?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Design · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “You're designing a multicountry order to activate for broadband. Different markets, one platform. How do you prevent customization per market?”
How would you handle a country's regulatory requirement that cannot be supported through configuration alone in a shared broadband platform?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Scenario · Senior
How would you apply eTOM, SID, or TAM when designing solution architectures?
Asked once · last asked Jul 17 · Scenario · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “How have you applied eTOM, SID, or TAM when designing solution architectures?”
What are Diameter interfaces, and how are they used in telecom systems?
Asked once · last asked Jul 17 · Concept · Mid-level
Related interview questions
- System Design interview questions
- Software Engineer interview questions
- Backend Developer interview questions
- Frontend Developer interview questions
- Full Stack Developer interview questions
- QA Engineer interview questions
How this list is made
Every question here was asked by a real interviewer in a real job interview that a candidate ran MeetAssist in. After the call, the interviewer's questions are pulled from the transcript. Practice sessions, tests, exams and anything that was not a job interview are dropped.
Questions are rewritten so they make sense on their own: names of people, employers and clients are removed, and speech-to-text mistakes are fixed. Small talk, logistics and questions about one candidate's own résumé are left out. Rephrasings of the same question are merged, and the count is the number of different interviews it came up in.
The interviews come from candidates who use MeetAssist, so they lean towards software, data and AI roles: the shares describe these interviews, not every Solutions Architect interview. Answers to the most asked questions are written and checked by an editor; a "common mistake" is shown only when reviews of real answers in these interviews show it, with the count.
49 interviews, 25 candidates, Feb 2026 to Oct 2026. Updated every month with new interviews.
Or add the Chrome extension