Decomposition round
Also called decomp interview, decomp round, Palantir decomp
Palantir's signature technical round, where you break an open, underspecified problem into parts out loud rather than solve one clean algorithm.
Palantir runs a decomposition round alongside its regular coding rounds. Where a standard round hands you one well-defined algorithmic problem, this one hands you something broad and unresolved and watches how you cut it up.
The live coding rounds run about 45 to 60 minutes in a shared editor, and the emphasis is stated plainly: working, readable code and verbal reasoning. The decomposition round pushes the second half of that harder than the first.
What it means for you
Silence is the failure mode here, not a wrong answer. The round is designed so that the problem cannot be solved by pattern-matching to something you have seen, which means the only thing to assess is the reasoning you say aloud. A candidate who thinks brilliantly and quietly scores worse than one who thinks adequately and narrates.
Asking what the constraints are is part of the answer, not a delay before it. The problem is underspecified on purpose.
This is the round LeetCode preparation transfers to least. Grinding problems trains you to recognise a known shape fast, and a decomposition round removes the known shape deliberately.
Where you will meet it
Sources
Built from what Palantir publishes about its own process. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.
Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.
Reading about it is not the same as saying it.
Larpy runs a live mock interview that asks follow-ups, then scores what you said and how you said it. Interviews are free, no card.
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