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Microsoft · Software engineer · SDE II / Senior

Design Round (OOD / System Design)

A spoken, whiteboard-style discussion with no coding

What they actually ask

The question shapes this round uses. Larpy does not read these out. It builds each one from your own resume, because the generic version is the one you have already rehearsed.

  • “Design a parking lot (classes, entities, and interactions).”
  • “Design a library management system.”
  • “Design a messaging / chat application that scales.”
  • “Design a review-and-listing platform (TripAdvisor-style).”
  • “Design an Instagram-like feed.”
  • “Design the backend and API for a running / fitness app.”

What this round is judged on

  • Requirement scoping · clarifying constraints before designing
  • Entity / component modeling · clean, extensible structure
  • Trade-off reasoning · justifying storage, caching, queues, APIs
  • Scalability · identifying and addressing bottlenecks
  • Communication · continuous narration and back-and-forth

Where this round sits

Microsoft’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.

  1. 01
    Recruiter / HM screen
  2. 02
    Online assessment (Codility) and/or technical phone screen
  3. 03
    Onsite loopthis round
  4. 04
    As Appropriate (AA) round
  5. 05
    Debrief / hiring committee
What happens in each stage›
Recruiter / HM screen
20-30 min phone or Teams call on background, motivation, team fit, and level calibration; light or no technical content.
Online assessment (Codility) and/or technical phone screen
60-90 min auto-graded coding assessment (2-4 problems) and/or a ~30-45 min shared-editor coding screen with 1-2 easy-to-medium problems.
Onsite loop
Four to five back-to-back ~1-hour interviews: 3-4 coding rounds plus 1-2 design rounds (design standard at SDE II and above), with behavioral questions woven throughout.
As Appropriate (AA) round
Final interview with a senior leader (often a skip-level) to close doubts and sell the candidate; common but not universal, varies by org, level, and region.
Debrief / hiring committee
Interviewers submit written hire/no-hire feedback; a debrief reconciles it, then offer and negotiation.

Sources

Built from what Microsoft publishes about its own process and from real interview data. 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.

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