Palantir · Software engineer · Software Engineer / FDE
Decomposition Round (Onsite, Signature)
Palantir's signature round
What this round is judged on
- Data modeling · turning ambiguity into sensible objects and structures
- Decomposition · breaking an open-ended problem into buildable pieces
- Extensibility · design that absorbs new requirements gracefully
- Code cleanliness · readable, incremental, working code
- Communication · surfacing assumptions and tradeoffs as you go
Where this round sits
Palantir’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.
- 01Recruiter screen
- 02Technical phone screen
- 03Final loop (virtual onsite)this round
- 04Debrief / hiring committee
What happens in each stage›
- Recruiter screen
- ~30 min phone call on background, motivation, why Palantir, and role/level fit. Non-technical gate on genuine interest and communication.
- Technical phone screen
- ~45-60 min live coding in a shared editor (CoderPad/HackerRank CodePair). One algorithmic problem, sometimes a scaled-down decomposition task. Emphasis on working, readable code and verbal reasoning.
- Final loop (virtual onsite)
- Typically 3-4 rounds: 1-2 technical coding rounds including the signature decomposition round, a behavioral/values round, and for FDE an added customer-scenario / product-sense round.
- Debrief / hiring committee
- Interviewers write up feedback; a committee makes the final decision.
Sources
Built from what Palantir 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.
- datalevels.fyi, Palantir Software Engineer compensation & job families (incl. Forward Deployed Engineer)levels.fyi
Engineering job families (Backend SWE, Full-Stack SWE, FDE) and total compensation range ($145K-$436K, median ~$223K, SWE avg ~$250K).
Palantir's own description of its interview stages and expectations. URL confirmed live but Medium global-identity wall returns 404 to automated fetchers; human-readable.
Company mission framing, engineering roles, and candidate-facing hiring information. JS-only; renders empty to the fetcher, human-readable.
Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.