OpenAI interview accounts in this source set span a senior software engineer loop, a new-grad phone screen, and an online assessment. The named prompts range from algorithmic coding to webhooks, CI/CD, and a technical project deep dive. They are separate candidate experiences, not a single sequence that every OpenAI applicant should expect.
How this page was researched
The prompts below come from the OpenAI entries in Parlel's LeetCode Discuss research collection, prepared on October 31, 2026. The collection does not record a publication year for every thread; linked reports are identified by title and marked undated in the source data. Each prompt is tied to its candidate report. When the notes preserve only a theme, this page labels it as a theme rather than supplying missing wording.
Roles and stages represented
| Role or stage in the source | Reported format | Limits of the account |
|---|---|---|
| Senior software engineer | Screening design and coding, project deep dive, later design discussion | One candidate's loop; not a universal sequence |
| New-grad software engineer | Phone screen followed by onsite | One hybrid coding and time-based data task is preserved |
| Online assessment | 110-minute HackerRank assessment with camera and screen sharing | Two problem summaries are in the research notes |
The company role, team, and hiring cycle determine which of these reports is relevant. Check the current invitation for round count, tools, and expected design depth.
Senior software engineer report
One senior SWE candidate described a screening round with system design and a programming-language type-system task. The same account included a project presentation and detailed follow-up questions, then a CI/CD design discussion. The prompts below are listed by the type of work the candidate described, not as official OpenAI interview questions.
Coding and screening prompts
- Design a type system for a hobby programming language. (LeetCode Discuss: OpenAI senior SWE interview)
- Count machines in a tree, described in the report as a tree-traversal twist. The notes do not preserve the full statement, so no constraints or expected solution are inferred. (same candidate report)
System design and technical discussion
- Design a high-scale webhook delivery platform, with attention to reliability and very large request volumes. (LeetCode Discuss: OpenAI senior SWE interview)
- Design a CI/CD system comparable to GitHub Actions. The candidate's account discusses reliability, performance, databases, load balancing, and model/GPU internals. (same candidate report)
- Present a past project for about 30 minutes, then explain implementation choices and trade-offs under detailed questioning. This is a reported interview activity rather than a single question. (same candidate report)
Behavioral topics
The same candidate reported discussion of why they wanted to join OpenAI, how they resolve conflict, work beyond a narrowly assigned scope, and the size of a problem they could own. Those themes are useful prompts for reflection, but the source does not establish a standard behavioral rubric. (LeetCode Discuss: OpenAI senior SWE interview)
New-grad phone screen
A new-grad report describes a coding and systems hybrid involving timestamped post and delete operations. The candidate was asked to process unsorted events and compute a balance at an arbitrary timestamp, using a priority queue and tree map in the described approach. The report compares the task to a time-based key-value store; that comparison is the author's framing, not an official problem title. (LeetCode Discuss: OpenAI new-grad phone screen)
When practicing this style of task, clarify whether events at the queried timestamp are included, how equal timestamps are ordered, and whether deletions can arrive before the corresponding post. Those are preparation checks, not additional questions attributed to the source.
Online assessment report
One candidate described a 110-minute HackerRank assessment and reported two grid and sequence tasks:
- Given two 2D grids, count overlapping regions. The collected description defines a region as a four-connected set of equal, nonzero cells and treats two regions as overlapping when their cell sets are identical. (LeetCode Discuss: OpenAI online assessment)
- Given
nand forbidden pairs, count valid consecutive subsequences of1..nthat avoid the forbidden pairs. The source notes do not preserve further constraints, so check the original post before attempting a solution. (same assessment report)
This is one account. It should not be read as a current or universal OpenAI assessment format.
How to prepare for the reported roles
- For webhook and CI/CD design, start with delivery guarantees, retries, idempotency, state transitions, and failure recovery before estimating throughput.
- For the project deep dive, be ready to explain your own decisions, alternatives, operational outcomes, and what you would change now.
- For grid tasks, write down connectivity and region-equality definitions before implementing traversal.
- For timestamped operations, define event ordering and query semantics before choosing data structures.
- For behavioral discussion, prepare specific examples of ownership and conflict resolution without implying that one candidate's phrasing is a script.
Frequently asked questions
Does OpenAI use the same loop for senior and new-grad engineers?
These reports do not show that. They describe different roles and stages, so use the job invitation and recruiter guidance for your process.
Are these official OpenAI questions?
No. They are candidate-reported prompts from LeetCode Discuss. The page links to the reports and marks incomplete wording rather than claiming access to an official question bank.
What does the source say about OpenAI system design?
One senior SWE account describes a high-scale webhook delivery platform and a CI/CD system. A separate preparation thread is not treated here as an interview report.
For adjacent company reports, see Anthropic software engineer interviews, the xAI interview experience, and the company interview hub.
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