My Step-by-Step Palantir Interview Process and Actual Questions in 2025

Landing a job offer from Palantir felt like a monumental achievement, and the interview process to get there was unlike any other. My journey through the Palantir interview process in 2025 was a challenging and insightful experience, demanding a blend of technical skill, strategic thinking, and strong communication. In this article, I'll walk you through each step of my journey, from the initial application to the final offer, sharing the key takeaways, real interview questions and practical advice.

Palantir Interview Overview

Palantir Interview Timeline

The Palantir interview process is primarily divided into four parts: Recruiter Call, Technical Phone Screen, Onsite, and Hiring Manager Screen. Their durations are as follows:

• Recruiter call (30 minutes)

• OA (1 hour)

• VO (3 hour)

• Hiring manager screen (1 hour)

Palantir Interview Stages

1. Recruiter Call
   This is a 30-minute chat. The recruiter wants to know why you want to join Palantir and what projects you’ve worked on. They also check if you fit the company culture.

2. Online Assessment
   This round lasts about 90min. You solve coding problems in a live environment. The interviewer mixes in some behavioral questions, so you need to show both your technical and communication skills.

3. Virtual Onsite
   You'll face 3 to 5 rounds that test different skills, including coding, system design, and re-engineering. One notable round is the Palantir decomposition interview, which focuses on how you break down problems and explain your thinking.

4. Hiring Manager Interview
   This is a follow-up. The hiring manager might revisit areas where you struggled before. You could get more technical or behavioral questions here.

Palantir FDSE Interview Process and Actual Questions

Palantir Recruiter Call

The recruiter mainly asked me why I wanted to join Palantir and about my past projects and experiences. They also asked what defines my job search and which role—software engineer or forward deployed software engineer—I believe is the best fit for me.

Palantir OA

This round, which I completed on HackerRank, was approximately 90 minutes long, and I had to complete three questions: one coding problem, one SQL question, and one API task. Once I received the prompt, I could start working immediately. I have a feeling there might be a question bank for this part. I think I came across the exact same problems when I was practicing on LinkJob before the test. I'll show you the questions I got in my interview, and in the next part, I'll share the ones I came across while practicing.

Coding: Make The Array Positive

Description:

Given an array arr of n integers, make the array positive with the following operation: In one operation, select integers i (0 <= i < n) and change arr[i] to x (x >= 0). An array is positive when the sum of each subarray of length greater than 1 is non-negative. More formally, after the operations, the following condition should hold for all values of l and r:

0 <= l < r < n
sum(arr[i] for i in range(l, r+1)) >= 0

Objective:

Determine the minimum number of operations required to make the array positive.

Example:

arr = [2, 5, -8, -1, 2]

Assuming 0-based indexing, take i = 2 and x = 10. The modified array is arr' = [2, 5, 10, -1, 2]. Now, every subarray of length greater than 1 has a non-negative sum. Return the number of operations, 1.

Function Description:

Complete the function getMinOperations in the editor below.

getMinOperations has the following parameter(s):

int arr[n]: an array of integers

Returns:

int: the minimum number of operations required

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 10^5

• -10^9 <= arr[i] <= 10^9, where 0 <= i < n

SQL: Good Subsequences

A subsequence of a given string is generated by deleting zero or more characters from a string, then concatenating the remaining characters. A good subsequence is one where the frequency of each character is the same. Given a string that consists of n Latin letters, determine how many good subsequences it contains. Since the answer can be quite large, compute its modulo (10^9+7).

Note: An empty subsequence is not a good subsequence.

Example:

word = "abca"

A total of 15 non-empty subsequences can be formed from words.

The only subsequences that are not good, are "aba", "aca" and "abca" as the frequencies of character "a" is 2 and every other character is 1.

The total number of good subsequences = 15 - 3 = 12

and answer to the above example = 12 modulo (10^9+7) = 12.

Function Description:

Complete the function countGoodSubsequences in the editor below.

countGoodSubsequences has the following parameter(s):

string word: a string that consists of only lowercase Latin letters

Returns:

int: the number of good subsequences modulo (10^9+7)

Rest API: TV Shows Produced During a Period

Use the HTTP GET method to retrieve information about recent television shows. Query https://jsonmock.hackerrank.com/api/tvseries to find all the records. The query result is paginated and can be further accessed by appending to the query string ?page=num where num is the page number.

The response is a JSON object with the following 5 fields:

• page: the current page of the results (Number)

• per_page: the maximum number of results returned per page (Number)

• total: the total number of results (Number)

• total_pages: the total number of pages with results (Number)

• data: 13an array of tv series records

Example of a data array object:

"name": "Game of Thrones",

"runtime_of_series": "(2011-2019)",

"certificate": "A",

"runtime_of_episodes": "57 min",

"genre": "Action, Adventure, Drama",

"imdb_rating": 9.3,

"overview": "Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.",

"no_of_votes": 1773458,

"id": 1

Bonus: Other Palantir OA Interview Questions

As a bonus, here are some other real Palantir interview questions I came across while practicing on Linkjob:

Shape Classes

SQL: Client Session Duration Report

REST API: Finest Food Outlets

Count Binary Substrings

Stock Prices

REST API: Country Codes

Palantir Technical Phone Screen

Technical phone screen was completed on Karat. This round consisted of three questions.

Technical Phone Screen Round 1

The first was a portfolio valuation problem. I was given a portfolio with several stocks, along with their prices and dates. The goal was to calculate the portfolio's total value on different dates. A key detail was that if a stock didn't have a price on a given day but did on a previous day, I should use the previous available price. This implied that if the price remained unchanged, I should simply use the last recorded value. There are two optimal solutions for this. The common approach is to use a min-heap to sort the dates. Another solution is to use sorting combined with pointers to track the previous available price index for each stock.

The second question was a System Design problem. I was asked to design a monitoring system to detect backend server performance. The discussion primarily focused on how to collect statistics and how to handle server downtime. We also briefly touched on scaling the system.

The third question involved a pre-existing codebase where I had to implement a new feature.

Technical Phone Screen Round 2

In this round, the main function had inputs, and I had to build a solution and put it into a separate method. The process was to first explain my approach, and once the interviewer approved, I would start coding. After writing and running the correct code, I was asked to discuss the time and space complexity.

The first coding problem involved a list of pairs, like (1, 3) and (3, 4). Each pair represented an edge. The goal was to find the nodes with zero parents and exactly one parent. I solved this using a hash map.

The second coding problem, also with pairs as input, required me to determine if two given nodes had a common ancestor. My approach was to build a directed acyclic graph (DAG) using a bottom-up method, then perform a depth-first search (DFS) from each of the two nodes. I would put the nodes along the path into a set and find the intersection to see if there was a common node.

The third problem was to find the farthest ancestor. I ran out of time, so I only explained my approach. It was a continuation of the bottom-up DAG method, but during the DFS, I would record the path and the corresponding depth of each node. The solution would then be to find the node with the greatest depth.

Technical Phone Screen Round 3

This round was all about debugging. The first problem had about 80 lines of code. There was a bug in an if-else logic block, which caused the HashMap count to be incorrect.

The second problem was much larger, around 250 lines, with more layers of abstraction. The bug involved double-counting infected contacts. I believe this problem would be very challenging and time-consuming without prior experience with similar types of debugging questions.

Palantir HM Round

The last step in the palantir interview process felt both exciting and intense. My final interview was a one-hour session with a hiring manager. This round focused on whether I fit the team and Palantir’s mission.

It was split about evenly between behavioral and technical questions. The hiring manager specifically focused on my last internship, asking about my projects and the challenges I encountered. I was also asked about what I consider my biggest career failure and what I’m looking for in my next job.

Palantir Interview Strategies and Preparation

Palantir values candidates who reflect on their approach, ask thoughtful questions, and show a growth mindset. The recruiter wants to know if you’re serious about the company and if you fit the culture. I prepared by thinking about past projects where I had to collaborate, solve tough problems, or adapt quickly. I also practiced explaining technical concepts in simple terms, since clear communication is key.

Here’s how I prepared and what I recommend:

• Do The Research: I read about Palantir’s mission and recent projects. I thought about how my skills could help them. When the recruiter asked why I wanted to join, I gave specific reasons, not just generic answers.

• Be Direct and Honest: I answered questions clearly and used the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to explain my experiences. I didn’t try to hide setbacks. Instead, I talked about what I learned from them.

• Show Genuine Interest: I explained what excites me about Palantir and how I want to make an impact. I linked my past work to their mission.

• Ask Meaningful Questions: I avoided questions that I could answer with a quick Google search. Instead, I asked about team culture, growth opportunities, and how success is measured at Palantir.

• Be Yourself: I stayed authentic. I talked about what I care about and why. Palantir values honesty and openness.

If you’re worried about rejection, remember that some factors are out of your hands. Focus on what you can control: clarity, honesty, and showing why you’re excited about the role.

Tip: Focus on your problem-solving process, not just the outcome. Highlight times you worked with others, adapted to new situations, or learned something new. Be honest about your challenges and what you learned from them.

FAQ

Is the Palantir interview process more focused on technical skills or problem-solving ability?

The process tests both, but there's a heavy emphasis on problem-solving and communication. While you'll need a strong technical foundation in algorithms and data structures, the key is showing how you think through complex, ambiguous problems. Unlike other companies that might focus on pure coding speed, Palantir wants to see your ability to break down a large problem into smaller, manageable parts and articulate your approach clearly. This is especially true in the System Design and Decomposition rounds.

What's the main difference between an SDE and an FDSE interview at Palantir?

The core technical assessments for both SDE (Software Development Engineer) and FDSE (Forward Deployed Software Engineer) are similar in the early stages, focusing on coding and problem-solving. However, the FDSE interviews place a much greater emphasis on communication, client-facing skills, and adaptability. You'll likely face more behavioral questions about handling difficult situations with clients, explaining technical concepts to non-technical people, and quickly pivoting to solve unexpected problems. The SDE role is more internal and product-focused, so those interviews will dive deeper into pure software architecture and design patterns.

How important is it to be familiar with Palantir's specific products (Gotham, Foundry, etc.) before the interview?

It's extremely important. While you won't be expected to have hands-on experience, you should have a solid understanding of what Palantir does and how its products work. The behavioral questions, especially with the hiring manager, will often probe your motivation for working at Palantir and your understanding of the company's mission. Knowing the difference between Gotham (geared towards government) and Foundry (for commercial clients) shows that you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in the company, which can give you a significant advantage.