Your step-by-step guide to Engineering interviews at Bitrise

If you are thinking about applying for an Engineering role at Bitrise (which we highly encourage), you probably want to know what happens after you hit that "apply" button. This post walks you through every step. It helps you decide whether we're the right place for you, gives you clarity before the interviews, and sets you up for success even before you apply.

Whether you are a Software Engineer, a Data Engineer, an Engineering Manager, or anything in between, the process is built around the same idea: we need to understand what you can bring to the team, and you'd like to understand what Bitrise can offer you.

The steps you can expect

Joining a new company and hiring a new team member are the same thing from two different perspectives, and both sides require preparation, commitment and time.

Our process reflects how we work: it is designed to be thorough, but also to avoid any wasted time, as we all know that time is the most valuable asset for both our candidates and Bitrise.

For most interviews, we use the STAR method. As Bitrise is a fully remote company, interviews happen remotely too. For calls, either our People team will help you schedule, or we send a Google Calendar link that lets you pick a time that works. After each round, we do our best to get back to you as soon as possible.

While each role is different and the process can vary from time to time, here is the general playbook we try to follow for most of the Engineering roles.

1. Screening call

You start with a phone or Google Meet call with someone from our People team. This is an introduction on both sides. We share more about the role and what the team is working on, and we cover the practical details early: your expected starting date, salary range, and anything else that helps you decide if the role is a fit. Ask whatever you want here. The goal is to make sure we are on the same page before you invest more time.

2. Hiring Manager interview

Next is a conversational interview that usually runs 60 to 75 minutes. You can expect up to three people in the room: the Engineering Manager who would be your future manager, a member of the People team, and sometimes a third member, such as an Engineer from the team.

We know three interviewers can sound like a lot, so here is why we do it. Instead of asking you to attend two separate rounds, one for culture and one for soft skills, we bring those people together into a single conversation. It saves you time and gives you a fuller picture of the team in one sitting.

This stage is mostly about attitude, soft skills, and culture add, which we will come back to later.

3. Role-based take-home assignment

For some roles, but not all, we ask you to complete a short take-home task.

We aim for these to take no more than 4 hours, but exact duration depends on the team. Using AI is absolutely welcome, the same way you would use it in your day to day work.

We are not looking for a perfect answer. We want to see how you approach a problem, how you explain your thinking, and how you ask clarifying questions when something is unclear. That tells us far more than a flawless solution ever could.

4. Technical interview

The technical interview usually runs 60 to 90 minutes with two Bitrisers with deep experience in areas relevant to the role.

The exact shape changes a bit from role to role, but the goal is always the same: understand the depth of your expertise.

Expect a conversation with fellow engineers about real problems, a look back at the experiences you have gathered in your career so far, and occasionally a coding or planning exercise. Think of it as the kind of discussion you might have with future teammates, because that is exactly what it is.

5. Founder interview

The final step is a 60 minute conversation with one of our founders: Barnabás Birmacher, our CEO; Viktor Benei, our CTO; or Daniel Balla, our CPO.

It is a casual chat. Our founders would like to meet every new Bitriser before they join, and this is your chance to do the same. Don't be shy to ask anything. Like how the company started, why we're really doing this, or even what our robot and cat mascots are called.

How long does it all take?

Altogether, you can expect the active hiring process to take 9 to 12 hours in total (depending on the take-home length above).

We try to optimize the process as much as we can, and we respect that your time matters. At the same time, we are not in a rush to fill a seat. We want to hire people who enjoy working here, can add real value, and can grow in their careers with us.

We take teamwork and culture seriously, and a good hiring process is how we set everyone up for success from day one. So while we move with focus, we also give each stage the attention it deserves.

What happens after all the interviews are done?

Once you have been through the rounds, we make a decision. It usually takes a few days. If we have a lot of candidates it can take a little longer, but you'll always hear back from us either way.

If we decide not to move forward this time: we will tell you why. We believe in feedback, and upon your request, we're happy to share the detailed reasoning behind our decision. A "no" from us is rarely about you not being good enough. More often it means we are currently looking for someone with a different kind of experience. We genuinely encourage you to apply again later, 8-12 months is usually a good window to do so.

If we decide to move forward: we will send you an offer and set up a call so we can walk through it together and answer any questions you have.

What will my leveling and compensation look like?

At Bitrise, we believe in fair and transparent compensation. To remove as much bias from the process as possible, we built our Competency Framework to help assess candidates' current levels accurately.

This also helps engineers grow at Bitrise, as this framework is used for setting growth plans and promotions for the long term.

For all Engineering roles, we also have a career map with transparent salary ranges that we use for both hiring and internal salary reviews.

Who are we looking for?

First of all: we are not looking for someone who can answer every question or who already knows everything. That person does not exist, and we would not learn much by pretending otherwise.

We are looking for someone who asks the right questions, who is genuinely motivated to join, who has the growth mindset to adapt and learn, and who brings a strong sense of ownership. Our environment changes constantly, so curiosity, willingness to learn, and the motivation to ship matter more than knowing today's answers to today's problems.

This is also where culture add comes in. We do not screen for "culture fit", which often means hiring people who look and think like the people already here. Instead, we look for people who share our values and bring something new to the mix.

You can read our thoughts on why company culture matters to learn how we think about this.

What is Bitrise like as a workplace?

Bitrise is a remote-first company, with teammates working together from around the world. Hierarchies mean very little here, and most people work cross-functionally, across team boundaries, which gives us the freedom and responsibility to drive change.

Our culture is based on 4 values we genuinely use day to day:

• 🚀 We move with urgency and focus: we react quickly, iterate often, and look for practical solutions based on data.
• 🤲 We are direct and open-minded: we share feedback regularly and keep finding ways to learn and improve.
• 💜 We care: about our customers and about each other. We listen and ask questions to understand how we can help.
• 🤝 We help each other be better: we collaborate in a diverse team that pushes each of us to do our best work.

In Engineering we add our own phrase to this, "we aim for speed and confidence", and we back it with a Competency Framework so growth is something you can actually plan for. Learning is a real part of the job.

If you want a sense of what staying here looks like over time, take a look at the story of a software engineer celebrating ten years at Bitrise. And you can learn more about who we are on our about page.

Ready to apply?

If any of this sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we would love to hear from you. Take a look at our open Engineering roles and find your next step on the Bitrise careers page.