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02 / Hiring process
Three stages, and one of them decides it
3 stages from application to offer. Onsite interviews is reported to be the one that decides it.
3stages
01
Phone interview one or two rounds, personalized to the role
Palantir's own page says everyone starts with one or two phone interviews, with the exact number and format personalized to your skillset and the role.
02
Onsite interviews in-person or virtual, meeting the team
If the phone interviews go well, a round of onsite interviews, in person or virtual, covers real accomplishments, judgment calls, and where you've failed, alongside open-ended and technical problems built around six named engineering competencies.
03
Decision then an offer
The team reviews the full interview loop and follows up with a decision, with Palantir's own page emphasizing candidates should bring their real selves throughout rather than a rehearsed version.
Ask before the interview: what will this round cover, who will I meet, and is there anything I should prepare?The question almost nobody asks
03 / Question library
Interview question practice library
The onsite loop and the three named cultural traits apply broadly across departments, so the core set below covers that ground. Each department then adds the depth specific to it.
61questions
Asked in every interviewAsked in every Palantir interview
01 Why Palantir, and why this team specifically, Echo, Delta or Dev? Why Palantir Open guide
Find your angle. Checks whether a candidate understands Palantir's own Echo, Delta, Dev structure well enough to pick one deliberately, not just apply generally.
Build your answer
- Name the specific team, not just Palantir generally. Echo, Delta, or Dev, by name.
- Tie it to something concrete you've done. A real experience matching that team's actual work.
- State what you'd want to own there specifically. Concrete, not vague ambition.
Bring the evidence
Name one specific reason the team you picked, not Palantir generally, fits something you've actually done.
What weakens it
Palantir works on important problems and I want to be part of that mission.
Likely follow upWhat would your first month in this specific team realistically involve?
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.02 Tell me about a time you held a genuinely contrarian view at work or school, one most people around you disagreed with. Conviction Open guide
Find your angle. Directly probes Palantir's own named trait Free Thinkers, testing whether a candidate has actually held an unpopular position, not just described open-mindedness.
Build your answer
- State the contrarian view plainly. Specific, not softened.
- Explain why most people around you disagreed. Concrete, real pushback.
- Say whether you turned out to be right. Honest either way.
Bring the evidence
State the actual contrarian position in one sentence, and whether it held up once tested.
What weakens it
I always keep an open mind and consider other perspectives.
Likely follow upWhat would you have done if the majority view had turned out to be right instead?
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.03 Describe a time you saw a problem nobody had assigned you to fix, and simply took it on. Ownership Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.04 Tell me about a time nobody was directly overseeing your work, and the results had to stand on their own. Authenticity Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.05 Describe a time you failed at something that mattered, told plainly, not softened into a disguised success. Learning from failure Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.06 Tell me about a time you had to work through a genuinely open-ended problem with no clear right answer, in front of someone else. Problem-solving Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.07 Describe a time you had to make a meaningful change inside an existing system someone else had built, without a clean rewrite. Legacy systems Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.08 Tell me about a time you designed a solution by starting from how the actual end user worked, rather than from the technology available. Problem-solving Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.09 Describe a time you had to align people with genuinely different priorities, from someone very senior to someone doing the hands-on work. Coordination Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.10 Tell me about a time you had access to information that mattered a great deal if handled carelessly. Discretion Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.11 Describe a time the best idea in the room came from someone whose credentials didn't suggest it, or from you despite lacking the expected background. Learning Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.12 Tell me about a time you had to make sure something actually worked in practice, not just in a polished demonstration. Delivery Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.13 Describe a time you didn't get an outcome you wanted and asked directly for feedback on why. Resilience Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.Dev6 to practise
6 questions
The questions this role actually gets asked
The core set above is asked whatever you applied for. These 6 are specific to Dev, and they are usually what the decision turns on.
Create a free accountWhat you get
Less than the cost of one lunch, for a great deal more confidence.- Unlimited tailored interview preparation
- A massive database of actual questions and answer guides
Role specific
Pick your role and the list narrows to what that role tends to get asked.
A guide for every answer
What the question is testing, three steps to build your answer, and the evidence to bring.
Prepared, not guessing
You walk in knowing the shape of the round and which of your own stories fits it.
04 / In the news
Worth mentioning in the room
The strongest answer to why this company is something that happened last month.
4stories
Free account
What happened at this employer this month
Stories screened from everything published about this employer, chosen because they can be used in the room rather than because they are recent.
- Each one carries a line on how to use it in the answer
- Crime, recalls, litigation and share price moves are excluded outright
- Refreshed daily, so it is different the week of your interview
05 / The three values
What is actually being scored
Palantir names three cultural traits directly on its own careers page rather than a conventional values list. Bring one real story for each rather than a general answer about wanting to work on important problems.
3stories
Free Thinkers
A time you held a strong, contrarian conviction on something and kept an open mind about it at the same time.
Catalysts
A time you saw a solution to a problem and simply took ownership of it, without waiting for a top-down instruction to do so.
Independents
A time your work had to speak for itself because there was no one directly overseeing you to vouch for it.
06 / Before you apply
Where candidates lose it
Pro
Where candidates lose this before anyone meets them
The part of the process that eliminates most people is not the interview. It is what happens around it, and almost none of it is written down anywhere.
- The assessment answers that read as dishonest rather than confident
- What the availability question is really deciding
- The application detail that cannot be edited once submitted
Interview in 48 Hours
Turn your experience into your advantage.Bring your own stories to the interview. Start with the role, build your preparation sheet.