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Research Scientist Interview Questions

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Research Scientist Interview Questions

In a research scientist interview, you'll be expected to show that you have the necessary technical knowledge and expertise pertaining to the specific position you're applying for. Some of the common topics include basic statistical methods, machine learning concepts, and case study analysis. Also, the interviewer will most likely assess your communication and interpersonal skills, which are essential for effective teamwork and funding acquisition.

Top Research Scientist Interview Questions & How to Answer

Question 1

Question #1: What is X concept? What are its assumptions and how do you apply it?

How to answer
How to answer: Basically, such an interview question asks for a textbook recall of a certain machine learning concept and its conditions and applications. Avoid overcomplicating it. Just give a simple and straightforward answer that shows that you have a solid grasp of the concept.
Question 2

Question #2: Provide an example of a problem you faced in your previous role and how you solved it.

How to answer
How to answer: The interviewer wants to evaluate your problem-solving skills. Carefully choose a challenging situation that best reflects your ability to solve problems and explain what you did to overcome it. Preferably, the problem should be one that's relevant to your desired position.
Question 3

Question #3: How would you obtain research funding?

How to answer
How to answer: If you had successfully secured research funding in the past, you can talk about some of the methods you used. If not, highlight the abilities you possess that can help you acquire funding, such as grant writing skills and networking skills.

14,623 research scientist interview questions shared by candidates

First face to face round went OK. The interviewer asked about a matrix with dynamic programming algorithm and psuedo code for it. Also asked about explaining basics of technologies mentioned in the resume. I think I did justice with explaining what I knew, and from his expressions, I could not understand whether he was satisfied or not interested to listen :). No cross questions, not asking for details, just kept writing the feedback on his computer after asking. Second face to face round had two questions. One was algorithm for a tree traversal problem and proper code for it along with corner cases. Second question was a low level design problem.
avatar

Computer Scientist

Interviewed at Adobe

4.1★
Jun 23, 2018

First face to face round went OK. The interviewer asked about a matrix with dynamic programming algorithm and psuedo code for it. Also asked about explaining basics of technologies mentioned in the resume. I think I did justice with explaining what I knew, and from his expressions, I could not understand whether he was satisfied or not interested to listen :). No cross questions, not asking for details, just kept writing the feedback on his computer after asking. Second face to face round had two questions. One was algorithm for a tree traversal problem and proper code for it along with corner cases. Second question was a low level design problem.

How much are you willing to pay to play the following game? You start with $1. You flip a fair coin. If it lands on heads, you double your winnings and flip again. If it lands on tails, the game is over and you collect the money you've won. You continue playing until you land on tails.
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Point72

4★
Apr 15, 2019

How much are you willing to pay to play the following game? You start with $1. You flip a fair coin. If it lands on heads, you double your winnings and flip again. If it lands on tails, the game is over and you collect the money you've won. You continue playing until you land on tails.

Find customer sales timeseries whose moving averages have positive slope, except the average should only be over two days, and the lead day changes, and actually it should be (customer, day) pairs, or triples with total sales, we're not sure actually what we want but it's definitely a very complicated SQL query. No. More complicated. What do you mean "use pandas?" Pandas and SQL are the same thing. SQL is column-oriented. I've never heard of KDB. That's something you made up.
avatar

Data Scientist

Interviewed at Squarespace

3.7★
Dec 4, 2019

Find customer sales timeseries whose moving averages have positive slope, except the average should only be over two days, and the lead day changes, and actually it should be (customer, day) pairs, or triples with total sales, we're not sure actually what we want but it's definitely a very complicated SQL query. No. More complicated. What do you mean "use pandas?" Pandas and SQL are the same thing. SQL is column-oriented. I've never heard of KDB. That's something you made up.

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