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SKILL.md
Engineering Hiring Rubric
Produce a complete hiring rubric and interview scorecard for evaluating software engineers at a specific role and level. The rubric must be specific enough that two interviewers who have never compared notes will score the same candidate within one level of each other. That requires: explicit behavioral anchors (what does "Strong Hire" look like vs. "Hire" for each competency), calibrated technical questions with written evaluation criteria, and a structured debrief format that surfaces signal rather than recency bias. Include calibration notes to help interviewers recognize and counter common evaluation biases.
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not already provided:
Role — backend, frontend, fullstack, SRE/platform, data, ML, or mobile engineer
Level — junior (L3/IC2), mid (L4/IC3), senior (L5/IC4), or staff (L6/IC5); clarify the company's level naming if different
Team context — what the team builds, team size, and what problems this hire will work on in the first year
Tech stack — primary languages and frameworks for the technical questions; list the stack explicitly
Interview format — which rounds are used (phone screen, coding, system design, behavioral, take-home); if not specified, produce a recommended format
Output Format
Engineering Hiring Rubric: [Role] — [Level]
Role: [e.g., Senior Backend Engineer]
Level equivalent: [e.g., L5 / IC4 / Senior]
Team: [Team name and one-sentence description of what they build]
Tech stack: [Languages and frameworks]
Interview loop: [List the rounds in order]
1. Role Definition and Level Expectations
What This Role Does
[2–3 sentences describing the scope of work: what systems they'll own, what problems they'll solve, and who they'll work with. Make this specific to the team context provided.]
Level Bar
Define the minimum bar for a Hire recommendation at this level. This is not the ideal candidate description — it is the floor.
Dimension
[Level] Floor
One Level Below (No Hire)
One Level Above (Stretch)
Technical scope
[e.g., "Owns a service or major feature area end-to-end with minimal guidance"]
[e.g., "Completes well-defined tasks; needs guidance on scope and approach"]
[e.g., "Communicates technical decisions clearly to peers and stakeholders"]
[e.g., "Communicates well with direct team; struggles with cross-team or stakeholder comms"]
[e.g., "Drives technical consensus across teams; writes documents others reference"]
Ownership
[e.g., "Sees work to production; monitors after deploy; follows up on issues proactively"]
[e.g., "Delivers assigned work; escalates issues but doesn't drive them to resolution"]
[e.g., "Owns outcomes across teams; improves team processes and systems beyond their own work"]
2. Interview Loop Structure
Round
Format
Duration
Interviewer
Competencies Assessed
Phone screen
Video call, technical questions
45 min
[Hiring manager or senior engineer]
Problem solving, communication, basic technical depth
Coding interview 1
Live coding — [platform]
60 min
[Engineer]
Coding, data structures, code quality
Coding interview 2
Live coding — [platform]
60 min
[Engineer]
Algorithms, debugging, code quality
System design
Whiteboard / shared doc
60 min
[Senior/Staff engineer]
System design, scalability, technical communication
Behavioral
Structured interview
45 min
[Hiring manager]
Ownership, collaboration, growth mindset
[Optional] Take-home
Asynchronous project
[X hours]
[Reviewer]
Code quality, thoroughness, real-world problem solving
Interview coverage matrix: Each competency dimension must be assessed by at least 2 independent interviewers.
Competency
Phone Screen
Coding 1
Coding 2
System Design
Behavioral
Coding
○
●
●
○
System design
○
●
Problem solving
●
●
●
●
Code quality
●
●
Communication
●
●
●
●
●
Ownership
○
○
●
Debugging
●
●
● = Primary signal ○ = Secondary signal
3. Coding Interview Guide
Question Selection
Choose 1–2 problems per coding round. Problems should be solvable in 30–40 minutes with the remaining time for discussion and follow-ups. Prefer problems with multiple solution tiers so you can see how far candidates take their thinking.
Problem Template
Problem: [Title]
Prompt (read to candidate):
[Problem statement — be specific. Include constraints (input size, value ranges). Avoid ambiguity that tests problem-reading rather than problem-solving.]
Example:
Given a list of integers representing stock prices at each minute of a trading day, return the maximum profit you could achieve by making exactly one buy and one sell. You may not sell before you buy.
Clarifying questions a strong candidate will ask:
[e.g., "Can the list be empty?" / "Are all values positive?" / "Can profit be negative — i.e., should we return 0 if no profit is possible?"]
Solution tiers:
Tier
Approach
Time Complexity
Space Complexity
Signals
Baseline
[Brute force — O(n²) nested loop]
O(n²)
O(1)
Can solve the problem; understands correctness
Expected
[Single pass, tracking min price seen so far]
O(n)
O(1)
Strong problem solver; explains tradeoff
Strong
[Generalizes to k transactions, or extends to cooldown variant without prompting]
O(n)
O(1)
Staff-level generalization thinking
Follow-up questions:
[e.g., "What if you could make at most k trades?"]
[e.g., "How would you test this function? Write me 3 test cases."]
[e.g., "Walk me through your code as if you're explaining it in a code review."]
Evaluation rubric for this problem:
Signal
Strong Hire
Hire
No Hire
Problem comprehension
Asks 1–2 clarifying questions immediately; identifies edge cases before coding
Understands the problem after 1 prompt; misses 1–2 edge cases
Misunderstands the problem or requires repeated clarification
Solution quality
O(n) solution; clean code; handles all edge cases
O(n) with hints; code is readable but has minor issues
O(n²) with hints, or correct solution with significant issues
Code quality
Well-named variables; logical structure; would pass code review
Functional but verbose or inconsistently named
Hard to follow; would require significant review feedback
Explains solution when asked; answers follow-ups well
Silent during coding; unable to explain their approach
Follow-ups
Extends solution confidently; identifies further improvements
Handles follow-ups with moderate prompting
Unable to extend or explain tradeoffs
4. System Design Interview Guide
[Level]-Appropriate Design Scope
At [Level], expect the candidate to:
[e.g., Senior: "Design a complete system with capacity estimates, component breakdown, and discussion of failure modes"]
[e.g., Mid: "Design the core components of a system; may need prompting on scalability and failure handling"]
[e.g., Junior: "Design a simple client-server system; focus on clarity of thinking over complete distributed systems knowledge"]
Sample Design Question
Question: "Design [a URL shortener / a rate limiter / a notification service / a ride-matching system — choose one relevant to the team's domain]."
Evaluation dimensions:
Dimension
What to assess
Strong Hire
Hire
No Hire
Requirements clarification
Does the candidate ask before designing?
Asks scope, scale, SLA, and key use cases before drawing anything
Asks some questions; may miss scale or SLA
Starts designing immediately without clarifying
High-level design
Can they describe the major components?
Clear component breakdown with justified choices; covers data flow
Reasonable breakdown; may overcomplicate or undercomplicate
Missing key components or cannot explain data flow
Data model
Can they design a schema or data structure for the system?
Models the core entities with normalization/denormalization tradeoffs discussed
Reasonable schema; may miss indexing or partitioning needs
Cannot model the data or produces clearly wrong schema
Scalability
Can they identify and address bottlenecks?
Identifies bottlenecks proactively; proposes horizontal scaling, caching, or sharding as appropriate
Discusses scaling when prompted; reasonable solutions
Cannot identify bottlenecks or proposes solutions that don't match the scale
Failure handling
Do they think about what happens when things break?
Proactively discusses failure modes: single points of failure, retry logic, idempotency
Discusses failure when prompted; identifies some failure modes
Does not think about failure; assumes happy path
Communication
Is the design explained clearly?
Could run this meeting with a team of engineers at a real company
Clear enough to follow; some gaps in explanation
Difficult to follow; interviewer cannot understand the design
Design Probing Questions
Use these to probe depth after the candidate presents their design:
"Walk me through what happens when a write request comes in at peak load — 10,000 requests per second."
"Your primary database just failed. What happens to the system?"
"You estimated X QPS. How would your design change if it needed to handle 100× that?"
"Where is the first place this system would fall over under load?"
"How would you monitor this in production? What would your on-call runbook look like?"
5. Behavioral Interview Question Bank
Map every question to a competency. Ask 4–6 questions per behavioral round using STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Do not ask leading questions.
Competency: Ownership and Delivery
"Tell me about a time you owned something end-to-end — from design through production monitoring. What did you do when something went wrong after launch?"
Strong signal: Describes proactive monitoring setup, a specific incident they caught themselves, and what they changed
Weak signal: Describes writing the code and handing off; no discussion of production behavior
"Describe a project that was significantly delayed or failed. What was your role, and what did you take responsibility for?"
Strong signal: Direct ownership of their contribution to the failure; specific changes to how they work
Weak signal: Attributes all delay to external factors; no reflection on their own actions
Competency: Technical Judgment
"Tell me about a significant technical decision you made. What options did you consider, and how did you decide?"
Strong signal: Named alternatives with clear tradeoffs; explains who they consulted; reflects on whether they'd decide the same way today
Weak signal: "I knew X was the right answer" without describing the decision process
"Describe a time you had to push back on a technical direction — either from management or from peers. What happened?"
Strong signal: Evidence-based disagreement; constructive communication; willing to commit once decision was made even if they lost the argument
Weak signal: Either never pushed back or pushed back emotionally without evidence
Competency: Collaboration and Communication
"Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex technical concept to a non-technical stakeholder. How did you approach it?"
Strong signal: Used analogy or simplified model; confirmed understanding; adapted to the audience
Weak signal: "I explained it technically and told them to trust me"
"Describe a situation where you and a peer strongly disagreed on an approach. How did it resolve?"
Strong signal: Sought a third opinion or data; focused on the right outcome, not being right; maintained relationship
Weak signal: Escalated immediately or capitulated without engaging
Competency: Growth and Learning
"What is a significant technical mistake you made in the last two years? What did you learn from it?"
Weak signal: Cannot name a specific mistake; describes a minor issue to avoid vulnerability
"How do you stay current in [relevant technical area]? Give me a specific example of something you learned recently and applied."
Strong signal: Named sources, applied learning in a specific project with a concrete outcome
Weak signal: "I read blogs" with no specifics; no applied example
6. Full Interview Scorecard
Complete one scorecard per interview round. Collect all scorecards before the debrief.
INTERVIEW SCORECARD
===================
Candidate: ______________________
Interviewer: ______________________
Round: ______________________
Date: ______________________
Interview format: ______________________
COMPETENCY RATINGS
Rate each dimension independently. Do not average.
Scale: 1 = Strong No Hire | 2 = No Hire | 3 = Hire | 4 = Strong Hire
1 2 3 4 Notes
Coding / Technical skill [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Problem solving [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
System design [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Code quality [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Debugging [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Communication [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Ownership [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
Collaboration [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ___________________________
SPECIFIC EVIDENCE
What did the candidate do or say that drove your rating?
(Required — write observable behaviors, not impressions)
Strongest signal (positive):
___________________________________________________________________________
Strongest concern or gap:
___________________________________________________________________________
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION
[ ] Strong Hire [ ] Hire [ ] No Hire [ ] Strong No Hire
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION RATIONALE
(Required — 3–5 sentences minimum. State your recommendation, the evidence
that supports it, and the specific gap or risk if not a Strong Hire)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Level signal: This candidate demonstrated [ L_ / L_ ] level behaviors.
SHOULD INTERVIEWERS DISCUSS BEFORE DEBRIEF?
[ ] No — I have a clear independent signal
[ ] Yes — I need context on [specific area] to complete my assessment
7. Hiring Recommendation Framework
Recommendation
Meaning
When to use
Strong Hire
Confident the candidate will exceed the level bar and be a high performer on the team
Evidence across 3+ competencies at above-bar level; no significant concerns
Hire
Confident the candidate meets the level bar; will perform well
Meets bar on all must-have competencies; may have 1 area to develop
No Hire
Does not meet the level bar
Below bar on 1+ must-have competency, or gap too large to close quickly
Strong No Hire
Clear mismatch — well below the bar, or a specific disqualifying signal
Significant gaps across multiple competencies, or a values/behavior concern
Must-hire competencies for [Role] at [Level]: [List 3–4 competencies where a No Hire score on any one of them means the overall recommendation must be No Hire, regardless of performance elsewhere. Example: "Coding and System Design are must-hire competencies for a Senior Backend Engineer. Strong performance on Behavioral dimensions cannot compensate for a No Hire on Coding."]
Debrief rule: A Strong Hire can override one No Hire only if: (a) the No Hire is not on a must-hire competency, and (b) the Strong Hire interviewer can articulate why the concern is not disqualifying. A Strong No Hire cannot be overridden — escalate to hiring manager.
8. Debrief Agenda
Run the debrief before scorecards are shared verbally. Everyone submits a written scorecard first.
DEBRIEF AGENDA — [Candidate Name]
Duration: 45 minutes
Facilitator: [Hiring Manager]
0:00 – 0:05 SCORECARD REVIEW
Each interviewer states their overall recommendation only (no rationale yet).
Facilitator notes alignment and disagreements on whiteboard/doc.
0:05 – 0:15 EVIDENCE ROUND
Go around the table. Each interviewer shares:
- Their strongest positive signal (observable behavior, not impression)
- Their biggest concern (observable behavior, not impression)
No discussion yet — just evidence gathering.
0:15 – 0:30 DISCUSS DISAGREEMENTS
Address only the competency dimensions where interviewers disagree.
Anchor discussion on: "What did you observe?" not "What do you think?"
If interviewers assessed different competencies, disagreement may reflect
insufficient signal — note this.
0:30 – 0:40 DECISION
Reach a decision on overall recommendation.
If consensus: state the recommendation and rationale.
If not consensus: hiring manager makes the call and states why.
0:40 – 0:45 PROCESS NOTES
- Were any questions unclear or hard to compare across candidates?
- Any bias signals observed during the debrief? (see Section 9)
- Feedback to improve the process for next time.
9. Calibration and Bias Reduction Notes
Brief every interviewer on these before they conduct their first interview for this role.
Bias
How it manifests
Counter-measure
Halo effect
Strong performance in round 1 colors ratings in round 2
Submit scorecard before reading others; rate each competency independently
Similarity bias
"I liked them" correlates with "they think like me"
Require observable evidence for every rating; check: "Is this a signal about their ability or their similarity to me?"
Recency bias
Final impression dominates overall rating
Take notes during the interview; write evidence immediately after; debrief uses written evidence, not memory
Expectation anchoring
First interviewer's opinion anchors all others
No verbal discussion between interviewers before debrief; written scorecards submitted before debrief starts
Culture fit as cover
"Not a culture fit" without specific behavioral evidence
"Culture fit" is not a valid dimension on this scorecard; use Collaboration and Communication with evidence
Credential bias
Degree or previous employer overweights rating
Do not list educational background in pre-interview briefing documents; focus on demonstrated behaviors
Confidence ≠ Competence
Articulate candidates rated higher regardless of correctness
Grade the answer quality, not the delivery style; use written rubrics per question
Quality Checks
Level bar table defines a concrete floor for the level — not aspirational traits — with a comparison to one level below and above
Every behavioral question includes explicit Strong Hire and Weak/No Hire signal descriptions — not just the question text
Coding problem(s) include solution tiers with time and space complexity, plus a per-question rubric with behavioral anchors
System design rubric evaluates at minimum: requirements clarification, component design, data model, scalability, and failure handling
Scorecard uses observable behavior fields ("What did the candidate do or say") — not impression fields
Must-hire competencies are explicitly named for the role and level
Debrief agenda enforces written scorecard submission before verbal discussion to prevent anchoring
Anti-Patterns
Do not use a single behavioral anchor description per competency — you must define what Strong Hire AND No Hire look like separately, or interviewers cannot calibrate
Do not allow "culture fit" as a standalone assessment dimension — it masks similarity bias; all judgments must use observable behavioral evidence
Do not let interviewers share scorecard feedback before the debrief — verbal pre-debrief discussion anchors everyone to the first opinion expressed
Do not set the same must-hire competency list for all engineering roles — a senior backend engineer and a frontend engineer have different non-negotiable competencies
Do not skip the calibration bias notes section — interviewers who have never been briefed on halo effect, recency bias, and credential bias will reproduce them in every loop
