To succeed in the Atos interview process, you must approach your preparation with a structured plan. The interviewers look for a combination of deep technical fundamentals, analytical clarity, and strong alignment with the operational demands of global security services.

Role-Related Knowledge – This is the most heavily weighted criterion. You must demonstrate a flawless grasp of networking basics, security protocols, and device configurations. Atos values engineers who understand the "why" behind security policies, not just the "how."

Problem-Solving & Whiteboarding – You will often be asked to solve technical scenarios on a whiteboard or walk through a system design in real time. Your ability to structure your thoughts, ask clarifying questions, and articulate your security choices under pressure is critical.

Operational Adaptability – Because Atos serves enterprise clients globally, many roles involve shift rotations or on-call duties. Showing that you are resilient, structured, and prepared for the realities of 24/7 security operations will set you apart from other candidates.

Communication & Presentation – In several regions, you may be asked to deliver a short presentation about your background and technical projects. Clear, structured, and confident communication is highly valued, as engineers frequently interface with international teams and corporate clients.

The interview process at Atos is straightforward, transparent, and typically takes about three weeks to complete. The structure is designed to assess your foundational technical skills early on, followed by in-depth evaluations of your engineering capabilities and cultural alignment.

The journey begins with an initial HR phone screen to discuss your background, interest in the company, and basic qualifications. Following this, you will proceed to the technical evaluation stages. Depending on the seniority of the role and the location, this phase generally consists of two technical rounds. The first round is often a deep dive into networking and cybersecurity fundamentals, while the second round focuses on advanced engineering scenarios, system architecture, and situational problem-solving. Some European offices, such as Frankfurt, may require you to prepare a 10-to-15-minute presentation about your previous projects or university thesis at the start of your technical evaluation.

The final stage involves discussions with hiring managers and senior directors. This round focuses on your career goals, behavioral fit, and operational preferences, such as your availability for travel or rotating shifts. The atmosphere throughout the process is professional and supportive, with managers who are open about the team culture and clear about the expectations of the role.

The timeline above outlines the standard progression from your initial application to the final offer. Most candidates complete this process within two to four weeks, depending on scheduling availability. Use this visual guide to pace your preparation, ensuring your technical fundamentals are polished before the initial technical rounds.

Network Security & Core Infrastructure

A solid foundation in networking is non-negotiable for a Security Engineer at Atos. You must be prepared to explain how data traverses networks and how to secure those pathways.

Be ready to go over:

• OSI and TCP/IP Models – Understand the specific protocols, devices, and vulnerabilities associated with each layer.
• Common Ports and Services – Memorize key ports (e.g., 22, 53, 80, 443, 3389) and explain how to harden the services running on them.
• Security Devices – Be prepared to discuss the placement, configuration, and management of firewalls, IDS/IPS, and web application firewalls (WAF).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Explain how you would configure a firewall rule base to allow secure outbound web traffic while blocking unauthorized protocols."
• "If a user reports they cannot connect to a secure internal application, how do you use the OSI model to systematically troubleshoot the issue?"

Threat Analysis & Frameworks

Atos security teams rely heavily on structured frameworks to identify, track, and mitigate threats. You need to demonstrate that you can think like an analyst and apply these frameworks to real-world incidents.

Be ready to go over:

• MITRE ATT&CK – Understand how to use Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) to identify gaps in an organization's defensive posture.
• Cyber Kill Chain – Know how to map an active intrusion to the kill chain and deploy countermeasures at various phases to stop the attacker.
• SIEM & Alert Triage – Explain how security events are aggregated, correlated, and investigated to minimize alert fatigue.
• Advanced concepts – Threat hunting methodologies, writing custom Yara or Snort rules, and analyzing packet captures (PCAPs) using Wireshark.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "An alert indicates a potential brute-force attack followed by lateral movement. Which MITRE ATT&CK techniques are likely involved, and how do you contain this?"
• "Walk me through how you would investigate a suspicious spike in UDP traffic originating from an internal server."

Presentation & System Design

For many positions, particularly in European offices or senior roles, your ability to present your work and design secure systems is a key differentiator.

Be ready to go over:

• Project Presentation – Prepare a concise, structured overview of a complex technical project you have engineered, detailing the security challenges and how you resolved them.
• Secure Architecture Design – Understand how to design segmented networks, secure cloud environments, and robust identity management systems.
• Whiteboard Exercises – Be ready to sketch out network diagrams and explain your security controls dynamically on a whiteboard.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Please present a 10-minute overview of your university capstone project or a major deployment from your previous role, focusing on your architectural decisions."
• "On the whiteboard, design a secure DMZ architecture for an e-commerce application that process client payments."