1. What is an AI Engineer at Meta?

The AI Engineer role at Meta sits at the critical intersection of cutting-edge research and massive-scale production. Unlike pure research roles that focus solely on novel architectures, or general software engineering roles that focus on product logic, your mandate is to build the systems, infrastructure, and applications that power AI for billions of users. This includes work on Meta AI, the Llama foundation models, recommendation engines for Instagram and Facebook, and the agentic workflows driving Reality Labs.

In this position, you are not just implementing models; you are solving the engineering challenges required to train and serve them efficiently. Depending on the specific team (e.g., AI Infra, Reality Labs, or Core App AI), your work may involve optimizing distributed training clusters, developing agentic testing frameworks, or designing low-latency inference systems. You will work with technologies like PyTorch, NCCL, and RDMA networking fabrics to ensure that Meta’s AI capabilities continue to scale exponentially.

This role is essential to Meta's strategic pivot toward AGI and the Metaverse. Whether you are improving the performance of GPU clusters for training large language models or building intelligent agents that ensure hardware quality, your contributions directly impact the speed at which Meta innovates. You will be expected to move fast, navigate ambiguity, and deliver engineering solutions that define the state of the art in the industry.

2. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for Meta is distinct from other tech giants. The process is highly standardized, rigorous, and prioritizes speed and communication. You should approach your preparation by focusing on four core pillars of evaluation.

Coding and Algorithmic Fluency – You must be able to translate thoughts into bug-free code rapidly. Meta places a premium on solving two distinct problems within a single 45-minute session. Evaluators look for optimal time and space complexity, clean syntax, and the ability to verify your own code without running it.

System and ML Design – For AI Engineers, this is often the deciding factor. You will be evaluated on your ability to design scalable systems (e.g., "Design a recommendation feed") or specific AI workflows (e.g., "Build a weapon detection filter for Marketplace"). You need to demonstrate how you handle data ingestion, model selection, training pipelines, and inference at scale.

Domain Proficiency (AI/HPC) – Depending on the specific role (e.g., AI Systems Performance vs. Agentic AI), you will be tested on your depth in the stack. This could range from understanding RDMA and GPU interconnects to designing reinforcement learning loops for automated testing. You must show you understand what happens "under the hood" of libraries like PyTorch.

Meta Values and Behavioral Signals – Meta evaluates candidates on their ability to "Move Fast" and "Focus on Impact." You will face behavioral questions designed to test how you handle conflict, drive consensus in cross-functional teams, and manage ambiguity. Your answers should be structured and highlight your personal contribution.

3. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the AI Engineer role is designed to be efficient but intense. It typically begins with a recruiter screening to assess your background and alignment with open roles. This is followed by a technical phone screen (or video screen) which is almost exclusively focused on coding algorithms. You must pass this hurdle to proceed to the onsite loop.

The "onsite" (currently virtual) is a comprehensive loop consisting of 4 to 5 separate interviews. You can expect two rounds of coding, one or two rounds of system design (either general distributed systems or ML-specific design), and a behavioral round often referred to as the "Jedi" round. For senior or specialized roles, an additional deep-dive interview into your specific domain expertise (such as HPC networking or Agentic AI) may be included.

Meta's philosophy is data-driven. Interviewers submit detailed feedback independently, and a hiring committee reviews the packet holistically. They look for "strong signals" in specific areas. A "neutral" performance is often insufficient; you need to clearly demonstrate strength in coding and design. The process can move quickly, but delays in feedback (as noted in some recent candidate experiences) can occasionally occur depending on hiring committee schedules.

This timeline illustrates the typical progression from your first contact to a potential offer. Note that the Technical Screen is a strict gatekeeper; strict time management here is critical. The Onsite Loop is an endurance test—ensure you manage your energy levels to maintain peak performance through the final behavioral round.

4. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must master the specific areas Meta evaluates. Based on recent interview data, here is what you need to prepare for.

Coding & Algorithms

This is the baseline requirement. Meta interviews often require solving two medium-to-hard problems in roughly 35–40 minutes of coding time.

Be ready to go over:

• Trees and Graphs: Tree traversals, lowest common ancestor, and graph search algorithms (BFS/DFS) are extremely common.
• Arrays and Strings: Sliding window, two pointers, and manipulation of large datasets.
• Recursion and Dynamic Programming: You must be able to identify overlapping subproblems and optimize them.
• Data Structures: Know when to use a Heap vs. a HashMap vs. a Trie.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Reverse a binary tree or specific levels of a tree."
• "Find the k-th largest element in a stream of data."
• "Serialize and deserialize a binary tree."

Machine Learning System Design

This round tests your ability to take an ambiguous problem and define a workable, scalable AI solution. You are expected to drive the conversation.

Be ready to go over:

• Data Engineering: How do you collect, clean, and label data at scale? How do you handle class imbalance?
• Model Lifecycle: Feature engineering, model selection (why deep learning vs. tree-based?), training pipelines, and evaluation metrics.
• Productionization: Inference latency, caching, online vs. offline learning, and safety filtering.
• Advanced concepts: Multi-modal learning, active learning, and specifically for Meta, content moderation systems.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Design a filter for Facebook Marketplace that prevents users from listing prohibited items (e.g., weapons)."
• "Design the recommendation system for Instagram Reels."
• "How would you build a system to detect hate speech in multiple languages?"

AI Infrastructure & Performance

For roles focused on HPC (High-Performance Computing) or AI Systems, this area is critical. You will be evaluated on your understanding of the hardware and software stack that enables AI.

Be ready to go over:

• Distributed Training: Data parallelism, model parallelism, and pipeline parallelism.
• Networking: Understanding RDMA, InfiniBand, RoCE, and congestion control mechanisms.
• Communication Libraries: How NCCL or MPI work for inter-GPU communication.
• Performance Debugging: Identifying bottlenecks in the stack (compute-bound vs. memory-bound vs. network-bound).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you troubleshoot a distributed training job that is hanging or slow?"
• "Explain the trade-offs between different collective communication primitives (AllReduce vs. AllGather)."
• "How would you optimize a PyTorch model for lower latency on specific hardware?"

5. Key Responsibilities

As an AI Engineer at Meta, your day-to-day work is characterized by high autonomy and high impact. You are responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of AI systems, from architectural design to production deployment.

For engineers in the AI Infrastructure track, you will build and evolve the network fabrics that connect thousands of GPUs. You will work on ensuring these networks run smoothly under the strain of massive RDMA workloads. You will constantly profile the stack—analyzing host networking, communication libraries, and scheduling infrastructure—to squeeze out every bit of performance.

For engineers in product-facing or Reality Labs roles, you will design agentic workflows and intelligent frameworks. This involves creating autonomous systems that can assess product quality, identify edge cases, and enhance reliability. You will collaborate closely with research scientists to integrate the latest ML advances into practical tools, bridging the gap between a research paper and a reliable feature used by millions.

6. Role Requirements & Qualifications

Meta hires for potential and engineering excellence. The following qualifications define a competitive candidate.

• Core Technical Skills:

  • Proficiency in Python or C++ is non-negotiable. You must be comfortable writing production-level code in at least one.
  • Deep experience with ML frameworks like PyTorch (preferred at Meta) or TensorFlow.
  • Solid grounding in distributed systems and data structures.

• Specialized Experience (Role Dependent):

  • For AI Infra: Experience with HPC, RDMA, InfiniBand, and communication libraries like NCCL or UCX. Understanding of GPU architecture is highly valued.
  • For Agentic/Product AI: Experience building agentic AI systems, automated testing frameworks, and fine-tuning LLMs.

• Soft Skills & Leadership:

  • Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to cross-functional partners.
  • Experience navigating ambiguity; you must be able to move forward even when requirements are not fully defined.
  • A proactive approach to identifying resource needs and driving technical roadmaps.

• Experience Level:

  • Typically requires a BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or related field.
  • Senior roles (IC5+) generally require 8+ years of experience in systems/networking or extensive ML engineering backgrounds.

7. Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what candidates have encountered in recent Meta AI Engineer interviews. They are categorized to help you structure your practice. Do not memorize answers; instead, use these to identify the types of problems you need to be comfortable solving.

Coding & Algorithms

These questions test your ability to implement standard algorithms efficiently.

• "Given the root of a binary tree, reverse the tree (mirror it)."
• "Find the lowest common ancestor of two nodes in a binary tree."
• "Given a list of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals."
• "Serialize a binary tree to a string and deserialize it back to a tree."
• "Implement a calculator that handles basic arithmetic operations and parentheses."

Machine Learning System Design

These questions test your product sense and engineering architecture skills.

• "Design a real-time filter to prevent users from selling weapons on Marketplace."
• "How would you build a news feed ranking system?"
• "Design a system to detect near-duplicate images in a massive dataset."
• "How would you architect a system to train a model on data larger than the memory of a single machine?"

Behavioral & Leadership

These questions assess your alignment with Meta's culture.

• "Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a colleague. How did you resolve it?"
• "Describe a situation where you had to make a technical decision with incomplete information."
• "Tell me about a project that failed. What did you learn?"
• "Give an example of how you influenced a team roadmap."

These questions are based on real interview experiences from candidates who interviewed at this company. You can practice answering them interactively on Dataford to better prepare for your interview.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult is the coding round compared to other companies? The difficulty is generally "Hard" to "Difficult." While the problems themselves are often standard LeetCode Medium/Hard, the expectation for speed, bug-free code, and clear communication is higher than average. You are often expected to solve two questions in one round.

Q: What is the "Jedi" interview? This is Meta's specific behavioral interview. It focuses on your ability to be a supportive colleague ("Be Open") and your drive for results ("Focus on Impact"). Interviewers will dig deep into your past experiences to understand your specific contribution versus the team's effort.

Q: How much domain knowledge do I need for the AI Infra roles? For the AI/HPC Systems Performance roles, domain knowledge is critical. You should be prepared to discuss the details of RDMA, congestion control, and GPU interconnects. Generic software engineering knowledge may not be sufficient for these specific teams.

Q: Does Meta offer remote positions for this role? Meta has embraced a distributed work model, but many hardware-centric or highly collaborative AI roles (like those in Reality Labs or AI Infra) may have specific location requirements (e.g., Menlo Park, Redmond, Austin). Check the specific job posting for location flexibility.

Q: How long does the process take? It varies. Some candidates move from screen to offer in a few weeks, while others experience gaps. If you do not hear back within a week after your onsite, it is acceptable to follow up with your recruiter politely.

9. Other General Tips

Clarify Before You Code: In both coding and design rounds, never jump straight into the solution. Ask clarifying questions to narrow the scope. For a Marketplace filter, ask: "Are we filtering images, text, or both? What is the latency requirement? What is the scale?"

Think in "Scale": Meta operates at a scale few companies match. When designing a system, always ask yourself: "What happens if the data volume increases by 100x?" Your solution must be robust enough to handle billions of users or massive training clusters.

Master the "STAR" Method: For behavioral questions, structure your answers using Situation, Task, Action, Result. Meta interviewers look for the "Action" part—what you specifically did. Avoid using "we" too much; focus on "I."

Mock Interviews are Essential: Because of the strict time limits (often 35 minutes for 2 coding problems), you need to practice pacing. Use a timer and practice talking through your logic while you type.

10. Summary & Next Steps

The AI Engineer role at Meta is one of the most impactful positions in the industry today. Whether you are optimizing the fabric of the AI supercomputers that train Llama or building the agentic workflows that ensure the quality of Reality Labs devices, you will be working on the frontier of technology. The interview process is rigorous and demands a high level of technical fluency, particularly in algorithms and system design.

To succeed, focus your preparation on speed and precision in coding, and depth and scalability in system design. Review the fundamentals of PyTorch, distributed training, and networking if you are targeting infrastructure roles. Approach the behavioral rounds with honest, structured examples of how you drive impact and collaborate in complex environments.

The salary range for this position is significant, reflecting the high demand for this skillset. Note that the figures above typically represent base salary only; total compensation at Meta (including RSUs and bonuses) is often substantially higher, especially for senior levels.

You have the potential to join a team that is reshaping how the world connects. With focused preparation and a clear understanding of Meta's engineering culture, you can navigate this process successfully. Good luck!