1. What is an Embedded Engineer at Meta?

At Meta, the role of an Embedded Engineer is pivotal to the company's vision of the "next computing platform." While Meta is known for its massive social software ecosystem, the hardware division—specifically Reality Labs—is building the physical interface for the future of connection. This includes augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) headsets (Quest), and wearable technologies.

In this role, you sit at the critical intersection of hardware, software, and silicon. You are responsible for bringing devices to life, writing the low-level firmware, drivers, and kernel modules that allow complex hardware to function efficiently. Your work directly impacts the user experience by optimizing for power consumption, latency, and thermal performance in highly constrained environments.

Beyond consumer devices, Embedded Engineers at Meta also contribute to the massive infrastructure that powers the company's data centers. This involves designing firmware for custom server hardware, storage appliances, and AI clusters. Whether you are working on a pair of smart glasses or a hyperscale server component, your code must be robust, secure, and incredibly efficient.

2. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for a technical interview at Meta requires a shift in mindset. You are not just being tested on your ability to write C code; you are being evaluated on your engineering judgment, your ability to handle scale, and your fundamental computer science knowledge.

Meta evaluates candidates based on several core criteria:

Coding & Algorithmic Fluency You must demonstrate the ability to write syntactically correct, efficient code on a whiteboard or shared editor. Unlike some embedded roles at other companies that focus strictly on register manipulation, Meta expects strong generalist computer science fundamentals. You will need to solve algorithmic problems (data structures, sorting, searching) efficiently.

Systems Knowledge & Domain Expertise Interviews will probe your understanding of how software interacts with hardware. This includes memory management, concurrency, real-time operating system (RTOS) concepts, and computer architecture. You need to show that you understand what happens "under the hood" when your code executes.

System Design For mid-to-senior roles, you will face design rounds. You will be asked to architect complex systems, potentially ranging from a specific driver implementation to a distributed system component. You are evaluated on your ability to gather requirements, define interfaces, and manage trade-offs between power, performance, and cost.

Behavioral & Cultural Alignment Meta values engineers who "Move Fast" and "Focus on Impact." You will be assessed on how you navigate ambiguity, how you collaborate with cross-functional teams (hardware, product, silicon), and how you handle conflict or failure.

3. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for Embedded Engineers at Meta is rigorous and standardized, though it can vary slightly depending on the specific team (e.g., Reality Labs vs. Infrastructure). Generally, the process is designed to filter for strong generalist coding skills first, followed by deep domain expertise.

Candidates typically begin with a recruiter screen to discuss their background and interest. This is followed by a technical phone screen (or video call) which is heavily focused on coding. It is crucial to note that this first technical round often mirrors a standard software engineering interview—expect general algorithmic questions (LeetCode style) rather than purely embedded-specific trivia.

If you pass the screen, you will proceed to the onsite loop (virtual or in-person). This usually consists of 4–5 separate interviews: two rounds of coding, one or two rounds of system design (embedded or general), and a behavioral round. The "coding" rounds in the onsite stage may include a mix of general algorithms and low-level C manipulation (e.g., bitwise operations).

The timeline above illustrates the typical flow from application to offer. Note that the "Technical Screen" is a significant filter; many embedded engineers are surprised by the emphasis on general algorithms here. Use the time between the screen and the onsite to pivot your preparation toward system design and behavioral stories.

4. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must prepare for a blend of standard software engineering topics and specialized embedded concepts.

Coding and Algorithms

This is often the biggest stumbling block for embedded specialists. Meta expects you to be proficient in standard Computer Science algorithms.

Be ready to go over:

• Data Structures: Arrays, Linked Lists, Hash Maps, Trees (Binary Search Trees, Tries), and Graphs.
• Algorithms: Sorting (Merge Sort, Quick Sort), Binary Search, Breadth-First Search (BFS), Depth-First Search (DFS), and Dynamic Programming.
• Bit Manipulation: As an embedded engineer, you must be a master of bitwise operators (&, |, ^, ~, <<, >>). Expect questions that require you to manipulate bits within an integer efficiently.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Given a binary tree, invert it."
• "Find the number of set bits in an integer (Hamming weight)."
• "Implement a circular buffer."

Low-Level Systems & C/C++ Proficiency

These rounds test your domain knowledge. You should be comfortable writing raw C or C++ without standard library support if asked.

Be ready to go over:

• Memory Management: Stack vs. Heap, manual memory management (malloc/free), memory leaks, and buffer overflows.
• Concurrency: Race conditions, deadlocks, mutexes, semaphores, and spinlocks. You must understand how to protect shared resources in a multi-threaded or interrupt-driven environment.
• OS Concepts: Context switching, process vs. thread, interrupt handling (ISRs), and scheduling algorithms.
• Volatile & Const: Deep understanding of keywords like volatile and static is mandatory.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Implement malloc and free from scratch."
• "Explain what happens when an interrupt is triggered."
• "How would you debug a system that hangs intermittently?"

System Design

Design interviews at Meta can be broad. You might be asked to design a specific hardware subsystem or a larger distributed system.

Be ready to go over:

• Embedded Design: Designing a sensor subsystem, a bootloader, or a firmware update mechanism (OTA).
• General Design: Occasionally, embedded engineers are asked broader design questions, such as "Design a key-value store" or "Design a distributed logging system," to test their ability to think about scale and data flow.
• Trade-offs: You must explicitly discuss power vs. performance, memory constraints, and latency requirements.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Design the software architecture for a smart smoke detector."
• "Design a rate limiter for a high-throughput sensor stream."

5. Key Responsibilities

As an Embedded Engineer at Meta, your daily work involves much more than just writing code. You are the bridge between the hardware and the application layer.

Firmware Design and Implementation You will design and implement software components across various layers of the system. This ranges from board support packages (BSPs) and kernel modifications to designing synchronization primitives and memory allocators. You will frequently work in C and C++, ensuring your code is performant and secure.

Hardware Bring-up and Integration A significant portion of the role involves "bring-up"—the process of powering on a new board for the first time and getting the software to talk to the hardware. You will develop drivers for peripherals (cameras, sensors, displays) and verify communication protocols. This often requires hands-on work in a lab setting, using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers to debug signal issues.

Cross-Functional Collaboration You will not work in a silo. You will collaborate closely with silicon architects to define future chip requirements, hardware designers to debug board issues, and computer vision/ML teams to optimize algorithms for constrained compute targets.

Performance and Power Optimization For wearable devices like AR glasses, battery life is critical. You will profile system performance, analyze power consumption, and drive optimizations across the entire stack. This might involve implementing aggressive sleep states or optimizing data transfer protocols to reduce radio usage.

6. Role Requirements & Qualifications

Meta looks for candidates who combine deep technical specialization with broad engineering capability.

Must-Have Skills

• Proficiency in C/C++: You must be able to write clean, safe, and efficient code. Experience with Modern C++ (C++11/14/17) is increasingly valued, even in firmware.
• Embedded Experience: 3+ years of experience working with RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr) or Embedded Linux. You should understand the constraints of running software on bare metal or lightweight kernels.
• Computer Architecture: Solid understanding of CPU architectures (ARM, RISC-V), caches, MMUs, and bus protocols (I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe).

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Connectivity Protocols: Experience with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, or networking stacks (TCP/IP) is highly desirable for IoT and wearable roles.
• Hardware Debugging: Familiarity with JTAG, logic analyzers, and reading schematics.
• Android Internals: For many Reality Labs roles, knowledge of the Android framework, HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer), and kernel drivers is a strong differentiator.
• Specialized Domains: Experience in DSP (Digital Signal Processing), Graphics (GPU drivers), or Camera/Video pipelines (ISP, H.264).

7. Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what you might face. They are drawn from recent candidate experiences and standard Meta interview patterns. Do not memorize answers; instead, use these to practice your problem-solving approach.

Coding & Algorithms (General)

• Given a list of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals.
• Find the longest substring without repeating characters.
• Serialize and deserialize a binary tree.
• Implement a function to check if a linked list has a cycle.
• Note: These are standard LeetCode-style questions. Do not underestimate them just because you are an embedded engineer.

Low-Level & Embedded Specifics

• Write a function to set, clear, and toggle a specific bit in a register.
• Implement a thread-safe circular buffer in C.
• Explain the volatile keyword. When should it be used, and what does it prevent the compiler from doing?
• What is priority inversion, and how can it be prevented (e.g., priority inheritance)?
• Implement memmove. How does it differ from memcpy?

System Design

• Design a firmware update system (OTA) for a fleet of IoT devices. How do you handle power failures during an update? Security?
• Design a data acquisition system for a high-frequency accelerometer. How do you handle buffering and data transmission to the cloud?
• Design a distributed ID generator. (This is a general system design question that sometimes appears in Meta loops).

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 much LeetCode preparation should I really do? A significant amount. Recent interview feedback indicates that Meta places a heavy emphasis on general algorithmic coding, even for embedded roles. You might face rounds that are identical to those given to backend engineers. Do not rely solely on your hardware knowledge; ensure your algorithmic fundamentals are sharp.

Q: Is the coding strictly in C? For the general algorithmic rounds, you can usually choose your language (Python, Java, C++). However, for low-level/embedded specific rounds, you will be expected to use C or C++ to demonstrate your ability to manage memory and pointers manually.

Q: What is the work culture like for embedded teams? Meta is engineering-driven and moves fast. Unlike traditional hardware companies that might have long, rigid development cycles, Meta attempts to iterate quickly. This requires engineers to be adaptable and often work on prototypes that change frequently.

Q: Do I need to know distributed systems? It depends on the specific team and interviewer, but yes, it is possible. Experiences show that embedded candidates sometimes receive "standard" system design questions (like designing a web crawler or messenger). It is safer to have a basic grasp of distributed concepts (load balancing, databases, caching) in addition to your embedded design expertise.

9. Other General Tips

Clarify Constraints Immediately In coding and design interviews, always ask about constraints. For embedded questions, ask about memory size, processor speed, and power limitations. Showing that you care about these resources signals "embedded mindset" immediately.

Communicate Your Thought Process Meta interviewers are trained to evaluate how you think. If you are solving a bit manipulation problem, explain why you are using an XOR operation before you write it. If you are designing a system, explain why you chose a specific protocol (e.g., "I'm choosing SPI over I2C here because we need higher throughput...").

Refresh Your OS Fundamentals Many candidates fail because they cannot explain the basics of how an Operating System works. Review concepts like virtual memory, paging, context switching, and the difference between user space and kernel space.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Becoming an Embedded Engineer at Meta is an opportunity to work on hardware that could define the next decade of human interaction. Whether you are optimizing battery life for AR glasses or designing the firmware for massive AI clusters, the work is challenging, high-impact, and technically deep.

To succeed, you must present yourself as a "T-shaped" engineer: possessing broad competency in computer science fundamentals (algorithms, data structures) and deep expertise in embedded systems (RTOS, kernel, hardware integration). Do not neglect the general coding practice, as this is often the gatekeeper to the domain-specific rounds.

The compensation data above reflects the high value Meta places on this role. To secure an offer, focus your preparation on bridging the gap between hardware constraints and software scalability. Approach your interviews with confidence, clear communication, and a readiness to solve complex problems on the fly. Good luck!