Go Language Fundamentals

If you are interviewing for a role utilizing Go, the technical leads will evaluate your deep understanding of the language's idioms and runtime behavior.

Be ready to go over:

• Language Idioms – Proper error handling, interface design, and effective use of slices and maps.
• Generics – Understanding when to leverage generics to reduce boilerplate versus when concrete types or interfaces are more appropriate.
• Memory Management – How variables escape to the heap, garbage collection implications, and basic performance profiling.

Example scenarios:

• Explaining how a slice grows in memory under the hood and the performance implications of frequent slice copying.
• Demonstrating how to use Go generics to write a type-safe, reusable data structure, such as a concurrent queue.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Product Fit

Simplesurance values engineers who think like product owners. You must show that you can work effectively with non-technical stakeholders to deliver business value.

Be ready to go over:

• Agile Methodologies – Your experience with sprint planning, grooming sessions, and retrospective feedback loops.
• Stakeholder Communication – Translating highly technical challenges into clear business trade-offs for product managers.
• Team Dynamics – How you mentor junior engineers, handle technical disagreements, and contribute to a positive engineering culture.

Example scenarios:

• Discussing a situation where you had to negotiate the scope of a feature with a Product Owner due to technical complexity or tight deadlines.
• Explaining how you align your technical roadmap with the broader strategic goals of the product organization.

As a Software Engineer at Simplesurance, your daily work will span software design, system integration, and collaborative product delivery.

• Design and Develop Core APIs – You will build, optimize, and maintain high-performance, scalable backend services primarily written in Go. These services power the core insurance integration platforms that connect with external e-commerce partners.
• Maintain High Engineering Standards – You will write clean, modular, and self-documenting code supported by comprehensive unit and integration tests. You will actively participate in rigorous code reviews to ensure consistency and quality across the codebase.
• Collaborate with Product Teams – You will work closely with Product Owners, frontend developers, and cross-functional leads to define technical specifications, estimate tasks, and deliver features in an agile, sprint-based environment.
• Extend and Refactor Existing Systems – As business needs evolve, you will continuously refactor legacy services, improve system performance, and introduce modern architectural patterns to handle increasing transaction volumes.
• Participate in Tech Community Initiatives – You will contribute to the engineering culture by sharing knowledge internally, participating in architectural discussions, and representing Simplesurance at local community events, such as the Golang talks hosted by the company.

The ideal candidate for a Software Engineer position at Simplesurance combines strong technical expertise with an agile mindset and excellent communication skills.

Technical Qualifications

• Strong Backend Experience – Proven experience building production-grade backend applications, with a strong preference for candidates proficient in Go (Golang).
• API Design & Integration – Deep understanding of RESTful API design principles, HTTP protocols, and microservices architecture.
• Testing & Quality Assurance – Demonstrated commitment to writing highly testable code, including extensive experience with unit testing, integration testing, and test automation frameworks.
• Database & Concurrency Knowledge – Familiarity with relational and non-relational databases, coupled with a solid understanding of concurrent programming patterns and thread-safe operations.

Experience & Soft Skills

• Agile Experience – Experience working in structured agile teams (Scrum or Kanban) alongside Product Owners and other engineering disciplines.
• Clear Communication – Strong verbal and written communication skills in English, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical teammates.
• Problem-Solving Mindset – A proactive, analytical approach to troubleshooting production issues, optimizing code, and designing systems defensively.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS or GCP) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Active participation in the open-source community or local developer meetups.
• Prior experience in the fintech, insurtech, or e-commerce integration sectors.

Q: How difficult is the interview process at Simplesurance? A: The process is rated as average to challenging. While the individual coding tasks (like the request counter) are conceptually straightforward, the rigor comes from the live extension round, where you must refactor and build upon your code under time constraints while maintaining high standards of clean architecture.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the first screen to an offer? A: The entire process generally takes between 3 to 5 weeks, depending on candidate availability and scheduling. Simplesurance aims to keep candidates informed, but because the process involves multiple practical coding reviews and cross-functional rounds, it can take time to coordinate all stakeholders.

Q: Do I need to have professional experience in Go to apply? A: While Go is the primary language used by the backend teams and is highly valued, strong software engineers with deep experience in other modern backend languages (like Java, C#, or Rust) who demonstrate solid architectural principles, clean coding habits, and a willingness to learn Go quickly are highly encouraged to apply.

Q: What makes a candidate stand out during the final interview day? A: Successful candidates stand out by demonstrating excellent communication during the live coding extension. Instead of coding in silence, they talk through their thought process, explain the trade-offs of their design choices, write clean unit tests for their new code, and handle feedback constructively.

Q: What is the remote work policy at Simplesurance? A: Simplesurance generally operates on a hybrid model, particularly for roles based out of their main hubs like Berlin or Lisbon. While they offer flexibility, they highly value in-person collaboration, team-building, and community engagement, making regular office presence an important part of their engineering culture.

• Prepare for the Code Extension: Treat your take-home assignment as the foundation for your future work. Write it with the expectation that you will need to add new features to it during a live session. Keep your classes, packages, and functions highly decoupled.
• Master HTTP Proxy Headers: Make sure you thoroughly understand how HTTP headers like X-Forwarded-For, X-Real-IP, and proxy chains work. Be ready to explain how you would securely and accurately parse these headers to extract a client's true IP address.
• Think Out Loud: During the live coding and technical discussions, continuously communicate your thought process. If you are making a temporary trade-off to save time, state it explicitly and explain how you would write it in a production environment.
• Clarify Expectations Early: Ensure you align with the recruitment team on your experience level, role expectations, and salary requirements during your initial HR screening to ensure mutual alignment throughout the multi-stage process.

Preparing for a Software Engineer interview at Simplesurance requires a balanced focus on clean code design, practical problem-solving, and collaborative communication. By mastering backend fundamentals, refining your Go development skills, and preparing to build iteratively on your code, you can navigate the selection process with confidence.

Remember that Simplesurance is looking for engineers who do not just write code, but who actively contribute to a robust product architecture and a healthy engineering culture. Treat every technical challenge as a collaborative exercise with your future peers, and use the live coding sessions to showcase your structured thinking and adaptability.

The compensation insights above represent typical market ranges for engineering talent at Simplesurance. Your specific offer will depend on your depth of experience, technical performance during the practical assessments, and the seniority level determined during the evaluation process. To explore deeper interview insights, company reviews, and additional preparation resources, utilize the comprehensive datasets available on Dataford to maximize your interview readiness. Good luck with your preparation!