Top 40
Prep plan
Updated weekly · Last refresh Aug 30

The Broad Institute Software Engineer Interview Questions

The questions to prepare for a The Broad Institute Software Engineer interview. Questions from real interview reports rank first. Updated weekly.

40questions
~7htotal time
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1
CodingStart here. 7 questions · ~69 min
Merge Two Sorted Linked ListsEasy
Practice

Merge two sorted singly linked lists into one sorted list by relinking existing nodes.

RecursionLinked ListsSortingThe Broad Institute
Longest Substring Without RepeatsMedium
Practice

Find the longest substring with all unique characters using a sliding window.

Hash TablesStringsTwo PointersThe Broad Institute
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2
Security & Infrastructure5 questions · ~49 min
Microservices Architecture ImplementationHard

Tests your ability to decompose services and manage operational complexity securely.

InfrastructureToolsThe Broad Institute
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3
Behavioral & Leadership23 questions · ~225 min
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4
More topics5 questions · ~49 min
Balancing Speed and QualityMedium

Describe a real example of choosing between faster delivery and a higher quality bar, including stakeholder alignment and risk management.

Trade-offsStakeholder ManagementSuccess CriteriaThe Broad Institute
Web System for Millions of UsersHard

Tests your system design skills for scalability, availability, and performance.

Feature StoreModel ServingThe Broad Institute
Large-Scale Genomic Data PipelinesHard

Tests your ability to design scalable, reliable pipelines for genomics workloads.

ETLBatch ProcessingOrchestrationThe Broad Institute
Optimizing a Database QueryMedium

Tests SQL reasoning, indexing, query plans, and performance troubleshooting.

Joinsquery optimizationAggregationsThe Broad Institute
Monolith vs Distributed Trade-offsMedium

Tests system architecture judgment and understanding of scaling, latency, and operational costs.

Trade-offsRisk AssessmentScope ManagementThe Broad Institute

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Hands-on SQL practiceWrite and run real queries in the editor. 3 drills · ~30 min
The finish line: interview-readyComplete all 40 questions plus 3 hands-on drills to finish this plan.