Atlassian Software Engineer Interview Guide

The short answer: Atlassian's engineering interview page describes a coding interview in two parts, Data Structures and then Code Design, in the language you choose, a 60-minute system design interview, a manager interview and a values interview usually run by someone outside the hiring team. Interviewers then hold a debrief, and an independent Hiring Committee that never met you decides from the written feedback and your CV. Atlassian publishes sample coding prompts for each track. Candidate reports add a recruiter call and a one-hour technical screen run by an outside interview partner before the main interviews. Last reviewed October 2026.

Atlassian software engineer interview: quick answers

The Atlassian software engineer role

What Atlassian engineers work on, the skills its job postings ask for, and what a normal week looks like.

Atlassian software engineer levels and pay

Your level sets the bar you are interviewed against and the pay band of the offer.

Atlassian's US postings do not print a level for Software Engineer or Senior Software Engineer roles. One Principal posting names P60 and mentions coaching P40 and P50 engineers, and a Bengaluru Senior Principal posting names P70. Atlassian does not say which titles match P40 and P50, so we label rows by posting title.

Pay in Atlassian's US job postings

Atlassian's US postings print base pay for new hires in three geographic zones and say you may also be eligible for benefits, bonuses, commissions and equity. The table shows Zone A, which Atlassian's pay zone page defines as the SF Bay Area and the New York Tri-State area.

Zone B (Boston, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle and Washington D.C.) and Zone C (everywhere else) are lower. For the Backend, Frontend and Full Stack postings they are $135.3K to $176.6K and $124.7K to $162.9K; for Principal, $188.7K to $246.4K and $174.1K to $227.2K. The graduate role is hybrid in Seattle, a Zone B city, where the posting lists $110.2K to $143.8K. Rows use posting titles because only one posting names a level. Ranges seen October 27, 2026.

Atlassian software engineer interview process

The five interviews, the debrief and the Hiring Committee come from Atlassian's engineering interview page. The recruiter call, the technical screen and most round lengths come from candidate reports.

Based on Atlassian's own pages and candidate reports.

Atlassian publishes no timeline. Candidate reports put the process at about 4 to 6 weeks and say a candidate who falls short in one round may be asked to do an additional round. The final call sits with the Hiring Committee, not with the interviewers. Last reviewed October 2026.

What is different at Atlassian

• Published sample prompts. Atlassian links real sample coding prompts for Software Engineer and Principal Engineer tracks in Frontend, Backend, Fullstack and SRE versions, so you can practice the exact style.
• A Code Design part. The coding interview has a second part focused on designing working code, and you choose the language for both parts. Atlassian says it hires language agnostic and teaches its preferred languages after you join.
• A full values interview, often with a non-engineer. Someone from outside the hiring team, for example Sales, HR or Customer Support, tests five values that include "Open company, no bullshit" and "Don't #@!% the customer".
• An independent Hiring Committee. The people who decide never interviewed you and see only the written feedback and your CV, so clear communication in each round matters for what the interviewers write down.
• An outside first screen. Candidate reports say the first technical screen is usually run by an outside interview partner rather than an Atlassian engineer, and the partner says the same in its own case study.
• Virtual and zoned. The loop is virtual, many US roles are fully remote, and every US posting prints base pay for three geographic zones.

Atlassian software engineer interview questions

Coding problems from our bank tagged to Atlassian, then design, fundamentals and behavioral prompts we wrote for this guide.

1from typing import List, Optional, Set, Tuple
2
3def visible_pages(pages: List[Tuple[str, Optional[str], Optional[Set[str]]]], user: str) -> List[str]:
4    """Return the sorted ids of pages the user can see."""
5    pass

1from typing import List, Optional, Set, Tuple
2
3def visible_pages(pages: List[Tuple[str, Optional[str], Optional[Set[str]]]], user: str) -> List[str]:
4    info = {pid: (parent, allowed) for pid, parent, allowed in pages}
5    memo = {}
6
7    def can_see(pid):
8        # Walk up until a root or an already-known page, then fill answers back down the path.
9        path, cur = [], pid
10        while cur is not None and cur not in memo:
11            path.append(cur)
12            cur = info[cur][0]
13        ok = True if cur is None else memo[cur]
14        for p in reversed(path):
15            allowed = info[p][1]
16            ok = ok and (allowed is None or user in allowed)
17            memo[p] = ok
18        return memo[pid]
19
20    return sorted(pid for pid in info if can_see(pid))
21
22# Complexity: O(n log n) for n pages (each page is resolved once, then sorted); O(n) space.

How to prepare

A plan for the Atlassian loop, most important first:

1. Work through the sample coding prompt Atlassian publishes for your track (Frontend, Backend, Fullstack or SRE) in the language you know best.
2. Practice Code Design problems: small classes with clear interfaces and tests, then add a new requirement and adapt the design.
3. Practice data structures problems while saying your trade-offs out loud, since Atlassian judges how you reason more than a perfect line.
4. Practice system design for multi-tenant products like Jira and Confluence, covering reliability and cost, and rehearse adapting when a constraint changes.
5. Prepare one or two projects for the manager interview: who you worked with, the technical challenges and the business case.
6. Prepare a plain-language story for each of Atlassian's five values, for an interviewer who may not be an engineer.

Practice path

Courses that cover the rounds above:

• Data Structures and Algorithms
• System Design
• Python Basics