# TL;DR I want to move into a new role by 2025 Q2. I’m excited about Palantir, particularly Delta & Echo functions. But I’m not sure which is the right fit, what I should do now to prepare, and how I should prepare especially given my experience (recently exited CTO/VP of Engineering, past experience in both engineering management & product management). # Why Why do I suspect Palantir is a good fit? A few reasons... * I care a lot about data problems in high-business complexity settings. * I don't like overly structured heirarchies (levels, middle management, etc). * I am highly entrepreneurial, BUT I don't want to start another company _right now_. * I like skirting the line between engineering, product, and customer development/GTM. * I have several ex-early-Palantir friends who I deeply respect + several of them have mentioned Palantir could be a good fit. # Questions * What is the Palantir interview process? * What’s the difference between FDSE and DS? * Which would you recommend I do, based on background? * How do you think interview process would be adjusted for me, based on background? (if at all) * I have 12 months, how should I prepare? * Should I worry about not being new grad / being experienced? Is it silly to work @ Palantir unless you are a new grad? * What non-obvious factors usually push someone to “strong hire”? # Background ## Head of Engineering @ Series C financial services startup, sold for ~$250M in early 2022 _2018 to present_ - I run a team of ~50, with 6 EMs/sr EM direct reports, reporting to new boss who is overall CTO (ex-FAANG VP). Responsible for all of engineering within our business unit (several product engineering teams, data science, SRE, infosec) - I'm on our startup's founding team & executive team, so also helped build company out to 200+ ppl w/CEO, recruited other key XFN leaders, significant role in fundraising & board management, had biggest role in M&A/selling the company outside of CEO (everything from pitching to diligence, etc.) - Eng team built multiple 0-to-1 products driving over $30M in ARR (one flagship product), scaled top-line by 60x within 4 years after first year of finding PMF - Improved customer sentiment of our products compared to industry, NPS is more than 2x competitors and most companies in our space. - Data-driven company, think risk decisioning & pricing. - Established distribution relationships with large enterprise customers (ADP, Square, Toast) & risk capital deals with large carriers/reinsurers (Swiss Re, AIG) ## Product @ FAANG _2016 to 2018_ - Diverged a bit from earlier path, wanted to see what product was like - Managed several products related to search & data quality - won't go into details, but had impact that spanned meaningful %-age of userbase for one core product ## Engineering Manager @ very well known consumer product _2012 to 2015_ - was early engineer at well known consumer company, working on growth engineering - grew to manage a team of ~8 - directly responsible for increasing top-line metric by ~50x - built lots of instrumentation for analytics / growth measurement - also built: onboarding flow, invite ranking, email invite flows, and more - worked on integration with a very large strategic partner ## before this - 5+ years as early IC at 2 small startups, which range from small (9-figure acquisition) to large (category defining consumer app), with a brief stint in finance out of school ## school - went to ivy league uni for math & CS, graduated 2006 # Follow-up Questions re: DS role - How would you advise prepping? What kind of "syllabus" would you craft for yourself if you were in my shoes? (I have the benefit of time…) - What do you think I'm likely to experience in the interview process given I'm a more experienced candidate? - What do you think I'm likely to experience in the DS interview process given my background is so engineering-heavy? - Would you do anything to tweak resume, if DS focus? - What non-obvious factors usually push someone to “strong hire”? What gets emphasized/called out in debriefs for strong hires? - What has your experience been like? Pros/cons? - In my shoes, what are the biggest pitfalls to be wary of? - Could use some feedback on how to engage my Palantir network… - You alluded to more experienced hires you’ve worked with or know. I’d love to ask you more about this. - What was your experience like negotiating / comparing comp?