GoCardless software engineer interview guide

How GoCardless interviews software engineers: a Talent team call, a 60-minute pair-programming session, then technical and Foundational Skills interviews.

Updated 9 October 20267 sources7 min read

Stages3Preliminary call, coding interview, final loop

Preliminary call30–45 minWith a member of the Talent team

Coding interview60 minPair programming on a day-to-day problem

Final loopTwo × 60 minTechnical and Foundational Skills interviews

Practise the GoCardless interview with TobyTalk through a pseudo-code review, a large-scale design and your teamwork examples out loud, and get a scored debrief. Your first 5 minutes are free.

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About GoCardless

GoCardless calls itself "a global leader in bank payments". A June 2026 job posting says: "Over 100,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, use GoCardless to collect, manage and send bank payments."¹ The same posting says US$130bn+ is processed annually across 30+ countries, and that "As of April 2025, we had 806 employees (GeeCees) globally, with 524 based in the UK".¹

In FY25, the 12 months to 30 June 2025, Group turnover rose 22% year-on-year to £160.9m from £132.3m, with GoCardless Ltd contributing £155.5m, up 18%.² The company reported "a 27% decrease in net losses in FY25", following "a 55% decrease in FY24", and said the Group "doubled the volume of payments processed, up to £79.2bn".²

GoCardless recorded its first EBITDA-positive quarter on an adjusted basis in the final quarter of FY25, and expects its first EBITDA-positive year on an adjusted basis in FY26. CEO Hiroki Takeuchi said: "we're on track for our first profitable year on an adjusted basis in FY26."²

The interview process

As GoCardless's engineering blog describes the Software Development Engineer process. The post dates from 2022, so the process may have changed since.³

The Preliminary Call30–45 min
The post says: "The first step in the interview process at GoCardless is to talk to a member of our Talent team." The call covers your past projects, the challenges you want to work on and what motivates you.³
The Coding Interview60 min
A pair-programming exercise with one of GoCardless's engineers, on a problem the company faces day to day. The post says: "This is by no means a leetcode, algorithm, hackerrank type session".³
Final loop2 interviews
Two 60-minute interviews. GoCardless says "most candidates will typically spread these over two or three days within a week."³
- Technical Interview. This "is to help us understand how you solve problems outside of writing code". You first review and improve pseudo-code, for example for scaling, testability and edge cases. Then: "For the second part of this interview, we'll be asking you to design a large-scale system."³
- Foundational Skills interview. "The Foundational Skills interview is here to see how you work with others". It looks at "the ability to communicate effectively, work collaboratively in a team, as well as prioritise, adapt to change" and take on feedback.³
Decision and feedback
The Talent team member collates interviewer feedback "with a member of the senior leadership team to adjudicate the discussion to make sure the feedback is unbiased and fair". Then "the Talent team member will give your full feedback (regardless of the outcome)."³ The post also says: "A few days after you finish our process you'll receive a feedback form."³

What GoCardless looks for

The same engineering post says: "The most important thing for us is being able to solve fuzzy, novel, ambiguous problems and communicate those with others". It sets this alongside core concepts such as reliability, scalability, testing and performance.³

In the coding interview. "We love to see a good balance of planning a solution, and putting it into action", along with "showing awareness for technical tradeoffs and writing testable code". Follow-up questions probe how deep your knowledge of non-functional requirements goes.³
In system design. The post advises scoping the problem, clarifying the requirements, justifying your decisions and explaining your technology choices.³
At more senior levels. "At more senior levels, we might expect more concrete examples of working across multiple teams, creating influence" and driving stakeholder buy-in.³
Against a framework. "To determine whether we move forward at this stage, we use our leveling framework", which maps to the competencies expected at each level.³

The Site Reliability Engineer II posting says "We're an organisation defined by our values". Two it quotes are "We start with why before we begin any project, to ensure it's aligned with our mission" and "We act with integrity, always."¹

Questions to expect

Based on what GoCardless says each stage tests. Toby wrote these for practice; GoCardless has not published them.

Preliminary Call

Which past project are you proudest of, and what was your part in it?

What kind of engineering challenges do you want to take on next?

What motivates you, and why bank payments?

Coding Interview

Before you start typing, how do you plan to approach this problem?

Which trade-off did you just make, and what did it cost you?

How would you test this function, and what makes it easy or hard to test?

How would this behave if the volume of payments it handles grew sharply?

Technical Interview

Here is some pseudo-code. Where would it fail at scale, and how would you improve it?

Which edge cases does this code miss?

Design a system that collects recurring payments from many businesses' customers. What do you need to clarify first?

Why did you pick that datastore over the alternatives?

Foundational Skills interview

Tell me about a time priorities shifted under you mid-project. What did you do?

Describe some feedback that changed how you work.

Give an example of explaining a messy, unclear problem to people outside your team.

For senior roles: how did you win buy-in from another team for a change you needed?

How to prepare

Pair, don't puzzle. The coding interview is not a leetcode-style session.³ Practise solving a realistic problem with someone else, planning first and then building, and say your trade-offs aloud as you go.
Write code you can test. GoCardless looks for testable code and probes non-functional requirements in follow-ups.³ Be ready to discuss reliability, scalability, testing and performance for anything you write.
Practise reviewing, not only writing. The Technical Interview starts with improving pseudo-code.³ Take a short piece of code and list what you would change for scaling, testability and edge cases.
Scope before you sketch. For the large-scale design part, start by clarifying requirements, then justify each decision and each technology you choose.³
Prepare examples of working with others. Cover clear communication, teamwork, prioritising, adapting to change and acting on feedback. If you are senior, add examples of influence across teams.³
Plan your week. GoCardless says most candidates will typically spread the two final interviews over two or three days within a week.³ Book yours so you have time to reset between them.
Learn the business. Over 100,000 businesses use GoCardless, and payments processed doubled to £79.2bn in FY25.^{1, 2}

Worth mentioning in the interview

On 11 December 2025 Tech.eu reported that Dutch fintech Mollie was buying GoCardless in a €1.05bn deal, citing the FT that it was "90 per cent stock" with a small cash element. GoCardless then employed "around 800 people".⁴
On 1 September 2026 Mollie announced it had completed its acquisition of GoCardless. "Koen Köppen, CEO of Mollie, leads the group", and GoCardless continues as "GoCardless, a Mollie company" under co-founder Hiroki Takeuchi.⁵
The combined business serves "more than 350,000 businesses across 30+ markets", and "Integration will be phased and led by what is best for customers".⁵
Tech.eu reported that GoCardless's FY25 Companies House accounts showed headcount up from 606 to 626 year-on-year, with a provision for redundancies affecting around 90 roles. Its article was updated to say the restructure took place in 2025 and "there are not planned job cuts, as previously reported."⁶
The careers page says "We have a hybrid working model".⁷

Quick answers

How many interview stages does GoCardless have for software engineers?

GoCardless's 2022 engineering blog post describes three stages for Software Development Engineers: a 30–45 minute Preliminary Call with the Talent team, a 60-minute Coding Interview, and a final loop of a Technical Interview and a Foundational Skills interview. The process may have changed since then.³

Does GoCardless ask leetcode questions?

Not according to its 2022 engineering blog post. It describes the Coding Interview as pair programming on a problem GoCardless faces day to day, and says: "This is by no means a leetcode, algorithm, hackerrank type session".³

Is there a system design interview at GoCardless?

Yes. GoCardless's engineering blog says the second part of the Technical Interview asks you to design a large-scale system, and assesses scoping, clarifying requirements, justifying decisions and technology choices.³

Does GoCardless give interview feedback?

Its engineering blog says "the Talent team member will give your full feedback (regardless of the outcome)." It adds that a few days after you finish the process you'll receive a feedback form.³

Does GoCardless publish salary ranges?

Yes. Its careers page says "For candidates we share the full base salary pay range on our job adverts" and "Our approach is to offer salaries between the minimum and midpoint of the range."⁷ As one example, a Site Reliability Engineer II listing in London lists "Base salary range: £62,400 - £93,600".¹

More interview guides

Sources

Site Reliability Engineer II (London, UK) - GoCardless job postingGoCardless job posting · 11 Jun 2026
GoCardless grows 22% in FY25 as fintech records first quarter of profitabilityGoCardless blog · 13 Apr 2026
Software Development Engineer Interviewing Process at GoCardlessGoCardless engineering blog · 1 Sep 2022
Mollie buys GoCardless in €1.05bn deal - Tech.euTech.eu · 11 Dec 2025
Mollie and GoCardless combine to create Europe's leading payments and financial services partnerGoCardless blog · 1 Sep 2026
GoCardless sees revenue boost, undertook 2025 restructure - Tech.euTech.eu · 13 Apr 2026
Careers at GoCardlessGoCardless Careers

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