I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at BillionToOne (Union City, CA) in Aug 2023
Interview
My first interview was through zoom with the senior CLA. After this interview, I completed an online skills assessment that tested my attention to detail. Second round of interviews was in person (Union City facility) and lasted two hours. I was interviewed by the lead CLA and the Associate Director of the lab. There was also a lab practical that tested my ability to use a micropipette to prepare PCR tubes. The next interview would be with the CEO. I did not get to the third round of the interviews; I was notified about this two weeks after my second interview. Everyone I interviewed with was pleasant to talk to.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about how you work in a team. How do you see yourself in 1-2 years? Explain PCR and possible errors in PCR. What's something you didn't like about a previous position? Talk about a routine procedure you followed in a lab. What's a mistake you've made and learned from? What are three adjectives your previous colleagues would use to describe you? What are you hoping to gain from this role?
OA, hiring manager meeting, two more interviews with the team, on site experiment interview and executive interview. Usually took 2 to 3 days after each round to get back to me.
I applied online. I interviewed at BillionToOne (Menlo Park, CA) in May 2026
Interview
One online quiz, zoom interview with a lead CLA, zoom interview with the associate director of lab operations, zoom interview with the department team, an in person interview with a lab practical that they'll reimburse for travel expenses, a final interview with the senior vice president of lab operations, and one more zoom call where they review the offer with you. The process was extremely drawn out and long. Some of the questions felt really repetitive. I'm pretty disappointed that after that whole process they wouldn't negotiate pay with me and only offered a sign-on bonus.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The lab practical was a one page set of instructions on how to prepare mastermix (they were changing the protocol on the intended practical that day so it might be different from mine). You get your needed reagents labeled on a rack and you mix them based on the volumes provided on the instructions.
I was contacted within a few days after submitting my application for the testgorrila assessment. Didn't start it until 6 days later after a follow-up by the HR team. The assessment took 30 minutes, with 2 parts in Detail attentiveness (spotting differences, punctuation, spelling, and so on) and Data analysis (interpreting graphs). The assessment was overall easy, I landed in the 90ish percentile. Right the day after, I got contacted for inputting availability for the next 2 weeks. And got an interview date and time very quickly the next business day.