Skip to contentSkip to footer
  • Community
  • Jobs
  • Companies
  • Salaries
  • For employers
      Notifications

      Loading...

      Elevate your career

      Discover your earning potential, land dream jobs, and share work-life insights anonymously.

      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Starling

      Engaged employer

      About
      Reviews
      Pay and benefits
      Jobs
      Interviews
      Interviews
      Related searches: Starling reviews | Starling jobs | Starling salaries | Starling benefits
      Starling interviewsStarling Android Engineer interviewsStarling interview


      Glassdoor

      • About / Press
      • Awards
      • Blog
      • Research
      • Contact Us
      • Guides

      Employers

      • Free Employer Account
      • Employer Centre
      • Employers Blog

      Information

      • Help
      • Guidelines
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy and Ad Choices
      • Do Not Sell Or Share My Information
      • Cookie Consent Tool
      • Security

      Work With Us

      • Advertisers
      • Careers
      Download the App

      • Browse by:
      • Companies
      • Jobs
      • Locations
      • Communities
      • Recent posts

      Copyright © 2008-2026. Glassdoor LLC. "Glassdoor," "Worklife Pro," "Bowls" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor LLC.

      Company Bowl sample

      Want the inside scoop on your own company?

      Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.

      Bowls

      Get actionable career advice tailored to you by joining more bowls.

      Followed companies

      Stay ahead in opportunities and insider tips by following your dream companies.

      Job searches

      Get personalised job recommendations and updates by starting your searches.

      Android Engineer Interview

      16 Dec 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Starling in Feb 2021

      Interview

      Began with a phonecall from recruiter asking various background questions to gauge motivation and giving the opportunity to understand the process. The second phase was a video call with the engineering lead to go through more of the technical background and experience. He was inquisitive, respectful, and we had good rapport. Third phase was a coding challenge to do in your own time, built against their APIs. They were clear in the instructions that there is no time limit but they like the work to be completed in a week _if_possible_. Fourth phase was technical interview with the hiring manager and a technical interviewer. The questions were surprisingly confrontational at times with the engineer accusing me of behaviour that should be considered deeply unprofessional, disregarding my calm explanation, and proceeding to laugh with the manager that I had taken too long to complete the task: 2-3 days effort across 2 weeks in a very busy period where I had rightly prioritized my existing commitments. I explained my position and took this on the chin, again this was dismissed. As I explained to them, I had included very high test coverage as the hiring manager had flagged this as an area where they were currently lacking. This was not acknowledged by either party. I had also provided significant feedback on their API design and my own design assumptions for the task. There was no interest in these aspects either. When I outlined the inner workings of the tools they use on a daily basis, the engineer looked baffled rather than intrigued. Looking back on it I now get the impression the technical interviewer hadn't put much effort into reviewing the submitted work or my CV, and that they lacked an appreciation for the fundamental concepts underlying the frameworks they use on a daily basis. I was calm and polite throughout, but in retrospect their behaviour was rather disrespectful. Following this phase I received a call from the recruiter that I would not be progressing further due to insufficient technical experience. I politely expressed my surprise and asked for any further clarification available to support my career / any future applications to Starling. No feedback was available, bar that I had mentioned security a few times. In the context of working for a bank I would have thought that was an asset, but instead this seemed to be the only thing the recruiter could pinpoint to tell me. Some days later I followed-up with a request for a post-interview debrief with the hiring manager to gain the feedback, and it was indicated by him that this would be possible. The recruiter then closed down all contact and refused to respond. As a software engineer who cares deeply about their work it would have been invaluable for me to hear areas for improvement. This is something all engineers should seek as a guide for ongoing professional development. As an existing Starling customer and prospective candidate who took the time to apply, the refusal to provide feedback left me with a very negative opinion of the company. Prospective employees should be treated as a customer of the recruitment process, and may also be customers of the wider business. The behaviour I witnessed is baffling. As this was demonstrated at two different levels in the recruitment process I am concerned this may be indicative of wider company culture. I would not condone this treatment of my own customers. While I fully respect their decision I remain deeply disappointed by the experience.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Talk us through something in Android you have deep experience with
      Answer question
      1
      avatar
      Starling response
      4y
      Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback on your interview experience. We're sorry that you had a negative interview experience and have fed this back to the interviewing team.

      Other Android Engineer interview reviews for Starling

      Android Engineer Interview

      21 Sept 2022
      Anonymous interview candidate
      London, England
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Starling (London, England)

      Interview

      Got through to the technical take-home test and spent the best part of a week working on it. Once it had been submitted I was told that the test was great but due to not having security experience they wouldn't take it further. There was no mention prior of my security background.
      3
      avatar
      Starling response
      3y
      Thank you for taking time to leave a review. We appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear that you had a negative recruitment experience with us this time around. We would be happy to discuss feedback with you, please email us at careers@starlingbank.com.

      Android Engineer Interview

      4 Apr 2022
      Anonymous interview candidate
      London, England
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Starling (London, England) in Mar 2022

      Interview

      Simple process. 1. Initial recruiter phone screen. 2. Technical interview with team lead and team member. (this was very heavily focussed on Android app security after mentioning it on my CV) 3. Simple technical test using some of their API's. (They asked me to additionally implement certificate pinning and also had to show how I would encrypt and store the access token locally on the device). After the test I was ghosted, I followed up with the (previously) very engaged and responsive recruiter and got absoultely nothing, feel like I've dodged a bullet considering they couldn't even be bothered to send a generic rejection email.

      Interview questions [3]

      Question 1

      Describe the main Android components.
      Answer question

      Question 2

      How would you attempt to detect Frida in an Android app?
      Answer question

      Question 3

      How does certificate pinning help make an app more secure? What are some common ways of bypassing it?
      Answer question
      3
      avatar
      Starling response
      4y
      Thank you for taking time to leave a review. We appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear that you had a negative recruitment experience with us this time around. We had a change in the team and we may have missed your email on this occasion, please do email careers@starlingbank.com if you'd like to discuss feedback.

      Android Engineer Interview

      7 Dec 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Starling

      Interview

      In the first instance a recruiter and I had a phone interview call. He was very professional and asked me questions like "what about Starling appeals to you?" I then met with the engineering lead over a video call. He was extremely polite and accepting. He did not ask the usual cliche questions. He asked me why I made certain job transition choices. Anything I said, he was taking into quiet consideration. Overall, he treated me with respect and progressed me onto the next round. The next round was a take-home test using their APIs. Bog-standard stuff. After submitting that, I got a phone call from the recruiter saying they have rejected me based on my test. Very pleased that they gave feedback. They were extremely nitpicky about my code and some stuff like, "too many extension functions" was a bit ridiculous. However, at least they gave proper feedback! My improvements to Starling would be to have more team members join the interview call.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Why did you move from small company X to large company Y? Create an app to interface with Starling's API
      Answer question
      avatar
      Starling response
      4y
      Thank you for taking the time to leave a feedback on your interview experience. We are glad you had a positive experience. Thank you again for your interest in Starling!

      Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

      avatar
      Sberbank
      4.2★Compensation and benefits
      avatar
      World Bank Group
      3.9★Compensation and benefits
      avatar
      Bank of America
      3.8★Compensation and benefits
      avatar
      Banco do Brasil
      4.2★Compensation and benefits