Microsoft Data Scientist Interview Questions
Master your tech interview with our curated database of real questions from top companies.
Handle repeated last-minute interview reschedules
You’re a candidate interviewing with TikTok. You requested a China-friendly time slot and it was confirmed, but two days later HR moved it. The second...
Resolve conflict with measurable outcome
Behavioral: Conflict With a Teammate or Stakeholder (Data Scientist — Technical Screen) Provide a specific, first-person example. Use a clear structur...
Solve two-pointer, sliding-window, and string tasks
Solve the following three coding tasks: 1) Two-pointer in-place de-duplication: Given a non-decreasing integer array nums and an integer k >= 1, modif...
Compute sample size and analyze A/B results
A/B Test: Sample Size, Sequential Correction, and Post-Experiment Analysis Context You are planning a two-arm A/B test with a binary (Bernoulli) conve...
Lead an ML project under ambiguity
Behavioral and Leadership: End-to-End ML Project Context: Onsite Data Scientist interview. Use one concrete project you personally led end-to-end. Be ...
Compare CNN/RNN/LSTM and implement K-means
Deep Learning Concepts and K-means Implementation (Onsite ML Interview) Part A: CNNs vs RNNs and LSTMs Contrast CNNs and RNNs for the following modali...
Implement lower_bound on unknown-size sorted array
Lower Bound in Unknown-Length Nondecreasing Array via API Setup You are given a non-decreasing integer array A of unknown length n. You cannot access ...
Test classifier difference with McNemar's test
Paired Comparison of Two Classifiers via McNemar's Test You evaluated two classifiers on the same 10,000 labeled examples and summarized the paired ou...
Describe leading an ambiguous ML project end-to-end
Behavioral & Leadership: End-to-End ML Project Under Ambiguity (STAR) Provide a STAR-format example where you led an end-to-end ML project with ambigu...
Implement robust k-means from scratch
Implement K-Means Clustering From Scratch (Production-Ready) Context You are asked to implement K-Means clustering from scratch for a machine learning...
Compare CNN, RNN, and LSTM rigorously
Sequence Modeling: Rigorous Comparison of CNNs, RNNs, and LSTMs Context and assumptions: - We are modeling 1D sequences of shape (batch=32, time=100, ...
Implement rotated array binary search with duplicates
Given an integer array nums that is a non-decreasing array rotated an unknown number of times. Duplicates may exist. Implement a function that returns...
Query email logs for deliverability insights
Using the schema and sample data below, write SQL to answer parts a–c. Assume timestamps are UTC. Today is 2025-09-01. Schema: - Emails(sent_id INT, m...
Design and analyze email deliverability experiment
Experiment Design: Outlook vs Gmail Deliverability to a Specific Enterprise Domain Context You need to determine whether sending from Outlook achieves...
Handle unreliable email during time-critical coordination
Scheduling Under Email Deliverability Risk: 72-Hour Action Plan and Escalation Scenario You must schedule a critical Data Scientist technical screen w...
Design a model for imbalanced conversions
Predicting Purchase Propensity After a Campaign (5% Positives) You previously ran a marketing campaign to 10,000 customers and observed 500 purchases ...
Compute P(Bag B | red) via Bayes
Bayes' Rule: Posterior Probability of the Chosen Bag Setup - There are three bags containing red (r) and green (g) balls: - Bag A: 4 r, 6 g (10 tota...
Reverse a list in-place
Coding Task: Reverse a List In-Place (Python) Context You're implementing a utility function during a technical screen. The function must reverse a Py...
Find common friends from directed edges
You have a directed edge list that records who followed whom. A mutual “friendship” exists only if both directions appear (A→B and B→A). Schema and sa...
Describe Overcoming Challenges in Machine Learning Projects
Microsoft Data Scientist Phone Screen — Behavioral Questions (Use STAR) Instructions Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to answer e...