As a Software Engineer at BBVA, you play a vital role in shaping the technological landscape of one of the leading financial institutions in the world. This position is not just about writing code; it's about developing solutions that enhance user experiences and streamline banking operations. You will contribute to innovative projects that leverage advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, data analytics, and machine learning, all while addressing the evolving needs of customers and the business. Your impact as a Software Engineer extends beyond immediate technical contributions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, UX designers, and business analysts, to create robust and scalable applications. Your work will help ensure that BBVA remains competitive in the fast-paced financial sector, enabling the institution to offer cutting-edge services that meet the demands of a diverse customer base. This role is critical and engaging, offering you the opportunity to tackle complex problems, participate in high-stakes projects, and influence the future direction of banking technology. You'll be part of a dynamic environment where your expertise will directly contribute to BBVA's mission of delivering superior financial services.
Phone Screening
reportedBegin with a phone screening with a recruiter to discuss your background and assess fit for the role.
What to demonstrate
- Begin with a phone screening with a recruiter to discuss your background and assess fit for the role
- Depth in Technical interviews
How to prepare
- Be able to walk your CV end to end in two minutes, and say why this company specifically.
- Have your salary expectations, notice period and location constraints ready, and ask for the rest of the loop in writing.
Technical Interviews
reportedParticipate in a series of technical interviews assessing coding skills, system design capabilities, and problem-solving abilities.
What to demonstrate
- Participate in a series of technical interviews assessing coding skills, system design capabilities, and problem-solving abilities
- Depth in Technical interviews
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: What experience do you have with cloud technologies or microservices?
- Answer aloud and timed: Can you explain the difference between REST and SOAP APIs?
Behavioral Interviews
reportedEngage in behavioral interviews to evaluate interpersonal skills and cultural fit within the organization.
What to demonstrate
- Engage in behavioral interviews to evaluate interpersonal skills and cultural fit within the organization
- Depth in Technical interviews
How to prepare
- Prepare three examples from your own work, each with a decision you made and an outcome you can quantify.
- Re-read the description of the behavioral interviews above and write down what you would ask to confirm before it.
PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.
Research the Company
Understanding BBVA's mission and values will help you align your answers with what the company stands for.
Practice Coding
If coding exercises are part of the interview, practice common algorithms and data structures to ensure you are well-prepared.
Prepare Questions
Have thoughtful questions ready for your interviewers to demonstrate your interest in the role and the company.
Showcase Your Work
Be ready to discuss your previous projects in detail, focusing on your specific contributions and the outcomes.
Be Yourself
Authenticity can set you apart. Show your personality and how you can contribute to the team dynamic.
Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.
Write a function to reverse a string in your preferred programming language.
Write a function to reverse a string in your preferred programming language.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
How would you implement a search algorithm to find an item in an array?
How would you implement a search algorithm to find an item in an array?
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Solve a coding problem on a whiteboard or shared screen.
Solve a coding problem on a whiteboard or shared screen.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
How would you approach designing a database schema for a new application?
How would you approach designing a database schema for a new application?
Approach
- Name the grain you start from and join outward from it.
- Check whether any join is one-to-many before aggregating, or the sums inflate.
- Say which index the query would use, and what makes it unusable.
- Handle the rows that do not match: that is usually the actual question.
Follow-up
- How does the query change if that join becomes one-to-many?
- What happens to this when the table is ten times larger?
Hold a per-tenant active cap against concurrent creates
A tenant on the standard plan may hold at most 50 resources with status='active'. The create handler runs SELECT count(*) FROM resource WHERE tenant_id = $1 AND status = 'active', compares to 50, then inserts. Two creates arrive 3 ms apart on different instances and the tenant lands at 51. Name the anomaly, say whether PostgreSQL 16 READ COMMITTED or REPEATABLE READ prevents it and why, then give an implementation that holds the cap at READ COMMITTED with the exact statements. Finally, say what changes when the cap is 'at most one running export per tenant' on job_run.
Approach
- Name it: write skew. The two transactions read an overlapping set and write disjoint rows, so there is no row-level conflict for the engine to detect and each commit is individually legal.
- Rule out the levels precisely. READ COMMITTED takes a fresh snapshot per statement and takes no lock on the counted rows, so both see 49. PostgreSQL's REPEATABLE READ is snapshot isolation: it removes non-repeatable reads and phantoms within the snapshot but still admits write skew, because the anomaly is not a re-read of a changed row, it is a read of a set that a concurrent transaction invalidates. Only SERIALIZABLE closes it, by tracking the read dependency and aborting one transaction with SQLSTATE 40001 — a guarantee that exists only if the application re-runs the whole transaction from the read.
- Convert the set predicate into a single-row conflict: keep tenant.active_resource_count and run UPDATE tenant SET active_resource_count = active_resource_count + 1 WHERE tenant_id = $1 AND active_resource_count < 50 in the same transaction as the INSERT. Zero affected rows is the cap, returned as 409. The row lock serialises the decision at any isolation level, and contention is bounded to one tenant's row — which is also the fair-scheduling unit, unlike a global counter that would convoy every tenant behind one row.
- State the cost you just took on: a counter is a second source of truth that can drift, so every path that changes status must adjust it inside the same transaction, and a periodic reconciliation has to exist, with resource_revision as the authority for what the count should have been.
Follow-up
- A resource moves from archived back to active. Which statements change, and what breaks if the counter update and the status change land in different transactions?
- The cap becomes plan-dependent and a plan can change mid-month. Where does the number 50 live, and who reads it?
Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you solved it.
Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you solved it.
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
How do you ensure code quality and maintainability?
How do you ensure code quality and maintainability?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
What experience do you have with cloud technologies or microservices?
What experience do you have with cloud technologies or microservices?
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
Can you explain the difference between REST and SOAP APIs?
Can you explain the difference between REST and SOAP APIs?
Approach
- Say who the caller is and what they do when the call fails halfway.
- Define the identity of a request so a retry cannot double-apply it.
- Separate accepted, pending, failed and confirmed; they are different facts.
- Design the error taxonomy before the success shape; callers branch on it.
Follow-up
- What happens if the caller retries after a timeout?
- How does a client discover it is on an old version of this contract?
What programming languages are you most comfortable with, and why?
What programming languages are you most comfortable with, and why?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Design a system that can handle a high volume of transactions.
Design a system that can handle a high volume of transactions.
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
What considerations do you take into account for system performance and scalability?
What considerations do you take into account for system performance and scalability?
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
Present a case study where you had to make a trade-off in a project.
Present a case study where you had to make a trade-off in a project.
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
How do you approach learning a new technology or tool?
How do you approach learning a new technology or tool?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
How would you approach debugging a production issue?
How would you approach debugging a production issue?
Approach
- Establish what changed and when, before forming any theory.
- Pick a bisection that eliminates candidates whichever way it turns out.
- Check the instrumentation before believing the symptom.
- Separate the trigger from the cause; the deploy is rarely the bug.
Follow-up
- What would you look at first, and what would it rule out?
- How would you tell a cause from a coincidence here?
Built from the rounds and topics BBVA candidates report.
Prepare, practise & reflect
One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.
0 / 7 done01Map the BBVA loop
- Write out the reported sequence: Phone Screening, Technical Interviews, Behavioral Interviews.
- For each round, write one sentence on what it is judging, from the description above, and mark the one you are least ready for.
Deliverable: A one-page map of the 3 reported rounds, with the weakest marked.
02Work Technical interviews
- Spend the session on Technical interviews, which BBVA candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Technical interviews and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Technical interviews.
03Work Assessment/exams (selection tests)
- Spend the session on Assessment/exams (selection tests), which BBVA candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Assessment/exams (selection tests) and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Assessment/exams (selection tests).
04Work Problem solving skills
- Spend the session on Problem solving skills, which BBVA candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Problem solving skills and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Problem solving skills.
05Answer out loud: Technical / Domain Questions
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you solved it.
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you ensure code quality and maintainability?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Technical / Domain Questions question(s), under time.
06Answer out loud: System Design / Architecture
- Answer aloud, timed: Design a system that can handle a high volume of transactions.
- Answer aloud, timed: How would you approach designing a database schema for a new application?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported System Design / Architecture question(s), under time.
07Answer out loud: Behavioral / Leadership
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a time you had a conflict with a team member. How did you handle it?
- Answer aloud, timed: What motivates you to deliver your best work?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Behavioral / Leadership question(s), under time.
Expand any day for tasks and deliverables. Your progress is saved on this device.
Behavioural rounds judge the decision you made and what it cost.
Describe a time when you optimized a system for better performance.
Describe a time when you optimized a system for better performance.
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
Describe a time you had a conflict with a team member. How did you handle it?
Describe a time you had a conflict with a team member. How did you handle it?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
What motivates you to deliver your best work?
What motivates you to deliver your best work?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
How do you prioritize your tasks when managing multiple projects?
How do you prioritize your tasks when managing multiple projects?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
Can you give an example of how you led a team through a challenging situation?
Can you give an example of how you led a team through a challenging situation?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
- 01
Describe a time when you optimized a system for better performance.
- 02
Describe a time you had a conflict with a team member. How did you handle it?
- 03
What motivates you to deliver your best work?
- 04
How do you prioritize your tasks when managing multiple projects?
How difficult is the interview process at BBVA?
The interview process is generally seen as rigorous but fair, requiring solid technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Candidates report a mix of technical and behavioral interviews, which can vary in difficulty.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What differentiates successful candidates?
Successful candidates often demonstrate a strong technical foundation, effective communication skills, and a good cultural fit with BBVA's values. They are also adaptable and show a willingness to learn and grow.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the culture like at BBVA?
BBVA promotes a collaborative and inclusive culture where teamwork and innovation are encouraged. Employees are expected to align with the company's values, which emphasize customer focus, integrity, and respect.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the typical timeline from application to offer?
The process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on the role and team involved. Candidates are generally kept informed throughout the process.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Are remote work or hybrid options available?
BBVA offers flexible work arrangements, including remote and hybrid options, depending on the role and team requirements. It’s beneficial to discuss these preferences during the interview process.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What topics does BBVA test in interviews?
BBVA interviews most often cover Problem Solving, Communication Skills, Adaptability, Banking Domain Knowledge, and Stakeholder Management. The exact emphasis depends on the specific role you apply for.
BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Sources & methodology 3 sources ↗
No official company page is cited. Rounds and questions come from candidate reports and PracHub editorial material; each source shows the date it was read.
- 01BBVA Software Engineer candidate reports ↗
Company-reported rounds, questions and FAQ.
Candidate reports · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 02PracHub Software Engineer practice ↗
PracHub practice material, not company-reported.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 03PracHub preparation framework ↗
PracHub preparation guidance.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22
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