The role of a Software Engineer at PROS is pivotal in driving the development of innovative software solutions that enhance pricing and revenue management across various industries. By leveraging advanced algorithms and data analytics, you will contribute directly to building products that empower businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their operations. This position is vital not only in crafting scalable and efficient software but also in ensuring that the solutions meet the evolving needs of our clients. As a Software Engineer, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product management, data science, and user experience, to deliver high-quality software that addresses complex business challenges. The role offers the opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects, from cloud-based applications to user-centric interfaces, all aimed at enhancing the customer experience. This dynamic environment allows you to develop your skills while contributing to impactful projects that shape the future of enterprise software. Expect to engage with cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, including Agile development, cloud computing, and machine learning. At, you will not only be a coder but also a problem solver and innovator, making this an exciting opportunity for those looking to grow their careers in software engineering. PROS
Phone Screening
reportedCandidates typically undergo a phone screening with a recruiter to discuss background and role fit.
What to demonstrate
- Candidates typically undergo a phone screening with a recruiter to discuss background and role fit
- Depth in Data Structures
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
reportedOne or more technical interviews assess coding skills and problem-solving abilities.
What to demonstrate
- One or more technical interviews assess coding skills and problem-solving abilities
- Depth in Data Structures
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: How would you implement a sorting algorithm? Discuss its time complexity.
- Answer aloud and timed: Describe your experience with Java and its core libraries.
Onsite Interview
reportedCandidates meet various team members and engage in coding exercises and discussions about their experiences.
What to demonstrate
- Candidates meet various team members and engage in coding exercises and discussions about their experiences
- Depth in Data Structures
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: What are the differences between synchronous and asynchronous programming?
- Answer aloud and timed: Write a function to check if two strings are anagrams.
PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.
Prepare to discuss your projects
Be ready to share details about your previous work, including challenges faced and how you overcame them. This can help illustrate your problem-solving capabilities.
Practice coding challenges
Utilize platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to sharpen your coding skills. Focus on common algorithms and data structures that are frequently tested in interviews.
Understand the company’s products
Familiarize yourself with PROS's offerings and how they impact customers. This knowledge can help you tailor your responses and demonstrate your interest in the company.
Engage in mock interviews
Practicing with peers or mentors can improve your confidence and help you receive constructive feedback on your interview performance.
Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.
How would you implement a sorting algorithm? Discuss its time complexity.
How would you implement a sorting algorithm? Discuss its time complexity.
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?
What are the differences between synchronous and asynchronous programming?
What are the differences between synchronous and asynchronous programming?
Approach
- Say what the runtime actually does before reasoning about the code.
- Name what is shared across threads and what owns each piece of state.
- Identify the window where an invariant is briefly untrue.
- Distinguish a value from a reference to it, and say which one you handed out.
Follow-up
- What happens if two callers reach this at the same time?
- Where could this allocate more than you expect?
Write a function to check if two strings are anagrams.
Write a function to check if two strings are anagrams.
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?
Implement a solution to reverse a linked list.
Implement a solution to reverse a linked list.
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?
Given an array, find the two numbers that add up to a target value.
Given an array, find the two numbers that add up to a target value.
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?
Explain and code a breadth-first search algorithm.
Explain and code a breadth-first search algorithm.
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?
Create a function to sort a list of integers using quicksort.
Create a function to sort a list of integers using quicksort.
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?
Explain why the owner filter ignores the listing index
The only index on resource is (tenant_id, status, updated_at DESC, resource_id DESC). A new endpoint returns one user's resources across all statuses, newest created first: WHERE tenant_id = $1 AND owner_user_id = $2 ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20. On a tenant with 2M rows it takes 900 ms and EXPLAIN shows a sort above a large scan. Explain precisely why the existing index cannot serve it, give the index that can, and state which of these the new index still will not help: owner_user_id alone across tenants; the same query ordered by updated_at. PostgreSQL 16.
Approach
- Separate the two jobs an index does. For filtering, a composite btree is seekable only on a left prefix, so with no predicate on status the scan can at best range over tenant_id and test owner_user_id per row; PostgreSQL 16 has no btree skip scan to jump the unconstrained column.
- For ordering, the index is sorted by (status, updated_at) within a tenant and not by created_at, so the LIMIT cannot stop early: every matching row is read and then sorted. That is the 'Sort Method: top-N heapsort' line, and it is why the plan reads 2M rows to answer with 20.
- Derive the replacement from the access path — equality, equality, then the ordering column: CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY ON resource (tenant_id, owner_user_id, created_at DESC). The scan seeks to the (tenant, owner) range and walks 20 entries in order, so the Sort node disappears along with the row-read.
- Treat INCLUDE (title, status) as conditional, not free. An index-only scan still visits the heap for any row whose page is not marked all-visible, so on a table taking 1.2k writes/second the win depends on autovacuum keeping the visibility map current, and the wider index costs more on every insert.
Follow-up
- 90% of rows are status='active'. Would a partial index WHERE status = 'active' change your answer, and for which of the three queries?
- A dashboard runs this for 40 owners in one page load. What changes about the design?
Keep soft-deleted accounts from blocking re-registration
app_user holds user_id, tenant_id, email CITEXT, password_hash (NULL for SSO principals), email_verified_at, auth_version, status ('invited','active','suspended','deactivated'), created_at, updated_at, deleted_at. Two live accounts for one address inside a tenant must be impossible, but an address freed by a soft delete must be reusable, and the same tenant may delete and re-register it repeatedly. Write the uniqueness DDL for PostgreSQL 16, then the equivalent for MySQL 8 where partial indexes do not exist, and say what each permits once three deleted rows already hold that address.
Approach
- Start from what is actually unique: not (tenant_id, email), but (tenant_id, email) among live rows. PostgreSQL says that directly — CREATE UNIQUE INDEX app_user_live_email ON app_user (tenant_id, email) WHERE deleted_at IS NULL. A full constraint over the same two columns burns the address permanently the first time someone deletes an account.
- Keep case-insensitivity in the type or the index, never in the application: CITEXT as given, or UNIQUE (tenant_id, lower(email)) as an expression index where the extension is unavailable. A case-sensitive unique column is exactly how two accounts for one human appear.
- For MySQL 8 the predicate has to move inside the key: add a discriminator column that is a constant 0 while the row is live and is set to user_id on delete, with UNIQUE (tenant_id, email, deleted_marker). Live rows share the constant and still collide; deleted rows differ from each other and stop colliding.
- State the NULL variant and its dependency: leaving the marker NULL for deleted rows also works, because a unique index treats NULLs as distinct — true in MySQL, and true in PostgreSQL only under the default NULLS DISTINCT, which PostgreSQL 15 lets you reverse. Check the polarity against the three existing deleted rows: constant-on-live is what preserves the collision you want, and reversing it silently admits duplicate live accounts.
Follow-up
- A deleted account re-registers with the same address the next day. Do the old resource rows follow the new user_id, and how does the API keep the two principals apart?
- How do you honour an erasure request while resource_revision.actor_user_id still references this table?
Explain the principles of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
Explain the principles of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
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 are design patterns, and can you provide examples?
What are design patterns, and can you provide examples?
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 design a scalable web application?
How would you design a scalable web application?
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?
Describe the architecture of a system you previously worked on.
Describe the architecture of a system you previously worked on.
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 when designing APIs?
What considerations do you take into account when designing APIs?
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?
Discuss how you would ensure data consistency in a distributed system.
Discuss how you would ensure data consistency in a distributed system.
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?
How would you approach designing a microservices architecture?
How would you approach designing a microservices architecture?
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?
Given a set of constraints, how would you approach designing a new feature?
Given a set of constraints, how would you approach designing a new feature?
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 handle a situation where a project is falling behind schedule?
How would you handle a situation where a project is falling behind schedule?
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 strategies do you use to tackle complex problems?
What strategies do you use to tackle complex problems?
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 optimize an existing application for performance?
How would you optimize an existing application for performance?
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?
Listing latency scales with page size, not with filters
The tenant listing endpoint reads resource filtered by tenant_id and status, ordered by updated_at DESC, and returns each row plus the owner's display name from app_user and the actor of that resource's latest resource_revision. p99 is 55 ms at 10 rows per page and 1.4 s at 200. Database telemetry shows 401 statements per request, each under 1 ms, and nothing in the slow-query log. Diagnose the cause and give the fix, stating the statement count per request and the p99 you expect afterwards.
Approach
- Read the counters before forming a theory. 401 statements for 200 rows is one driver query plus two per row, and sub-millisecond execution with an empty slow-query log rules out a bad plan. The time is round trips, which is why it is invisible in every per-query metric and scales with rows returned rather than with filter selectivity.
- Name the two per-row statements from their normalised text: a single-row app_user lookup by user_id, and a resource_revision lookup by resource_id ordered by version DESC LIMIT 1. Confirm by dropping those two response fields and watching the statement count fall to one. That locates the calls in the serialisation layer, not the repository.
- Check that the arithmetic accounts for the whole gap. Measure one round trip to the replica in isolation; 400 trips at roughly 3 ms of network plus 0.2 ms of execution is about 1.3 s on top of a 55 ms baseline, which matches. If the multiplication had fallen short, the N+1 would only be part of the story and you would keep looking.
- Batch both lookups. Collect owner_user_ids and resource_ids from the driver query, then issue WHERE tenant_id = $1 AND user_id = ANY($2) for the users, and PostgreSQL's SELECT DISTINCT ON (resource_id) ... WHERE resource_id = ANY($2) ORDER BY resource_id, version DESC for the latest revision, which the UNIQUE (resource_id, version) index serves directly. On an engine without DISTINCT ON, use a lateral join or a row_number window. Three statements per request at any page size.
Follow-up
- The page size is capped at 200 today. What breaks first if it is raised to 2,000, and is it still this bug?
- How do you stop the next N+1 from reaching production, given that no individual query is slow and the endpoint's tests pass?
Built from the rounds and topics PROS candidates report.
Prepare, practise & reflect
One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.
0 / 7 done01Map the PROS loop
- Write out the reported sequence: Phone Screening, Technical Interviews, Onsite Interview.
- 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 Data Structures
- Spend the session on Data Structures, which PROS candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Data Structures and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Data Structures.
03Work Algorithms / Coding Problems
- Spend the session on Algorithms / Coding Problems, which PROS candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Algorithms / Coding Problems and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Algorithms / Coding Problems.
04Work Problem Solving
- Spend the session on Problem Solving, which PROS candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Problem Solving and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Problem Solving.
05Answer out loud: Technical / Domain Questions
- Answer aloud, timed: Explain the principles of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
- Answer aloud, timed: What are design patterns, and can you provide examples?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Technical / Domain Questions question(s), under time.
06Answer out loud: Coding / Algorithms
- Answer aloud, timed: Write a function to check if two strings are anagrams.
- Answer aloud, timed: Implement a solution to reverse a linked list.
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Coding / Algorithms question(s), under time.
07Answer out loud: Behavioral / Leadership
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a challenging project you worked on and how you handled it.
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple deadlines?
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 your experience with Java and its core libraries.
Describe your experience with Java and its core libraries.
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 challenging project you worked on and how you handled it.
Describe a challenging project you worked on and how you handled 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?
How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple deadlines?
How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple deadlines?
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 resolved a conflict within a team?
Can you give an example of how you resolved a conflict within a team?
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 perform well at work?
What motivates you to perform well at 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?
Discuss a time when you had to learn a new technology quickly.
Discuss a time when you had to learn a new technology quickly.
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 when you had to make a difficult decision based on limited information.
Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision based on limited information.
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 your experience with Java and its core libraries.
- 02
Describe a challenging project you worked on and how you handled it.
- 03
How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple deadlines?
- 04
Can you give an example of how you resolved a conflict within a team?
How difficult is the interview process at PROS?
The interview process is generally regarded as challenging but fair, with a mix of technical, behavioral, and cultural fit assessments. Candidates should anticipate needing a solid understanding of programming concepts and problem-solving skills.
PROS Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What differentiates successful candidates?
Successful candidates demonstrate not only technical proficiency but also strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively within a team. Showing enthusiasm for the role and a willingness to learn can also set you apart.
PROS Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the typical timeline from initial screening to offer?
The timeline can vary, but candidates generally receive feedback within a few weeks after the final interview. The process may take longer if there are multiple candidates under consideration.
PROS Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the company culture like at PROS?
PROS fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and respect for all team members. Employees are encouraged to share ideas and contribute to the company's mission of delivering exceptional software solutions.
PROS Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Are remote work options available?
PROS offers flexible work arrangements, including remote work opportunities, depending on the specific role and team dynamics.
PROS Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What topics does PROS test in interviews?
PROS interviews most often cover SQL, Technical Interviewing, Stakeholder Management, Excel, and XML. The exact emphasis depends on the specific role you apply for.
PROS 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.
- 01PROS 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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