Data Scientist Machine Learning Interview Questions

Practice 434 real Machine Learning interview questions for Data Scientist roles. From companies including Meta, Amazon, Google, Capital One, TikTok.

434 Questions 85 Companies08.03.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Data Scientist

Optimize XGBoost for Predicting Marketing Outcomes

Optimize XGBoost for Predicting Marketing Outcomes Gradient-Boosted Trees for Marketing Outcome Prediction Context You’re building a model to predict ...

Machine Learning
33
0
80 people solved
Aug 4, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Hard
Data Scientist

Design a Machine Learning Recommendation System Pipeline

Design a Machine Learning Recommendation System Pipeline System Design: End-to-End ML Recommendation System Scenario You are building an end-to-end ma...

Machine Learning
21
0
61 people solved
Aug 4, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

How would you predict a car’s turning intention?

At an intersection, there are n vehicles stopped or approaching. For each vehicle, you have a short history (e.g., last 3–10 seconds at 10 Hz) of: - P...

Machine Learning
7
0
54 people solved
Nov 24, 2025
Jane Street logo
Jane Street
Medium
Data Scientist

Minimum Common Pairwise Correlation Among Seven Identically Distributed Random Variables

Suppose $X_1, X_2, \ldots, X_7$ are seven random variables defined on the same probability space. Each has mean $0$ and variance $1$, and they are ide...

Machine Learning
2
0
27 people solved
Jul 17, 2025
Transunion logo
Transunion
Medium
Data Scientist Locked

Explain Feature, Model, and Validation Choices

This question evaluates a candidate's competency in end-to-end machine learning project execution, including data processing workflows, feature creati...

Machine Learning
5
0
67 people solved
Apr 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Address Overfitting with L1 Regularization in Regression

Linear Regression with Many Predictors and Few Observations You fit an ordinary least squares linear regression with 500 predictors and 600 observatio...

Machine Learning
11
0
58 people solved
Jul 12, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Explain Linear Regression to Non-Technical Stakeholders

Explain Linear Regression to Non-Technical Stakeholders You are explaining core machine-learning concepts to non-technical stakeholders during a proje...

Machine Learning
19
0
81 people solved
Jul 12, 2025
Uber logo
Uber
Medium
Data Scientist

Design a Ride-Hailing ETA System

You are a Data Scientist at a ride-hailing company. Design an ETA system used in the rider and driver apps to estimate both pickup ETA and trip ETA. D...

Machine Learning
7
0
72 people solved
Jan 14, 2026
Imc logo
Imc
Medium
Data Scientist Locked

Compute gambler’s ruin probabilities and hitting times

This question evaluates understanding of stochastic processes, Markov chains, and discrete-time random walks by requiring derivation of absorption pro...

Machine Learning
6
0
55 people solved
Jan 14, 2026
Imc logo
Imc
Medium
Data Scientist Locked

Solve a constrained problem using KKT conditions

This question evaluates understanding of constrained optimization using Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, including Lagrangian formulation, station...

Machine Learning
3
0
46 people solved
Jan 14, 2026
DoorDash logo
DoorDash
Hard
Data Scientist Locked

Design a Low-Latency Store Recommender

This question evaluates system design and machine learning competencies for real-time, low-latency store recommendation systems, including retrieval, ...

Machine Learning
7
0
66 people solved
Jan 13, 2026
Zest logo
Zest
Hard
Data Scientist

Diagnose overfitting from error curves

You are evaluating a supervised machine learning model. You are shown a plot where the x-axis is training epoch or model complexity and the y-axis is ...

Machine Learning
3
0
37 people solved
Apr 5, 2026
Meta logo
Meta
Hard
Data Scientist

Design bot detection and evaluate trade-offs

Bot-Detection System Design for Comment Activity Context You are designing and evaluating a machine learning system to detect automated (bot) comment ...

Machine Learning
3
0
44 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Capital One logo
Capital One
Hard
Data Scientist

Present and defend your data challenge end-to-end

10–12 Minute Interviewer-Driven Walkthrough: Recent Data Challenge Provide a concise, structured walkthrough of a real project you led end-to-end. Ass...

Machine Learning
9
0
64 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Google logo
Google
Hard
Data Scientist

Find companies similar to a given client

System Design: Retrieve Top-20 Most Similar Companies for Sales Prospecting You are given an anchor client (e.g., The Coca‑Cola Company). Design a sys...

Machine Learning
10
0
90 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Estimate b when features exceed samples

Consider the linear model y = Xb + ε with X ∈ R^{n×(m+1)} including an intercept. a) Derive the OLS estimator b̂ = (XᵀX)^{-1}Xᵀy, stating the rank con...

Machine Learning
13
0
94 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Data Scientist

Decide standardization, sparse numerics, correlated features

You are given a tabular dataset for supervised learning with features: F1 (counts, mostly small integers with many zeros), F2 (monetary amounts in dol...

Machine Learning
4
0
43 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Hard
Data Scientist

Detect leakage and evaluate a prediction model

Churn Prediction Model: Leakage, Validation, KPIs, Interpretation, Monitoring Context: You inherit a weekly-scored model that predicts whether a user ...

Machine Learning
7
0
71 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Thumbtack logo
Thumbtack
Medium
Data Scientist

Detail NLP preprocessing and n‑gram choices

Describe your text preprocessing pipeline given the source modality: typed text, scanned/handwritten OCR, or speech-to-text. Specify language handling...

Machine Learning
8
0
71 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Uber logo
Uber
Medium
Data Scientist Locked

Diagnose location-sorted recommender causing revenue drop

This question evaluates skills in diagnosing production recommender systems, causal inference and experimentation, multi-objective ranking and safe ex...

Machine Learning
3
0
66 people solved
Oct 13, 2025

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