Behavioral & Leadership Technical Screen — Data Engineer
Context
You will be assessed on impact, decision-making under ambiguity, stakeholder management, and mission fit. Use concise, structured answers with concrete metrics and your direct contributions.
Prompts
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Impactful data engineering project
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Your role and scope
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Key technical decisions and trade-offs
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Measurable outcomes (with metrics)
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Lessons learned
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Debugging a production data issue under time pressure
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What went wrong
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How you diagnosed it
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How you mitigated and prevented recurrence
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Handling last-minute stakeholder schedule changes
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How you adapted and re-scoped
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How you communicated risks and trade-offs
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How you reset expectations and delivered
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Motivation for a public-sector data engineering team (e.g., USDS)
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Why this mission and environment
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What you would aim to accomplish in your first 90 days