I interviewed for a Machine Learning Engineer role at PayPal starting in December 2024. The process was long and drawn out — after an initial HR round, there was another HR discussion in March 2025, followed by 4 more rounds: a 1-hour coding interview (data structures and algorithms), a behavioral round with the manager (focused on experience and ML), a 1-hour system design round, and a final behavioral/technical round with the manager and team. In total, I completed 6 rounds and felt confident in my performance. However, despite multiple follow-ups over several weeks, I never received any feedback or update. My emails were seen but ignored, and the job posting disappeared from the portal. To make things worse, I later received an automated feedback survey while still waiting for a response. This level of communication — or lack thereof — is extremely unprofessional for a company of PayPal’s scale. Candidates deserve respect and closure, especially after such a lengthy process.

HR reached out to schedule a two-part technical interview. The first round focused on coding, including one Python and one SQL question at an easy to moderate level. The second round involved a deep dive into my previous experience along with foundational questions in machine learning.