20
Essential questions
5+ years
Experience required
90 min
Interview duration
5
Evaluation areas
Software architect profile
A software architect is a senior technologist who designs systems, influences technical strategy and mentors teams. Key qualities: deep technical knowledge, system thinking, communication of complex ideas, balancing pragmatism with best practices, and leadership without formal authority.
System design questions
- 1
Walk me through an architecture you designed from scratch.
Evaluates comprehensive systems thinking and decision-making.
- –Good answer: business context, technical constraints, trade-offs, technology choices justified, scalability and deployment considered.
- –Assess: breadth of knowledge, clarity of communication, pragmatism.
- 2
How do you evaluate when to build vs buy?
Evaluates strategic thinking and cost awareness.
- –Good answer: considers total cost of ownership, team capability, time-to-market, long-term maintenance, strategic fit.
- –Red flag: 'always build' or 'always buy' dogmatism.
- 3
Describe your approach to technical debt.
Evaluates pragmatism and long-term thinking.
- –Good answer: recognises technical debt is inevitable; systematic approach to tracking and prioritising paydown.
- –Red flag: denies existence or wants everything perfect.
- 4
Tell me about mentoring junior developers.
Evaluates leadership and communication.
- –Good answer: concrete examples of helping others grow; balances guidance with autonomy.
- –Red flag: never mentored or dismissive of junior developers.
How much coding should architects do?
Varies by context. Ideal: 30–50% hands-on work to stay current and credible. This builds respect and prevents architecture drift.
What are red flags for architect candidates?
Outdated technical knowledge, can't explain decisions clearly, no track record of mentoring, inflexible thinking, or resistance to learning new approaches.
How to assess communication skills?
Observe during the interview: Can they explain complex concepts clearly? Do they listen to your questions? Can they adjust explanation level?
Should I ask specific technology questions?
Yes, but focus on principles (microservices vs monolith, sync vs async) rather than language syntax. Architects should understand fundamentals across stacks.
What's the interview format?
Suggest: 30 min portfolio/background, 45 min system design discussion, 15 min questions. May span two sessions for senior roles.
Hire strong technical architects
Aurélia helps assess system thinking and architectural decision-making in interviews.