Interview guides · Enlitic
Enlitic Software Engineer Interview Guide
Enlitic Software Engineer interview guide: reported rounds, questions and how candidates describe the process.
The 60-second brief
As a Software Engineer at Enlitic, you will play a pivotal role in revolutionizing the healthcare industry through innovative software solutions that enhance medical imaging and diagnostics. Your work will directly impact the development of advanced algorithms that assist healthcare professionals in making faster and more accurate decisions, thereby improving patient outcomes. The complexity and scale of the projects undertaken at Enlitic require engineers who are not only technically skilled but also deeply committed to the mission of harnessing technology for better health. You will be part of a collaborative team focused on transforming vast amounts of medical data into actionable insights.
This guide is scoped to a Software Engineer candidate at Enlitic.
Focus areas
- System Design
- API / Platform Understanding
- Onsite Environment Setup (Provisioning Machines)
The Enlitic interview process
Enlitic candidates report 4 rounds over 3-5 weeks. The stages below are what candidates describe, not a published process.
Initial Conversation
A discussion with the CTO focusing on your background, role responsibilities, and alignment with company objectives.
What to demonstrate
- A discussion with the CTO focusing on your background, role responsibilities, and alignment with company objectives
- Depth in System Design
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: Explain how you would optimize an algorithm for processing large datasets.
- Answer aloud and timed: Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex bug in production.
Interviews with Leadership
Subsequent interviews with key leadership figures, including the COO and CEO, to assess technical abilities and cultural fit.
What to demonstrate
- Subsequent interviews with key leadership figures
- Including the COO and CEO, to assess technical abilities and cultural fit
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: How do you ensure the scalability of a software application?
- Answer aloud and timed: Discuss your experience with machine learning and its applications in healthcare.
Technical Assessments
A mix of technical assessments to evaluate your coding skills and problem-solving capabilities.
What to demonstrate
- A mix of technical assessments to evaluate your coding skills and problem-solving capabilities
- Depth in System Design
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: What programming languages are you proficient in, and how have you applied them in previous projects?
- Answer aloud and timed: Design a system that can handle real-time medical image processing.
Behavioral Interviews
Interviews focused on evaluating your soft skills and cultural fit within the company.
What to demonstrate
- Interviews focused on evaluating your soft skills and cultural fit within the company
- Depth in System Design
How to prepare
- Prepare three examples from your own work, each with a decision you made and an outcome you can quantify.
- Re-read the description of the behavioral interviews above and write down what you would ask to confirm before it.
Where candidates lose points
Understand the mission
Familiarize yourself with Enlitic's goals and how your work contributes to improving healthcare.
Practice coding challenges
Use platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to refine your algorithmic skills.
Prepare for scenario-based questions
Be ready to discuss your past experiences and how they relate to the challenges at Enlitic.
Engage with team members
Show your collaborative spirit by discussing how you approach teamwork and communication.
Questions & practice
Explain how you would optimize an algorithm for processing large datasets.
Medium · Technical / Domain Questions
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?
Walk us through your thought process in optimizing a given algorithm.
Medium · Problem-Solving / Case Studies
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?
Write a function to reverse a linked list.
Medium · Coding / Algorithms
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 an algorithm to detect cycles in a graph.
Medium · Coding / Algorithms
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?
Solve a problem related to sorting and searching in arrays.
Medium · Coding / Algorithms
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?
Discuss your approach to dynamic programming challenges.
Medium · Coding / Algorithms
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?
How would you implement a caching mechanism in an application?
Medium · Coding / Algorithms
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?
Denormalise tenant onto revisions and backfill it live
Hard · denormalisation · online migration · backfill
resource_revision (revision_id, resource_id, version, actor_user_id, change_kind, patch, request_id, created_at) has 400M rows and no tenant column; tenant_id lives only on resource. Two reads need it: a tenant-scoped audit feed ordered by created_at DESC, and an offboarding purge. Both join back to resource today. Justify adding tenant_id to resource_revision against those two reads, name the anomaly the copy introduces and the constraint that prevents it, then give the ordered migration for a live table taking 1.2k writes/second — the lock each step takes, how the backfill is batched, and where each step stops being reversible. PostgreSQL 16.
Approach
- Justify from the access path rather than from taste. Without the column, the audit feed either scans resource_revision by created_at and discards other tenants' rows, or resolves the tenant's resource_ids first and probes with them — both proportional to the tenant's whole history rather than to one page. With (tenant_id, created_at DESC, revision_id DESC) it is a seek that stops at 50 rows, and the purge becomes a ranged delete instead of a join.
- Name the cost exactly: a second copy of a fact can disagree with the first. Make the disagreement unwritable rather than documented — add UNIQUE (resource_id, tenant_id) on resource so it can serve as a foreign-key target, then FOREIGN KEY (resource_id, tenant_id) REFERENCES resource (resource_id, tenant_id) on the revision table. A revision can then only ever carry its parent's tenant.
- Step one, expand: ALTER TABLE resource_revision ADD COLUMN tenant_id BIGINT NULL, with no default, so it is a catalogue change and no rewrite. It still needs ACCESS EXCLUSIVE for an instant, and that instant queues behind the longest open transaction on the table while every later query queues behind it — set lock_timeout to 2s and retry rather than wait.
- Step two, dual-write: deploy the writer that populates tenant_id on every new revision while reads still use the join. Reversible by redeploying the previous build, because nothing reads the column yet.
Follow-up
- The backfill is half finished and a rollback is required. What state is the table in, and what does the previous build do with a half-populated column?
- How do you verify the backfill actually finished, given rows are still being inserted while it runs?
Keep soft-deleted accounts from blocking re-registration
Easy · soft delete · unique constraints · engine differences
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?
How do you ensure the scalability of a software application?
Medium · Technical / Domain Questions
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 programming languages are you proficient in, and how have you applied them in previous projects?
Medium · Technical / Domain Questions
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?
Design a system that can handle real-time medical image processing.
Medium · System Design / 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?
What considerations would you take into account when designing a distributed system?
Medium · System Design / 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?
Explain how you would approach building APIs for a healthcare application.
Medium · System Design / 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?
Discuss the trade-offs between microservices and monolithic architectures in a healthcare context.
Medium · System Design / 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?
How would you ensure data security and compliance in your system design?
Medium · System Design / 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 dataset with missing values, how would you handle it in your analysis?
Medium · Problem-Solving / Case Studies
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?
Propose a solution to a hypothetical problem in medical diagnostics.
Medium · Problem-Solving / Case Studies
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?
Describe an innovative solution you've developed in a previous role.
Medium · Problem-Solving / Case Studies
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 approach debugging a performance issue in a critical application?
Medium · Problem-Solving / Case Studies
Approach
- Establish what changed and when, before forming any theory.
- Pick a bisection that eliminates candidates whichever way it turns out.
- Check the instrumentation before believing the symptom.
- Separate the trigger from the cause; the deploy is rarely the bug.
Follow-up
- What would you look at first, and what would it rule out?
- How would you tell a cause from a coincidence here?
Suggested practice checklist
Built from the rounds and topics Enlitic candidates report.
Day 1 — Map the Enlitic loop
- Write out the reported sequence: Initial Conversation, Interviews with Leadership, Technical Assessments, Behavioral Interviews.
- 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 4 reported rounds, with the weakest marked.
Day 2 — Work System Design
- Spend the session on System Design, which Enlitic candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in System Design and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in System Design.
Day 3 — Work API / Platform Understanding
- Spend the session on API / Platform Understanding, which Enlitic candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in API / Platform Understanding and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in API / Platform Understanding.
Day 4 — Work Onsite Environment Setup (Provisioning Machines)
- Spend the session on Onsite Environment Setup (Provisioning Machines), which Enlitic candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Onsite Environment Setup (Provisioning Machines) and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Onsite Environment Setup (Provisioning Machines).
Day 5 — Answer out loud: Technical / Domain Questions
- Answer aloud, timed: Explain how you would optimize an algorithm for processing large datasets.
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex bug in production.
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Technical / Domain Questions question(s), under time.
Day 6 — Answer out loud: System Design / Architecture
- Answer aloud, timed: Design a system that can handle real-time medical image processing.
- Answer aloud, timed: What considerations would you take into account when designing a distributed system?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported System Design / Architecture question(s), under time.
Day 7 — Answer out loud: Behavioral / Leadership
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a challenging project you worked on. What was your role, and how did you contribute to its success?
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you handle feedback from peers or superiors?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Behavioral / Leadership question(s), under time.
Behavioural preparation
Behavioural rounds judge the decision you made and what it cost.
Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex bug in production.
Medium · Technical / Domain Questions
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 your experience with machine learning and its applications in healthcare.
Medium · Technical / Domain Questions
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. What was your role, and how did you contribute to its success?
Medium · Behavioral / Leadership
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 handle feedback from peers or superiors?
Medium · Behavioral / Leadership
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 lead a team through a difficult situation.
Medium · Behavioral / Leadership
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 under tight deadlines?
Medium · Behavioral / Leadership
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 share an example of how you adapted to a significant change at work?
Medium · Behavioral / Leadership
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?