Data Scientist Interview Questions

Showing 1–17 of 17 results

• AAdiaEasy·Data Scientist
  Calculate Playback Counts per Stream

  This question tests the ability to perform relational database joins and use aggregate functions (COUNT) with grouping to summarize event-level data.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical ScreenSQLJoinsAggregation
• AqrMedium·Data Scientist
  Autopilot a Thruster Drone Through Randomized Canyon Walls

  Write a per-tick controller that fires a drone's thruster so it clears wall openings on unseen, randomized canyons. Tests modeling deterministic physics, depth-limited lookahead search, and choosing a horizon that generalizes.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessmentsimulationsearchgame-ai
• AqrMedium·Data Scientist
  Autopilot for a Flappy Bird-Style Game Across Maps with Varying Pipe Gaps

  Build an autopilot for a Flappy Bird-style game that decides on every step whether the bird should flap so it flies through pipe gaps whose heights vary across unseen maps. Tests modeling the game's physics, planning ahead under a time budget, collision handling, and generalizing beyond a single map.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• AqrMedium·Data Scientist
  Autopilot for a Submarine Navigating Shifting Reef Gaps

  Write a controller that decides, on every tick, whether a mini-submarine should blow ballast to rise through reef-pair gaps of varying heights on unseen maps, using a short deterministic lookahead search.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessmentsimulationsearchgame-ai
• BnpEasy·Data Scientist
  Explain and compute option delta

  Evaluates understanding of option delta, the differing intuitions/signs for calls versus puts, and the ability to compute deltas under the Black–Scholes model; commonly asked to assess quantitative reasoning about derivative sensitivities, model-based pricing, and hedging concepts.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• BnpEasy·Data Scientist
  Find expected tosses to see a coin pattern

  Assesses probabilistic reasoning and stochastic-process modeling skills, focusing on expected stopping times for pattern occurrences in repeated independent trials and related concepts like state-space representation and overlap effects.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• BnpEasy·Data Scientist
  How do you split coins to match heads?

  This question evaluates logical reasoning about invariants and combinatorial parity, testing the candidate's ability to design deterministic strategies under partial information; it falls under Software Engineering Fundamentals with relevance to probability and discrete mathematics for a Data Scientist role.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Capital OneMedium·Data Scientist
  Test and Run a Reproducible Data Science Pipeline

  Design and implement a robust, testable Python data pipeline class that validates input data schemas, handles feature transformation, logs execution metrics, and produces versioned outputs. Write targeted unit and integration tests ensuring graceful failure on corrupted inputs.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical ScreenPythonData PipelinesTesting
• HHeadlandsMedium·Data Scientist
  C++ Sliding-Window Mean of a Float Array With Inf, -Inf and NaN Handling

  Implement an O(n) sliding-window mean over a 32-bit float array containing IEEE-754 special values (+inf, -inf, NaN) without poisoning subsequent windows or suffering numerical drift.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessmentcppsliding-windowieee-754
• ImcEasy·Data Scientist
  Find valid range of q for outcome probabilities

  This question tests the ability to solve a system of linear inequalities derived from probability constraints, requiring an understanding of basic arbitrage-free pricing principles.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical ScreenProbabilityInequalitiesFinance
• J.P. MorganEasy·Data Scientist
  Compute expected value of simple gambling games

  This problem tests your understanding of expected value, probability distributions, and the mechanics of independent trials in simple gambling games.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical ScreenProbabilityStatisticsExpected Value
• J.P. MorganMedium·Data Scientist
  Explain C++ virtual dispatch and object lifetime

  This question tests the candidate's understanding of C++ memory management, the mechanics of the virtual method table (vtable), and the importance of virtual destructors in polymorphic inheritance.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsiteC++Memory ManagementPolymorphism
• MillenniumMedium·Data Scientist
  Evaluate an Agentic Decision System End to End

  This problem tests the ability to design an automated evaluation framework for an agentic system that transitions from rule-based to LLM-driven decision-making, focusing on decoupling metrics and ensuring safety.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical ScreenLLM-OpsEvaluationSystems-Design
• Morgan StanleyMedium·Data Scientist
  Estimate Greeks and hedging PnL

  This question evaluates understanding of option Greeks (delta, gamma, vega), mental approximation of Gaussian probabilities, and the ability to reason about delta-hedged profit-and-loss under Black-Scholes model misspecification, categorized under Software Engineering Fundamentals for a Data Scientist role.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Morgan StanleyEasy·Data Scientist
  Explain forward contracts and options

  This question evaluates understanding of financial derivatives—specifically forwards and options—assessing competency in financial instruments, contractual rights and obligations, pricing concepts, and how these concepts inform data-driven modeling for a Data Scientist role.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• OptiverMedium·Data Scientist
  Prove a Tight Lower Bound on a Latin Square's Lower-Triangle Sum

  This question evaluates combinatorial reasoning and discrete optimization skills—specifically understanding permutations in Latin squares, triangular-sum inequalities, and construction of extremal examples—within the Software Engineering Fundamentals domain for a Data Scientist position, and it primarily probes conceptual understanding with a constructive application component. Such problems are commonly asked to assess the ability to derive global bounds from local constraints and to exhibit matching constructions, signaling mathematical maturity and facility with combinatorial identities.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Wells FargoHard·Data Scientist
  Organizing Code and Repositories: Functions, Classes, Comments, GitHub Files

  A software practice question asks how you organize code into functions, classes and files, how and when you write comments, and which files a GitHub repository should and should not contain. It tests modular design judgment, documentation habits, and reproducible, secure project hygiene.

  Software Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen