The hiring process
| Round | Format | What's tested |
|---|---|---|
| Coding Round | ~60 min | Clean, correct implementation |
| Craft: Code Design / LLD | ~60 min | Object-oriented, extensible design |
| Craft: System Design (HLD) | ~60 min | Architecture and trade-offs |
| Values Interview | ~45-60 min | Structured, scored values alignment |
| Hiring Manager | ~45 min | Role fit, motivation, and depth |
Process and cutoffs vary by drive/team and change over time — confirm on the official careers page.
Round-by-round: exactly what's asked & how to prepare
Coding Round
~60 minA LeetCode-style medium from Atlassian's bank, in your language of choice. Sometimes framed as a take-home with a follow-up discussion. Clean code and clear thinking are weighted over cleverness.
- Array/string manipulation with clean design
- Tree or graph traversal
- Hash-map based aggregation
- Design a small data structure
- Refactor or extend a given solution
- Read Atlassian's official engineering interview guide (free on their careers site)
- Practice mediums with an emphasis on readable code
- Rehearse explaining thinking clearly
- Do mock live-coding sessions
- Messy code even if correct
- Not clarifying requirements first
- Skipping complexity discussion
- Readable, well-structured code
- Clear reasoning process
- Solid edge-case handling
Craft: Code Design / LLD
~60 minA code-design (low-level design) round where you model a small system with clean abstractions, extensibility, and good OOP. The drawing/coding tool is your choice.
- Design a task list or job scheduler
- Model an extensible notification system
- Design a small rules/permission engine
- Build a parking-lot-style OOP model
- Extend a design when new requirements appear
- Study SOLID principles and common design patterns
- Practice OOP modeling problems (task list, scheduler)
- Rehearse justifying class boundaries and abstractions
- Read the craft guide for LLD expectations
- Over-engineering with unnecessary patterns
- Rigid design that can't extend
- Ignoring interfaces and separation of concerns
- Clean, extensible abstractions
- Justified design decisions
- Adapts design to new requirements
Craft: System Design (HLD)
~60 minA system design round (for relevant levels) in the drawing tool of your choice. You scope, propose an architecture, and defend trade-offs; example prompts include a task list or job scheduler at scale.
- Design a distributed job scheduler
- Design a collaborative document or issue-tracking backend
- Notification/webhook delivery at scale
- Search over large project data
- Rate limiting and API design
- Study system-design-primer (free)
- Practice scoping to bottlenecks to trade-offs
- Learn queues, caching, and consistency basics
- Do 2 mock designs (scheduler, notifications)
- Designing before clarifying scale/requirements
- No consistency or failure handling
- Unjustified technology choices
- Structured, requirement-driven design
- Clear trade-off reasoning
- Awareness of failure modes
Values Interview
~45-60 minA dedicated, structured, and scored round on Atlassian's five values (Open company no BS; Build with heart and balance; Don't mess the customer; Play as a team; Be the change you seek). Candidates routinely underestimate it; it can be decisive.
- A time you were radically transparent
- Putting the customer first under pressure
- Balancing quality with pace ('heart and balance')
- Driving change you believed in
- A team-first decision over personal credit
- Study Atlassian's five values and map a story to each
- Write specific STAR examples, not generic ones
- Practice concise, honest, self-aware answers
- Prepare questions that reflect the values
- Treating it as a soft, unscored chat
- Generic stories not tied to specific values
- Answers that contradict a value (e.g., cutting corners on customer)
- Authentic alignment with specific values
- Concrete, self-aware stories
- Customer- and team-first instincts
Hiring Manager
~45 minA conversation with the hiring manager on your background, project depth, and motivation, plus practical questions about how you operate.
- Deep dive on a project you led
- How you handle ambiguity and prioritization
- A tough trade-off you made
- Collaboration and feedback style
- Why Atlassian and this team
- Prepare a crisp project deep-dive
- Have 4-5 STAR stories ready
- Research the team and Atlassian's products
- Prepare thoughtful questions
- Shallow project narratives
- No specific motivation for Atlassian
- Not asking any questions
- Clear ownership and depth
- Genuine interest in the team
- Mature collaboration style
What to master
- Arrays, strings, trees, graphs, hashing
- SOLID and OOP design patterns
- Low-level/code design modeling
- System design fundamentals (queues, caching, consistency)
- Atlassian's five values
- STAR storytelling
- Clean, readable coding
- Trade-off communication
Eligibility
New grad through senior; craft rounds (LLD and/or HLD) scale with level. The Values round applies to everyone and is scored.
Atlassian SWE salary & compensation (2026)
Remote-friendly comp; RSU + bonus; competitive but below FAANG top at senior levels.
| Role / Level | Experience | India — total CTC | US — total comp | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P3 (SWE) | 0–2 yrs | ₹25–42 LPA | $150K–195K | base + RSUs + ~8–10% bonus |
| P4 (SWE II) | 2–5 yrs | ₹42–72 LPA | $200K–280K | stock + bonus scale |
| P5 (Senior SWE) | 5–9 yrs | ₹72–125 LPA | $290K–400K | RSU share rises |
| P6 (Principal SWE) | 9–13 yrs | ₹125–210 LPA | $420K–600K | equity-heavy; higher bonus target |
| P7 (Senior Principal) | 13+ yrs | ₹210–340 LPA | $600K–820K | large refreshers |
How the package is structured
- US split ~ base 55–62%, RSUs 25–35%, bonus 8–15%
- Annual RSU refreshers; company-performance bonus factor
- India (Bengaluru) team growing; comp ~ 40–50% of US
- Distributed-work model; location can affect US band placement
Indicative 2026 market ranges aggregated from public sources (levels.fyi, Glassdoor, AmbitionBox, candidate reports). Compensation varies widely by location, team, level calibration, and negotiation — use these as directional benchmarks, not guarantees.
Your prep plan
- Days 1-3: Medium DSA with focus on clean code
- Days 4-6: SOLID + LLD modeling problems
- Days 7-9: System design primer + 2 mocks
- Days 10-11: Study five values, draft a story per value
- Days 12-13: STAR + project deep-dive rehearsal
- Day 14: Full mock loop including values round
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Get my personalized planFrequently asked questions
Is the Values round really that important?
Yes. It's structured, scored, and can be decisive. Prepare specific stories mapped to each of Atlassian's five values.
Is coding take-home or live?
It can be either; sometimes a take-home with a follow-up discussion, sometimes a live medium. Either way, clean, readable code matters.
Can I pick my language?
Yes, Atlassian lets you choose your language and tools. They care most about how you think.
Where can I find official prep material?
Atlassian publishes craft-specific interview guides on its careers site, which are worth reading before your loop.
What's the difference between the craft rounds?
Code design (LLD) tests OOP modeling and extensibility; system design (HLD) tests architecture and scale trade-offs. Which you get depends on level and role.
How long is the process?
Typically about 3-6 weeks across five stages.