System Engineer: Interview Scorecard

Candidate name

Date

Interviewer

Score 1–5 per question. Rubric anchors: System Engineer question bank →

Stage 1 — Systems Thinking and Architecture

Case study discussion. Scenario provided in writing. 10 min think time, then 35 min discussion.

Question	Weight	Score
S1-Q1 — Constraint definition: what must be defined before implementation begins?	1×	12345
S1-Q2 — Tradeoff reasoning: where would you sacrifice and why?	1×	12345
S1-Q3 — Junior failure paths: what breaks first, architecturally?	1.5×	12345
S1-Q4 — Silent failure: what's invisible until production?	1.5×	12345
S1-Q5 — Why documentation: intent, not just implementation?	0.5×	12345

Stage 1: — / 27.5

Stage 2 — Failure Mode Reasoning

Incident scenario. System description + incident report provided in writing. 10 min review, then 35 min discussion.

Question	Weight	Score
S2-Q1 — Hypothesis generation: top three failure candidates?	1.5×	12345
S2-Q2 — Evidence-based diagnosis: confirm or eliminate without system access?	1×	12345
S2-Q3 — Test suite gap: why this failure wouldn't appear in tests?	1×	12345
S2-Q4 — Class-level fix: architectural change, not a patch?	1.5×	12345

Stage 2: — / 25

Stage 3 — AI Output Audit

60–100 lines of AI-generated code with 3 planted issues. 15 min review, then 30 min discussion.

Question	Weight	Score
S3-Q1 — Code review: find issues, explain failure behaviour (highest weight — auto-reject if 1)	2×	12345
S3-Q2 — Test/production gap: what passes tests but fails in prod?	1×	12345
S3-Q3 — Questions before approving: spec recovery, not judgement?	1×	12345
S3-Q4 — Test case design: specific cases for each found issue?	1×	12345

Stage 3: — / 25

Stage 4 — Structured Behavioural

Consistent questions, same order per candidate. Score on observed evidence, not impression.

Question	Weight	Score
S4-Q1 — Most complex system designed: constraints and tradeoffs?	1×	12345
S4-Q2 — Wrong architectural decision: what was missed and why?	1.5×	12345
S4-Q3 — Prevented without taking over: teaching under constraint?	1×	12345
S4-Q4 — AI delegation line: principled boundary, not habit?	1×	12345
S4-Q5 — Current experiments: active early adoption with specific examples (auto-reject if 1)	1.5×	12345

Stage 4: — / 30

— / 100

Score questions above to see recommendation

Debrief notes

Complete before comparing with co-interviewer. Write your answer first — this reduces anchoring to the first opinion expressed.

Most decisive positive signal Most decisive negative signal or absence If Hire with conditions — what specifically needs to develop One thing this candidate does that most candidates don't

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