Chewy's Interview Process (2026)

Blog / Chewy's Interview Process (2026)

Chewy's software engineer interview process is structured and moves quickly, typically wrapping up in under three weeks. Most candidates report three to six rounds covering coding, system design, debugging, and behavioral questions, though the exact format can vary by team and role.

Recruiter Screen: Usually a 25 to 35 minute call where the recruiter covers your background, why you are interested in Chewy, and a high-level look at your technical experience.
Technical Screen or Online Assessment: Depending on the team, you may get a timed HackerRank assessment or a live coding session with an engineer, typically running around 60 to 90 minutes.
Final Round (Virtual Onsite): Generally four back-to-back 60-minute sessions with engineers, a tech lead, and a hiring manager, covering coding, system design, debugging, and behavioral questions.

To prepare effectively, structure your study plan around the four core areas Chewy consistently tests across its final rounds:

Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): LeetCode-style coding problems at an easy to medium difficulty, with a focus on practical data manipulation.
System Design: Designing scalable e-commerce systems with a focus on real-world architecture and customer impact.
Debugging & Testing: A unique round where you identify and fix bugs in pre-written code and write unit tests to verify your fix.
Behavioral: Behavioral questions tied closely to Chewy's Operating Principles, evaluated using the STAR format.

1. Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)Chewy's coding questions generally sit at the easy to medium difficulty range, so you do not need to grind hard problems to succeed here. Common topics include stacks, trees, HashMaps, sliding windows, and 2D array logic.Working through our top 100 DSA questions is a solid way to cover the patterns that come up most often.Candidates in 2025 and 2026 specifically call out 2D array problems and string manipulation as recurring themes. Problems like Number of Islands are a good representation of the matrix-style thinking Chewy tests. Brushing up on matrix and sliding window patterns will give you solid coverage.For Java roles, expect follow-up questions on language fundamentals during or after the coding problem. Interviewers may ask you to compare ArrayList vs. Array or HashMap vs. Map, so be ready to discuss trade-offs, not just write working code.Communication matters as much as correctness here. Candidates who were rejected in 2025 often cited not explaining their reasoning, even when they solved the problem. Talk through your approach, state your assumptions, and narrate trade-offs as you go.

2. System DesignChewy's system design questions are grounded in e-commerce scenarios rather than abstract infrastructure puzzles. A common prompt is designing an order management system or an inventory service that handles high concurrency. Reviewing our High-Level Design resources will help you build the right mental models for these types of questions.Expect to go beyond a high-level diagram. Interviewers often ask you to define database schemas, outline API endpoints, and explain how your design holds up under load. Practice articulating those details out loud using our System Design practice tool to simulate the whiteboarding format.Chewy also expects you to connect technical decisions to customer impact. When you propose a caching layer or a queue-based approach, briefly explain how it makes the experience more reliable for the pet parent. That framing signals the customer-first mindset interviewers are actively looking for.

3. Debugging & TestingThis is one of the more distinctive parts of Chewy's process. Rather than asking you to build something from scratch, the debugging round gives you a pre-written block of code with intentional bugs and asks you to find and fix them. You are also expected to write unit tests that confirm the fix actually works.To prepare, practice reading unfamiliar codebases and identifying logical errors rather than syntax issues. Focus on understanding what the code is supposed to do before looking for what is wrong. This round rewards methodical thinking over speed.Unit testing is not always covered in standard interview prep, so it is worth practicing writing simple test cases in your primary language. Even if your test suite is not perfect, demonstrating that you think about edge cases and verification will score well here.

4. BehavioralChewy's behavioral round is structured around five Operating Principles: Customers First, Deliver Results, Earn Trust, Operate at Depth, and Accelerate Time. Interviewers use these as a framework, so knowing them by name and having stories mapped to each one is important prep.All answers should follow the STAR format. Our STAR principle lesson walks you through how to structure your responses so they land clearly without rambling. Concise, specific stories tend to score better than long narratives.Behavioral fit carries roughly equal weight to technical skill at Chewy, so do not treat this round as a cooldown after the hard coding sessions. Prepare at least two to three strong stories that can flex across multiple principles, and practice delivering them out loud before interview day. You can find additional frameworks and examples in the Behavioral Playbook.

ConclusionChewy's process rewards candidates who communicate clearly, connect technical decisions to real outcomes, and come prepared with strong behavioral stories alongside solid coding skills. Start by mapping your prep across all four categories and make sure you are not neglecting the debugging round, since it catches a lot of people off guard. Follow the Chewy Interview Roadmap for a structured, step-by-step plan that walks you through everything from first screen to final offer.

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