Razorpay's Interview Process (2026)

Blog / Razorpay's Interview Process (2026)
Razorpay Interview Process
Razorpay's software engineer interview process is known for its strong 'practical engineering' bar, meaning you'll be expected to write working code and defend real architectural decisions. Most candidates report going through 4 to 6 rounds depending on seniority, typically spread across 2 to 4 weeks.
  • Recruiter Screen: Usually a 15 to 30 minute introductory call where you'll discuss your background, current role, and why you're interested in Razorpay. It's also a good time to ask about the role and team.
  • Online Assessment (OA): A proctored test lasting around 90 to 120 minutes, typically hosted on platforms like HackerEarth or Evaluate. Expect 2 to 3 DSA problems plus multiple-choice questions, which in recent rounds have included topics like AI fundamentals and LLM concepts.
  • Machine Coding Round (Low-Level Design): A live coding session of around 60 to 90 minutes where you build a functional, modular system from scratch. Unlike many companies, Razorpay expects compilable, working code by the end of the session, not just pseudo-code.
  • High-Level Design Round: Primarily for SDE-2 and above, this 60-minute round covers system architecture using tools like Miro or Excalidraw. Interviewers focus on scalability, fault tolerance, and your ability to reason through trade-offs.
  • Hiring Manager Round: A 45 to 60 minute conversation that goes deep on your past projects, the technology decisions you made, and how you handle conflict or failure. Interviewers are looking for product intuition alongside technical depth.
  • HR Round: A short final call, usually 15 to 30 minutes, covering compensation expectations and company culture. Successful candidates often receive a verbal offer within a few days of this round.
To prepare effectively, focus your study plan around the three core technical areas that come up across Razorpay's rounds:
  • Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): LeetCode-style coding problems covering medium to hard difficulty patterns.
  • Low-Level Design (Machine Coding): Building functional, extensible systems in a live coding session.
  • High-Level Design (System Design): Designing scalable, distributed systems and defending architectural trade-offs.
  • Behavioral: Resume deep-dives, project trade-offs, and situational leadership questions.
1. Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)Razorpay's OA and early technical rounds test medium to hard DSA problems, with a focus on patterns like sliding window, two pointers, graphs, and dynamic programming. A good starting point is working through our top 100 DSA questions, which covers the most commonly tested patterns.Recent candidates have seen problems involving n-ary tree traversal, path sum problems, and greedy or DP approaches to scheduling. For example, finding two non-overlapping events that maximize the sum of their values is a strong indicator that you should be comfortable with greedy and dynamic programming techniques.Graph problems also appear regularly, including shortest path approaches like Dijkstra's algorithm. Brush up on graphs and sliding window problems to cover the most commonly reported patterns. You may also encounter problems like Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling and Longest Substring with At Most K Distinct Characters, which are good representatives of the difficulty range.
2. Low-Level Design (Machine Coding)The Machine Coding round is where Razorpay's bar stands out. You need to produce working, compilable code, not a sketch or pseudo-code, within 60 to 90 minutes. Interviewers often add bonus requirements mid-session to test how easily your design can be extended, so clean, modular code matters as much as correctness.Common problem types include designing systems like an ATM machine with concurrent state management, a version control system with commit and checkout features, and a logger system with multiple output sinks. You can practice directly with problems like Design an ATM System and Simplified Version Control System.The best approach is to build a working MVP first and layer on complexity only after the core logic runs. Aim for meaningful variable names and follow SOLID principles throughout. Visit our Low-Level Design practice section to work through more machine coding problems at this level.
3. High-Level Design (System Design)For SDE-2 and senior roles, the HLD round tests your ability to design distributed systems at scale while defending every decision you make. Razorpay interviewers specifically want to hear trade-offs, so proactively explain why you chose SQL over NoSQL or an async queue over a synchronous API call rather than waiting to be asked.Recently reported topics include a Notification Service handling millions of messages across SMS, email, and push channels, a distributed Job Scheduler for delayed task execution, and a Fraud Detection System for real-time transaction anomaly detection. You can explore worked solutions for similar problems like the Notification System and Distributed Task Scheduler.Kafka, messaging queues, and database consistency models come up frequently in these discussions. Use our System Design Whiteboard to practice drawing and explaining architectures interactively, and review the High-Level Design topic page for core concepts and common patterns.
4. BehavioralThe Hiring Manager round at Razorpay goes well beyond standard behavioral questions. Interviewers will pick specific projects from your resume and push hard on the failure points, the trade-offs you made, and why you chose particular technologies. Come prepared to explain the 'why' behind every major technical decision you've made.You'll also likely get questions like 'Why Razorpay?' and situational prompts around conflict resolution or cross-team collaboration. Structure your answers clearly using the STAR principle to keep your responses focused and easy to follow.For senior roles, a Bar Raiser round may replace or supplement the HM round, with a heavier focus on leadership impact and engineering at scale. The Behavioral Playbook is a practical resource for preparing stories that demonstrate both technical judgment and product thinking.
ConclusionRazorpay rewards engineers who can write clean, working code under pressure and reason clearly about system design trade-offs. Start with your weakest area, whether that's machine coding speed, HLD depth, or behavioral storytelling, and build up from there. Follow the Razorpay Interview Roadmap for a structured, step-by-step preparation plan that covers every stage of the process.

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