How long does the Alan interview process take?

Most candidates spend between 4 and 8 weeks from recruiter screen to offer. The onsite loop itself runs in a single day or is split across two half-days, with debrief and offer typically within 5 business days after.

How should I prepare specifically for Alan?

Focus on three things: (1) the company DNA shown above — what they actually grade for, (2) the rounds in your loop, especially the round most candidates underestimate, and (3) drilling on the question types in this guide using a structured framework like CIRCLES or STAR.

Does this apply to engineering or design roles at Alan?

The DNA stays the same — what changes is the round mix. SWE candidates face coding screens instead of Product Sense; designers face portfolio reviews and design exercises. The "what they value" and behavioral signals carry across all functions.

Why are you interested in working at Alan, and what excites you about the fintech space specifically?

Type: Motivation. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

Implement a function to detect potential fraudulent transactions. Given a list of transactions and a set of rules (e.g., transactions over $1000 from a new user within 24 hours), identify suspicious ones. Assume rules can be complex and dynamic.

Type: Algorithm. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

Design a real-time notification system for users about significant account activity (e.g., large deposits, low balance alerts, potential fraud). How would you ensure low latency and high availability?

Type: System Design. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

Write a function to calculate the moving average of a user's transaction amounts over a rolling window of N days. Optimize for scenarios where new transactions are added frequently.

Type: Algorithm. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

A user reports that their spending summary for last month is incorrect. Here's a snippet of the relevant code and logs. Identify the bug and fix it.

Type: Debugging. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

Tell me about a time you had a significant disagreement with a colleague or team member. How did you approach the situation, and what was the outcome?

Type: Conflict Resolution. Sign up at JobMentis to see the full framework, grading signals, and worked answer for this question.

Other roles at Alan:Product Manager Software Engineer Marketing Sales

Growth · Software Engineer Interview Guide

How to Pass the Alan Software Engineer Interview in 2026

The Alan DNA (TL;DR)

Alan values candidates demonstrating strong problem-solving, user empathy, and a collaborative mindset. They seek individuals passionate about simplifying health insurance and improving user experience, emphasizing clear communication and a proactive approach to challenges within a regulated environment.

The Alan Interview Loop

Your onsite loop will typically consist of 5 rounds.

1
Round 1
Recruiter Screen
Motivation, role fit, logistics.
2
Round 2
Coding Screen
LeetCode-medium algorithmic problems under time pressure.
3
Round 3
System Design
Distributed systems, trade-offs at scale, architecture under constraints.
4
Round 4
Onsite Coding
LeetCode-hard, debugging, code clarity, edge cases.
5
Round 5
Behavioral / Leadership
Past evidence of ownership, influence, resolving conflict.

The Danger Zone: Top Reasons Candidates Fail

Based on our database of Alan interview outcomes, avoid these common traps:

Failing to articulate their specific actions and contributions.
Not demonstrating an understanding of what Alan does or its market position.
Inefficiently searching for accounts or transfers.
Focusing only on the positive outcome without discussing challenges or learnings.

Test Yourself: Real Alan Questions

Three real prompts pulled from our database.

Type · System Design

Design a system to process and categorize user spending from bank transaction data. Consider data ingestion, categorization logic (rule-based and potentially ML-based), storage, and how to serve this data to the frontend.

Type · Algorithm

Given a list of financial transactions (each with a timestamp, amount, and user ID), write a function to calculate the daily spending for each user. Handle potential duplicates and out-of-order timestamps.

Type · Past Experience

Tell me about a time you had to influence a senior stakeholder or a cross-functional team to adopt your product vision or strategy when they were initially resistant.

+ many more questions, signals, and worked examples

Unlock the rubric →

Alan Interview Question Bank

A sample from our database, grouped by round. Sign up to see the full set.

9 of 21 questions shown

Recruiter Screen

1
Type · Motivation
Why are you interested in working at Alan, and what excites you about the fintech space specifically?

Coding Screen

2
Type · Algorithm
Given a list of financial transactions (each with a timestamp, amount, and user ID), write a function to calculate the daily spending for each user. Handle potential duplicates and out-of-order timestamps.
3
Type · Algorithm
Implement a function to detect potential fraudulent transactions. Given a list of transactions and a set of rules (e.g., transactions over $1000 from a new user within 24 hours), identify suspicious ones. Assume rules can be complex and dynamic.
+ 1 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)

System Design

4
Type · System Design
Design a system to process and categorize user spending from bank transaction data. Consider data ingestion, categorization logic (rule-based and potentially ML-based), storage, and how to serve this data to the frontend.
5
Type · System Design
Design a real-time notification system for users about significant account activity (e.g., large deposits, low balance alerts, potential fraud). How would you ensure low latency and high availability?
+ 2 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)

Onsite Coding

6
Type · Algorithm
Write a function to calculate the moving average of a user's transaction amounts over a rolling window of N days. Optimize for scenarios where new transactions are added frequently.
7
Type · Debugging
A user reports that their spending summary for last month is incorrect. Here's a snippet of the relevant code and logs. Identify the bug and fix it.
+ 2 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)

Behavioral / Leadership

8
Type · Past Experience
Tell me about a time you had to influence a senior stakeholder or a cross-functional team to adopt your product vision or strategy when they were initially resistant.
9
Type · Conflict Resolution
Tell me about a time you had a significant disagreement with a colleague or team member. How did you approach the situation, and what was the outcome?
+ 7 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)

Unlock the full Alan question bank

Free signup, no credit card. You get every question + the framework, grading signals, and worked answer for each.

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Interview tracks at Alan

How Alan's DNA translates across functions. Pick your role.

SWEs at Alan are evaluated on technical excellence, clean code, system design for scalable and secure health data platforms, and problem-solving. They seek engineers who can build reliable, user-friendly solutions within a complex, regulated health tech ecosystem, valuing collaboration and ownership.

System Design

Algorithm

+ 1 more

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