AI Interview for Senior Roles:
What Changes at Senior Level

Key differences: (1) System design is more complex with ambiguous requirements, (2) Behavioral questions focus on influence, not just execution, (3) Expectations for code quality and architecture are higher, (4) You'll be asked about mentoring and technical leadership, (5) Questions about business impact and trade-off decisions. You're expected to drive conversations, not just answer questions.

Yes, but differently. You should: write cleaner, more production-ready code, identify edge cases proactively, discuss trade-offs without prompting, propose solutions before being asked. The bar isn't about harder algorithms—it's about demonstrating technical judgment and thoroughness. Interviewers look for 'senior signals' in how you approach problems, not just whether you solve them.

Common questions: Tell me about a time you influenced a technical decision across teams, How have you mentored junior engineers?, Describe a time you disagreed with a technical direction—what happened?, How do you handle code reviews for your team?, Tell me about a technical strategy you drove. Prepare stories showing influence, teaching, and driving outcomes through others.

Senior system design: (1) More ambiguous requirements—you drive clarification, (2) Expected to discuss operational concerns (monitoring, on-call, incident response), (3) Org design and team ownership questions, (4) Long-term evolution and technical debt discussions, (5) Communication to non-technical stakeholders. You should propose structures and trade-offs proactively, not wait for guidance.

Leveling criteria: (1) Scope of past work—features vs. systems vs. products, (2) Autonomy—how much guidance did you need?, (3) Influence—did you lead or follow technical decisions?, (4) Impact—can you quantify business outcomes?, (5) Communication—do you articulate ideas clearly to different audiences? The same answer delivered with senior confidence gets leveled higher.

Yes—titles vary wildly across companies. Focus on demonstrating senior-level scope and impact: systems you owned end-to-end, technical decisions you drove, people you mentored, business outcomes you enabled. Many 'mid-level' engineers at top companies have senior-level experience. Let your work speak, not your title.

Most clients invest 10-15 hours per week, but this can be flexible based on your schedule. We'll have weekly 1:1 calls plus time for you to work on projects and learning. The key is consistency. Regular, focused effort beats occasional marathons.

You become a member of the AI Native Engineer community, and you stay and keep going. Career transitions take different amounts of time for everyone, and I'm not going to abandon you if things take longer. You get ongoing support through good times and bad.

Online courses give you content. 1:1 coaching gives you a personalized roadmap, direct feedback on your work, career strategy, interview prep, and accountability. You get answers to your specific questions and guidance tailored to your unique situation instead of generic advice meant for everyone.

Investment details are discussed during the 30-minute strategy call, where we'll assess your goals and create a custom plan. The program is designed to pay for itself quickly through your increased salary. Most AI engineers see a 20-50% pay increase.

Absolutely. Most of my clients work full-time and make steady progress. We'll schedule calls at times that work for you and create a realistic plan that fits your schedule. Consistency matters more than intensity.