Technical screening questions
Ask for one example per question and listen for specifics.
- Walk me through a design you owned from requirements to delivery. A good answer: Requirements, options considered, decision, and what happened after.
- How do you choose between a monolith and microservices? A good answer: Team size, change rate and operational maturity, not fashion.
- How do you design for failure? A good answer: Redundancy, timeouts, retries, graceful degradation and recovery objectives.
- How do you migrate a legacy system with little downtime? A good answer: Incremental cut-over, data sync and a rollback plan.
- How do you record a design decision? A good answer: A short written record with context, options and the choice.
Quick screening questions
Use these when you have only a few minutes.
- Describe a system you designed and what you would change now.
- How do you handle a stakeholder who wants a design you disagree with?
- What trade-offs did you make between cost, speed and risk?
What separates the levels
Match the level to the requirement before you submit.
- Mid: designs one solution within a standard.
- Senior: designs across systems and teams.
- Principal: sets direction for a portfolio.
Red flags
Any of these is a reason to probe further.
- Only diagrams, never built or operated a system.
- Cannot name a trade-off.
- Recommends the newest tool for every problem.
Tools you should hear mentioned
A Solutions architect with real experience usually names several of these without prompting.
- Diagramming tools
- Cloud reference architectures
- API and integration tooling
- Architecture decision records
- Cost calculators
- Threat modelling
Run the call well
Ask for the last project first, then dig into the second or third question. Take notes on versions, team size and outcomes, and record them with the submission so the vendor’s later technical interview does not surprise you.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a Solutions architect screening call take?
Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough to cover the project, three technical questions and availability, rate and work authorization.
Do recruiters need to know the technology?
Working vocabulary is enough. Use the sourcing guide for the role and listen for specifics instead of judging technical depth yourself.