Have you ever encountered such a situation? You can write SQL, but you can't explain the logic clearly during the interview; you have done many projects, but you can't express the business impact; you feel nervous and in a hurry when the interview rhythm is messed up? Last month, a student I led successfully won the LinkedIn Business Intelligence Engineer(BIE) offer, complete three rounds of interviews online and remotely. I have summarized the entire process, question types and useful information to ensure that you will know after reading: what exactly is tested in the LinkedIn BIE interview and how to answer it efficiently!
Student background and interview environment
This student’s background is quite typical:
- Academic background：Data Science M.S. From a well-known university on the West Coast of the United States
- Past experience: Interned in an e-commerce company, responsible for user behavior analysis and retention indicator monitoring, and familiar with the construction and monitoring of data pipelines.
- Technology stack: Python, SQL, Airflow, Tableau, Snowflake, familiar with ETL processing and dashboard building.
The interview format is online remote interview, which is divided into three rounds and is completed by LinkedIn’s official video system. The overall experience is very smooth.
Each round lasts about 45 minutes. The interviewers are all from the U.S. Headquarters. They speak at a moderate pace and have a friendly attitude. They value candidates' logic and analytical thinking more than memorizing stereotypes or rote algorithms.
First round: Phone Screen (phone screening)
This round is screening led by HR. Although it is a traditional "resume question and answer round", LinkedIn's HR questions are more detailed than those of ordinary companies.
The focus is around the candidate’s resume, such as:
- What did the data pipeline you built in the past look like?
- What tools do you mainly use? (Spark/Airflow/Snowflake, etc.)
- How big is the data magnitude? Who maintains the ETL process?
- How do you debug when you encounter pipeline errors or data delays?
The overall feeling is to verify whether the candidate has really "done data". If you only write keywords on your resume but cannot tell the details, it is easy to get stuck by questioning.
It is recommended that students who are preparing for this round review the logic and key indicators of each data flow in their resume in advance, and use structured language to clearly explain the link of "business goals → data sources → processing methods → final analysis output".
Round 2: Hiring Manager Round
This round is a real mixed technology + business test.
Let's start with a medium difficulty SQL question. The question type is not complicated, but it tests the complete idea of data processing.
Example:
There is a user click log table, which contains user_id, timestamp, action_type and other fields. It is required to calculate the activity indicators of different users within a period of time, and finally output some kind of statistical aggregation.
The interviewer doesn't look at whether you write quickly or not, but looks at you:
- Can you clearly explain the table structure and expected results?
- Will you be able to dismantle the query step by step and use CTE or window functions to organize the logic?
- Can you explain why it is written this way?
After the SQL part, the manager spent most of his time digging into the project.
Ask very detailed questions, such as:
- What type of users does your product mainly target?
- How are your indicators defined? (DAU, retention, conversion?)
- What exactly is done in the data cleaning process?
- Have you ever encountered inconsistent data? How did you deal with it?
The overall atmosphere is friendly but fast-paced, and the manager will continue to ask questions based on your answers.
The third round: Interview Day (three consecutive rounds)
There are three back-to-back interviews in the final round, each lasting about 45 minutes. Each interviewer focuses on different things:
Session 1: SQL + data logic questions
This round is the most standard BIE technical question, focusing on your SQL proficiency.
Topics include:
- Multiple table join
- Group aggregation
- Window function (row_number, rank)
- Edge case processing
LinkedIn's SQL questions are generally not tricky, but they do require you to write a clear and readable query and explain your ideas.
Session 2: Product and Business Analysis
This round is more like a mini case study.
The interviewer gives a background on product functionality (such as membership growth or ad click optimization) and asks you to design an analysis framework, define indicators, identify data sources, and explain how you will evaluate impact.
The focus is on logical integrity—it doesn’t require you to write code, but requires you to demonstrate “analytical thinking paths.”
Session 3: Behavior + Communication Skills
This round is more Leadership Principle style, with questions such as:
- Give an example of how you resolved a conflict in a cross-team collaboration;
- When have you discovered that data analysis concluded something contrary to your business assumptions? How do you communicate?
- Tell us about a data project you led, the whole process from definition to implementation.
LinkedIn values “communication and influence” very much. Even if your skills are very strong, points will be deducted if you cannot clearly explain your analysis logic or fail to align with the business side.
Interview summary
In summary, LinkedIn’s BIE interview process is clear and well-paced:
- SQL It is the fundamentals and must be solid;
- Project details The key is to be deeply prepared;
- Analytical logic and communication skills Decide the final outcome.
LinkedIn particularly likes candidates who can “tell a story.” It’s not just about how fast you write code, but whether you can use data to talk about business and explain impact.
FAQ｜LinkedIn BIE Interview Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Is it difficult to interview SQL at LinkedIn BIE?
A1: Not particularly tricky, but must be solid. The focus is on clear logic, complete ideas, and the ability to handle multi-table joins, window functions, and edge cases. If you can write but cannot speak clearly, points will be deducted.
Q2: What should I do if my project experience is not particularly impressive?
A2: The point is not the size of the project, but that you can clearly explain the business goals → data sources → data processing → results & impact. Being able to tell stories with data is more important than the project itself.
Q3: Will the interviewer keep asking questions?
A3: Yes, and it’s very detailed. Especially in the second and final rounds, the interviewer will continue to ask in-depth questions based on your answers. You must be ready to explain each indicator, each step's processing logic, and exception handling.
Q4: How to prepare for the behavioral interview?
A4: LinkedIn values communication skills and influence more. It is recommended to prepare cross-team cooperation cases, conflict handling experience, and complete data project stories you led. You can use the STAR method or tell a story naturally, and the key points should be clear and logical.
Q5: How to quickly improve the interview rhythm and logical expression?
A5: In addition to simulated interview exercises, Programhelp’s remote voice assistance can provide real-time prompts + thought guidance + logic correction to help you stay natural, smooth and persuasive during the interview.
Prepare recommendations
If you are also preparing for an interview at LinkedIn BIE or other analyst positions, here are a few tips:
- Review each project on your resume: Especially indicator definition, data structure, and cleaning logic;
- Systematic SQL practice: Practice more LeetCode Database + simulate join/CTE type questions;
- Prepare business analysis framework: The analysis logic of retention, conversion, and A/B testing must be able to be explained extemporaneously;
- Mock interviews to practice communication: Don’t memorize the answers, be able to think about them while speaking.
Programhelp Traceless online assist experience
This student prepared the entire process with our Programhelp remote voice assistance team.
Many students preparing for BIE or Data Analyst positions actually have similar questions:
👉 I can write SQL, but I can’t understand the logic;
👉 Many projects are done, but the business impact cannot be expressed;
👉 The rhythm during the interview is chaotic and it is easy to get nervous.
Our remote invisible assistance solution is designed for these pain points——
It supports real-time voice prompts, guidance on answering questions, and correction of logical structures to help you maintain the most natural rhythm and best thinking state during formal interviews. If you are preparing for LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon or other data analysis positions (BIE / Data Analyst / DS), you can learn about our voice assistance + simulation practice plan to make you truly "fluent, logical and persuasive" in the interview.
