10 Skyscanner Software Engineer (New Grad, Edinburgh) Interview Questions (2026)
Skyscanner's new-grad SWE loop in Edinburgh in 2026 is a recruiter screen, an OA, a technical phone interview, and a three to four round virtual onsite covering coding, system design, and behavioral. Travel-search domain framing is common, including queries about caching flight prices, ranking results, and handling intermittent partner APIs. Edinburgh HQ is collaborative and pace is steady rather than frantic.
By Alex Chen, Founder, InterviewChamp.AI · Last verified
Loop overview
Edinburgh new-grad timelines run 5-8 weeks in 2026. Flow: recruiter screen → HackerRank OA (60-90 min) → 45-min technical phone screen → three to four virtual onsite rounds. Onsite is typically one coding round, one system design conversation, one behavioral, and sometimes a tech-talk-style 'tell us about something you built'.
Behavioral (3)
Tell me about a time you owned an end-to-end project at university or in an internship.
Frequently askedOutline
Skyscanner values ownership and curiosity. Pick a real project; show: scope, your contribution, technical decisions, outcome. Quantify where possible. Generic 'we built X' answers underperform; specific ownership signals win.
Why Skyscanner? What about travel-search interests you?
Frequently askedOutline
Skyscanner's edge is meta-search (querying many partners at once) and global breadth. Tie one element to personal interest (travel, search systems, B2B partnerships). Generic 'I love travel' answers underperform; technical curiosity wins.
Tell me about a time you had to learn a new technology quickly.
Frequently askedOutline
Skyscanner's stack is broad; teams use what fits. Show your learning method: docs first, prototype small, ask experts. End with what stuck and the outcome.
Coding (LeetCode patterns) (3)
Implement a function that returns the kth smallest element in two sorted arrays.
Frequently askedOutline
Binary search on the split point. O(log(min(m,n))). Or merge two pointers to position k for O(k). Walk through both, then code the merge-based version unless asked for log.
Given a string representing a flight itinerary like 'LHR-CDG-LAX', return all valid two-leg permutations.
Occasionally askedOutline
Parse the string into legs. Permute pairs of legs. Walk through edge cases: same departure/arrival, repeated airports. Simple but tests parsing care.
Implement a function that returns true if a flight schedule string is well-formed (valid format, valid date ordering).
Occasionally askedOutline
Tokenize the input. Validate each segment (airport codes are 3 chars, dates are parseable, dates are in order). Walk through edge cases: empty input, invalid airport codes, out-of-order dates. Show clean error handling.
Technical (3)
Given a list of flight quotes from multiple sources, merge them and return the cheapest per route.
Frequently askedOutline
Hash map of route (origin-destination-date) to current-cheapest quote. Single pass through all quotes, update if cheaper. O(n) time, O(unique-routes) space. Discuss currency normalization, time-of-departure tie-breaks, and how to handle expired quotes.
Implement a cache for flight prices with a TTL per entry.
Frequently askedOutline
Hash map of key to (value, expiry). On get: check expiry, return value or miss. Discuss eviction: lazy (on access) vs proactive (background sweep). Mention LRU as an alternative or complement. O(1) get/put. Walk through expiry-time math carefully.
How would you investigate why search results from a particular airline partner suddenly dropped?
Occasionally askedOutline
Pull recent request/response logs for that partner. Check error rate, timeout rate, response shape. Talk to the partner-integrations team. Verify our adapter code didn't change recently. Walk through structured isolation.
System / object-oriented design (1)
Design a system that searches flight prices across 100+ airline APIs in under 5 seconds.
Frequently askedOutline
Discuss: parallel fan-out to all APIs, per-API timeout (return partial results), cache layer for popular routes, response normalization, ranking on the result set. Walk through one search request's path. Talk about handling slow/failing partner APIs gracefully.
Skyscanner interview tips
- Skyscanner's domain (meta-search across travel partners) shapes the questions. Practice mapping algorithm problems to flight/hotel/car-rental search.
- Edinburgh HQ is collaborative and steady. Show curiosity and care over heroic urgency.
- Python, Java, and Go dominate backend. TypeScript for web. The interview accepts any language.
- Edinburgh office is hybrid (2-3 days in-office). Visa sponsorship for non-UK candidates is supported.
- Skyscanner was acquired by Trip.com in 2016 but operates independently. Behavioral rounds focus on Skyscanner culture, not parent-company integration.
Frequently asked questions
How long is Skyscanner's SWE new-grad interview process in Edinburgh in 2026?
Most reports show 5-8 weeks from OA to offer.
Does Skyscanner Edinburgh sponsor work visas?
Yes, including the UK Skilled Worker visa. Confirm specifics with your recruiter.
Does Skyscanner ask system design for new-grad SWE?
Yes, one round is a system design conversation, often travel-search themed. New-grads show framing and tradeoff awareness.
What languages does Skyscanner use?
Python, Java, and Go dominate backend. TypeScript for web. The interview accepts any language.
Is Skyscanner Edinburgh remote-friendly?
Hybrid is the norm (2-3 days in-office). Some fully-remote roles within the UK. Confirm with your recruiter.
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