Sr Lead, SW Eng
Posted Sep 2, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a time you led other engineers on a data integration project. How did you set technical direction?
What they are checking: Whether they can lead as the technical owner, which this role is accountable for.
Tell me about a production data incident you owned. What did you change afterward?
What they are checking: Whether they take accountability for data failures and fix the underlying process.
What would you do
A downstream team reports that client addresses in their system are wrong. How do you trace the problem?
What they are checking: Whether they can follow data lineage across systems to find where bad data came in.
A source system changes its data format without telling you. How do you design pipelines to handle that?
What they are checking: Whether they build defensive pipelines with schema checks and alerting instead of failing silently.
About the work
Explain how Master Data Management works, from source systems through mastering to downstream distribution.
What they are checking: Whether they understand the full MDM data flow they would own end to end.
Walk me through an ETL pipeline you designed. How did you make it scale as volumes grew?
What they are checking: Whether they have designed scalable ETL rather than only maintaining someone else's jobs.
How do you handle matching and survivorship when two source systems disagree about the same client record?
What they are checking: Whether they understand the core MDM problem of deciding which data wins and why.
What data quality checks would you build into an MDM pipeline, and what happens when a check fails?
What they are checking: Whether they think about quality gates and quarantining bad data rather than letting it spread.
How do you balance real-time distribution of master data with batch processing?
What they are checking: Whether they can choose the right integration pattern for each consumer's needs.
How do you test changes to a pipeline that feeds many downstream systems?
What they are checking: Whether they protect consumers with regression testing and careful release practices.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Northern Trust.