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Hiring processes · French tech companies

What the Criteo interview is like

Criteo, the Paris-founded advertising and commerce-media company, explains its process on an official page and warns that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. For engineering, candidates describe medium-level coding rounds, a system design round and a behavioural one. The job posts ask for English and do not mention French.

Official stages
Application, recruiter, interviews, technical, final interview, decision
Technical (official)
May include presenting a case study or a whiteboard exercise
Language
Posts ask for English; French is not mentioned
Coding (per candidates)
Easy-to-medium problems with follow-up questions
In France
Around 1,000 people in Paris and Grenoble
Work model
Hybrid

What Criteo does and who it hires

Criteo is an advertising-technology and commerce-media company founded in Paris, with more than 3,600 employees worldwide. In France it has around 1,000 people across its two hubs, Paris and Grenoble.

Its model is hybrid, blending home and office work, with no published number of days.

The stages, in order

Criteo's official "How we hire" page lists these stages and says there is no one-size-fits-all solution:

  • Application.
  • Call with a recruiter. A second call with the hiring manager and a team member may be scheduled right away.
  • Interviews: each one has a different focus.
  • Technical interview: you may have to present a case study or complete a whiteboard exercise. The recruiter shares the details so you can prepare.
  • Final interview.
  • Decision: Criteo says it replies within the next few weeks.

What engineering candidates report

In 2015 Criteo published an official post on its engineering process (now offline): a recruiter call, one or two remote interviews with engineers with live coding in a shared document, then an onsite with two coding interviews, a design interview and a motivation interview. We cite it only as background.

  • A Paris candidate in 2026 reports four steps: an HR interview, about 1 hour of Python coding, 2 hours on web technologies and 1 hour of software design, which they rated difficult.
  • A senior candidate in Paris in 2026 reports two LeetCode-medium coding rounds, a system design round (a web crawler) and a behavioural round.
  • Paris reports from 2019 and 2022 describe a recruiter, a technical test or screen, two coding rounds, a design round and a talk with the hiring manager, over about 4 weeks.

What each stage tests

  • Recruiter and hiring manager: your experience and your interest in the role.
  • Coding: easy-to-medium problems with follow-ups to improve the solution, according to candidates. The 2015 post already described simple problems where the interviewer changes the assumptions to test scale.
  • Design: system design, for example a web crawler (per candidates).
  • Behaviour and motivation: Criteo publishes six "Leadership Behaviors" that serve as the reference.

Typical technical topics and values

Criteo's six official Leadership Behaviors:

  • "We drive impact through the way we partner."
  • "This is how we grow, together."
  • "Together, we move mountains and create."
  • "In openness we trust."
  • "We do what we say. We say what we do."
  • "We aim for success. We own our impact."
  • On the technical side, candidates mention problems such as valid parentheses, list intersection and flood fill, plus system design at scale.

Which language the interview is in

Criteo's job posts ask for English: the internship post says "You are fluent in English" and a senior post in Paris requires professional proficiency. None mentions French. Criteo does not publish the interview language; for engineering, prepare to interview in English and confirm with the recruiter.

Tips

  • Research Criteo's products and teams and look up your interviewers on LinkedIn: the official page recommends it.
  • Ask the recruiter for the details of the technical interview: it may be a case study or a whiteboard exercise.
  • Practise medium-level coding problems in Python or your main language, and expect the assumptions to change halfway through.
  • Map your behavioural stories to the six Leadership Behaviors.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Criteo interview in English?
Criteo does not say, but its engineering posts ask for English and do not mention French. Prepare in English and confirm the language with the recruiter.
Do I need to speak French to work at Criteo?
In the engineering posts reviewed, French is not listed as a requirement; English is.
How many stages does the Criteo process have?
The official page describes application, recruiter call, interviews, a technical interview, a final interview and the decision, and says it varies by role.
What technical questions does Criteo ask?
Candidates report easy-to-medium coding problems with improvements and follow-ups, and a system design round such as designing a web crawler.
How long does the Criteo process take?
Criteo says it replies within the next few weeks. Some Paris candidates report about 4 weeks.
What are Criteo's values?
Six Leadership Behaviors, including "In openness we trust" and "We do what we say. We say what we do."

Sources

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