Fair process, some technical question and soft skills. Initial application was anonymised, which I found very good practise. Most of the questions were very stimulating and meant to assess critical thinking.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you approach a problem collaborative filtering from scratch.
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at NESTA in Sept 2025
Interview
The overall process took roughly a month. I applied through their careers page and, within two weeks, was invited to complete a technical task with a stated time limit of four hours.
The task had unrealistic expectations given the allocated time. It involved multiple components: submitting existing code with detailed explanations of methods (as many people can't share any work from current or previous employers, it limits you to sharing really old university work or irrelevant personal projects if you have those), and completing a data science task using a messy dataset. I had to prepare a client-facing presentation outlining a proposed data science approach and come up with recommendations, AND prepare some code/have a start at the problem. Completing all of this to a reasonable standard within four hours is not feasible.
After not receiving any acknowledgement or updates, I followed up and still did not receive any feedback or response, which was disappointing as this was the second last stage of the process and required a significant time and effort.
This exercise may have been used to gather free work or ideas from applicants, especially as the problem is closely aligned with what they are currently working on.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Prepare a DS approach to a business problem
- Come up with a set of recommendations for this business/problem
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at NESTA in June 2024
Interview
Specific set of questions that get sent to you 30 mins before the interview that related to a 4hr technical task you need to do before the interview. Interview style relaxed and not too formal.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is your experience explaining complex results/projects to non-technical colleagues or stakeholders.