No take-home assignments.
The structured interviews do the work that a take-home would. We don’t ask you to spend 8 unpaid hours on a "small" project.
How we hire.
Hiring is the hardest and most important thing we do. Here’s the process, start to finish.
Speed is a principle.
Strong candidates almost always have multiple opportunities in motion at the same time. Sales has a phrase for this: Time kills deals. The same principle applies — even more strongly — in recruiting.
Delays cost us great candidates. So we don't have delays.
Our process is designed to move quickly. Candidates who advance never wait between steps longer than they have to. When scheduling allows, transitions happen the same day.
Being fast is better than being perfect.
Our hiring process, start to finish.
Apply
Through LinkedIn, the Files.com careers page, or Indeed. When a role is actively open — not just collecting resumes — application review begins immediately.
A short intro video and a couple of structured assessments
You'll receive a Loom video from the hiring manager (or another senior leader) introducing Files.com, the role, and the structure of the loop. Right after, you'll get instructions for the assessments — short, structured, written tests, 15 to 30 minutes each. You have five days to complete them; extensions are routine.
A 30-minute call with our recruiting team
A short live conversation. We confirm logistics, compensation direction, your continued interest, and answer your questions. This is also where we walk you through what comes next and how to prepare.
A two-hour interview with our recruiting team
The part of our loop most candidates haven't seen before. A two-hour structured interview that evaluates the things we hire for across every role at the company. The shape is the same for every candidate — that's intentional. It gives us a comparable baseline. We send you a preparation PDF in advance so you can come ready.
The hiring manager interview
The first role-specific stage. The hiring manager evaluates whether you can do this job, on this team, at our standard. Most roles have one of these. Engineering roles have two.
Role-specific extras
People-management roles include an additional structured interview focused on the leadership attributes we hire for. Office-based roles in Austin include an onsite visit before the final decision — you meet the team and see the work in person.
Pre-offer call and references
If the hiring team says yes, the recruiter calls to confirm compensation, talk timeline, and collect references. References get completed before the verbal offer goes out. We want everything aligned before the offer lands.
Verbal offer, then written
The recruiter extends a verbal offer. Any negotiation happens here. After verbal acceptance, HR sends the formal written paperwork.
Why we don’t allow AI in interviews.
We don't let candidates use AI in interviews. The reason isn't suspicion — it's that we already use AI extensively, internally, every day.
We don't need to interview Claude. We've already hired Claude.
What we need to know from a live conversation is what makes you specifically valuable as the human operating Claude — the judgment, the taste, the operator instincts no model can fake. The only way we see those is by interviewing the person, not the stack they brought with them.
How long does it take?
End to end, most candidates complete the loop in two to three weeks once they're moving. Faster if scheduling lines up; slower if you need extensions on the assessments.
What we don't do.
No ghosting.
Every candidate who advances past application review gets their decision communicated by a human recruiter on a call — not an automated rejection email.
No AI in interviews.
Both directions — we don’t use AI to evaluate your live answers, and we don’t let you use AI to generate them.
No "we’ll let you know."
Decisions come within days, not weeks. If the answer is no, we tell you. If it’s yes, we move you forward.