I applied in-person. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Exponent (Philadelphia, PA) in Nov 2019
Interview
Process took about 4 months. Saw them at a booth at a conference. After speaking with them for a while, sent my resume. A week later I was contacted to set up a phone interview. A month later I was contacted by the hiring manager to schedule another phone interview.
Then was invited for an in person interview. It ended up being about 2 months after my second phone interview, but this was partly due to the fact that I had many conflicts (finishing up my degree). The in person interview was pretty long. Was scheduled for 6 hours or so (a bunch of 1 on 1 interviews and a 45ish minute technical presentation on my thesis work), but ended up being a little shorter than anticipated.
About a week later I received a call from the manager saying they were going to go in another direction but that they enjoyed meeting and talking with me.
Overall, all of the interview conversations went pretty smoothly. They were all nice and respectful. A good amount of generic interview questions. They presented me with a list of interviewers that I would meet when the in person interview was scheduled, but when I showed up they gave me a new list with mostly different names, so any preparation for certain employees went out the window. I felt like it went pretty well, and got the impression when rejected that it was due more to finding a better fit.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Name 3 of your greatest strengths and 3 of your greatest weaknesses
after a phone interview there was a full day interview.. This started with a presentation ~45 minutes long plus questions. Next there were multiple 1 on 1 and 2 on 1 interviews with team members. Questions were quite challenging.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are the main differences between compressible flow and regular gas flow?
I applied online. I interviewed at Exponent (Natick, MA) in Jan 2026
Interview
I completed three rounds of interviews — two remote video calls, first with a senior scientist and then with a managing scientist — and was subsequently invited for an onsite interview. Unfortunately, the organization of the onsite visit did not align with my expectations. Less than 24 hours before the interview, the schedule reshuffled, and the meeting was set in Natick during a January snowstorm, With a high risk of travel difficulties. In practice almost all of my conversations still were virtual, despite the travel.
What added to the confusion was that the onsite location was neither the office I had applied to nor one where the team is primarily based. Even my host and another scientist had to travel from neighboring states to meet there, which made the arrangement feel inefficient.
The HR interview was surprisingly strange. I was asked to discuss technical aspects of my research — essentially giving a brief technical overview — and to repeat information that was already included in my application. Although it mentioned that they already had all the info from my initial application form! many of the same questions were asked again. This interview felt unusual, as HR interviews are typically focused on administrative or cultural fit rather than technical evaluation
first + second rounds and then in person interview. They want to see how you connect your work with theirs. team is great and they are a pleasure to talk to.
