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OpenAI Mobile Engineer Interview Questions

53 practice questions for OpenAI Mobile Engineer interviews

OpenAI mobile engineer interviews focus on iOS or Android platform knowledge, memory management, offline-first architecture, and mobile-specific system design.

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Coding
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System Design
coding Hard Verified Question #1

1. Count Machines In A Tree


Category: Tree coding problem
You are given a tree-structured network of machines where each node represents a machine. Machines can only communicate with their parent and...
Input: String
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #2

2. Implement cd Command


Category: Algorithm coding problem
Implement a simplified version of the Unix cd command. Given a current directory path and a relative destination path, return the final absolute...
Input: Given input
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #3

3. Largest Subgrid


Category: Grid/matrix coding problem
You are given a 2D grid of non-negative integers and a maximum sum constraint. Find the largest size of a square sub-grid such that all...
Input: 2D grid
Output: Integer
coding Hard Verified Question #4

4. Memory Allocator


Category: Linked list coding problem
# Memory Allocator Design a memory allocator that manages a contiguous block of memory. Implement malloc and free operations with efficient...
Input: Linked list
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #5

5. Toy Language Type Inference


Category: String coding problem
Implement a type system for a toy programming language that supports primitives, tuples, and generics. Your task is to represent types and infer...
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #6

6. Virus Spread


Category: Grid/matrix coding problem
Simulate the spread of a virus through a grid. Each cell can be in one of three states: healthy, infected, or immune. *This is similar to a leetcode...
Input: 2D grid
Output: Integer
coding Medium Verified Question #7

7. Bot-Enabled Messaging System


Category: String coding problem
You are building a chat system that supports human users and automated bots. Messages are added to a channel log and may trigger bot responses. The...
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #8

8. Connection Tracker


Category: Algorithm coding problem
Design a social network system that tracks follow relationships between users and preserves a full history through snapshots. The system allows...
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #9

9. GPU Credit Ledger


Category: String coding problem
You are designing a system to manage GPU credits. Each credit grant is valid during a specific time window. Events may arrive out of chronological...
Input: String
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #10

10. GPU Credit Manager


Category: String coding problem
You are designing a system to manage GPU credits. Each credit grant is valid during a specific time window. Events may arrive out of chronological...
Input: String
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #11

11. In-Memory SQL Engine


Category: String coding problem
Design an in-memory SQL database that supports creating tables, inserting rows with automatic type inference, and querying with filtering and sorting.
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #12

12. Persistent Key-Value Store


Category: Trie-based coding problem
You are designing a persistent key-value store that serializes its state to a binary storage medium. Native serialization (e.g., JSON, pickle,...
Input: Array
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #13

13. Shard Rebalancer


Category: String coding problem
You are implementing a shard management system for a distributed key-value store. Each shard is identified by a string and covers a contiguous range...
Input: String
Output: Computed result
coding Hard Verified Question #14

14. IP Address Iterator


Category: String coding problem
Every device on the public internet is identified by an IPv4 address written in dotted-decimal notation as "A.B.C.D", where each octet is an...
Input: String
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #15

15. Version Support Finder


Category: Binary search coding problem
A software company maintains a sorted list of version strings in ascending chronological order. A critical feature was introduced in one version, and...
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #16

16. Monster Battle Simulator


Category: String coding problem
Simulate a deterministic, turn-based battle between two ordered teams of monsters. Execute the fight step by step and produce a chronological battle...
Input: List
Output: Computed result
coding Medium Verified Question #17

17. Distributed Tree Messaging


Category: Tree coding problem
You are implementing a message-passing protocol for a distributed system organized as a rooted n-ary tree. Each node represents a machine and...
Input: List
Output: Printed output
system design Hard Verified Question #18

18. Top 5 Open AI System Design Questions


Category: Trie-based system design problem
# System Design Questions - OpenAI A collection of commonly asked system design questions from OpenAI interviews.
Input: Given input
Output: Computed result
coding Medium binary search #1

1. [OA] Binary Search — Find optimal model parameters for mobile inference

With the deployment of OpenAI models on mobile devices, it's essential to efficiently find the best-performing parameters from a given set of options. Binary search provides an efficient way to narrow down optimal configurations.
Given an array of integers models representing performance scores of models, write a method that returns the index of the highest performing model using binary search.
Example 1:
Input: models = [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Output: 6
Explanation: The model with score 9 is the highest score at index 6.
Example 2:
Input: models = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Output: 4
Constraints:
- 1 <= models.length <= 10^5
- 0 <= models[i] <= 10^4
coding Hard sliding window #2

2. [OA] Sliding Window — Optimize the experience of streaming AI-generated content on mobile

OpenAI is focused on delivering seamless mobile experiences for users interacting with its generative AI tools. Effective management of data streams while accounting for mobile constraints is critical.
Given a string s that consists of lowercase alphabets and an integer k, find the length of the longest substring that contains at most k distinct characters.
Example 1:
Input: `s =
system design Senior api design #3

3. Design an Offline-first Sync Engine for OpenAI Mobile

Building robust mobile applications requires careful consideration of user experience and seamless access to AI models from OpenAI, even when users are offline. This is essential for crafting resilient experiences. Your task is to design an Offline-first Sync Engine that manages data synchronization between offline mobile applications and the cloud.
Key methods to implement:
- sync(data: List<Data>): void: Syncs local data to the server when online.
- saveLocally(data: Data): void: Saves data locally when offline.
- fetchLocalData(): List<Data>: Fetches data stored on the device.
- handleConflict(remoteData: Data, localData: Data): Data: Resolves conflicts between local and remote data.
Example 1:
Input: sync([{id: 1, value: 'A'}])
Output: [] (Assuming the device is online)
Example 2:
Input: saveLocally({id: 2, value: 'B'})
Output: null
Constraints:
- data.length <= 1000
- 1 <= id <= 10000
system design Hard caching #4

4. [OA] Caching — Manage API response caching for OpenAI's mobile SDK

OpenAI's mobile applications frequently make requests to API endpoints, necessitating a robust caching mechanism to enhance performance and minimize unnecessary network calls.
Design and implement an LRU Cache class that stores a limited number of API responses and evicts the least-recently-used responses as new responses are added.
Class definition:
- LRUCache(int capacity): Initializes the LRU cache with a given capacity.
- String get(String key): Returns the value if the key exists in the cache, otherwise returns null.
- void put(String key, String value): Updates or adds the value if the key is not already present. When the cache reaches its capacity, it should invalidate the least-recently-used item before inserting a new item.
Example 1:
Input: cache = new LRUCache(2)
cache.put(1, 'A')
cache.put(2, 'B')
Output: cache.get(1) → 'A'
Example 2:
Input: cache.put(3, 'C')
Output: cache.get(2) → null
Constraints:
- 1 <= capacity <= 3000
- 0 <= key <= 10^4
- 0 <= value <= 10^4

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