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Meta·Software Engineer·Onsite - System Design / Architecture·Senior

SeniorPrefer not to say
Jun 2026

Summary

Meta system design round, new agentic format they seem to be testing out. Went in feeling pretty confident since I'd built similar stuff at work, but the interview went sideways in ways I didn't expect.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

Design an agent system that automatically investigates and resolves support tickets.

System DesignTechnical Trade-offsAdaptability & Ambiguity
Author's notes

I came in with a plan: triage agent feeds into an investigate agent feeds into a resolve agent, clean pipeline.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying the scope and requirements of the agent system, such as ticket types, resolution actions, and success metrics. Then outline a high-level architecture with components like ticket ingestion, classification, investigation, resolution, and feedback loop. Finally, dive into trade-offs around automation vs. human-in-the-loop, scalability, and reliability.

Pro tip: Emphasize the importance of a human-in-the-loop for high-risk actions and continuous learning from resolved tickets to improve the agent over time. This shows you balance automation with safety and adaptability.

1. Clarify Requirements

Ask questions to understand the types of support tickets, expected resolution actions, SLAs, and constraints like data privacy. Define what 'resolve' means (e.g., auto-reply, issue refund, escalate).

2. High-Level Architecture

Propose a modular system: ingestion (from ticketing systems), classification (NLP models), investigation (querying knowledge bases, logs, APIs), resolution (executing actions), and feedback (learning from outcomes).

3. Deep Dive into Components

Detail key components: how to classify tickets (e.g., intent recognition), how to investigate (e.g., retrieval-augmented generation, tool use), and how to execute resolutions safely (e.g., sandboxing, approvals).

4. Discuss Trade-offs and Scalability

Address trade-offs: automation vs. human oversight, latency vs. accuracy, cost vs. performance. Discuss scaling to millions of tickets, handling failures, and monitoring.

5. Evaluate and Iterate

Define metrics (resolution rate, customer satisfaction, cost per ticket) and a feedback loop to improve the agent. Mention A/B testing and gradual rollout.

Key Points to Mention

  • Use of NLP and LLMs for ticket classification and intent understanding
  • Integration with internal tools and APIs for investigation (e.g., logs, databases)
  • Human-in-the-loop for high-risk or ambiguous cases
  • Feedback loop and continuous learning from resolved tickets
  • Scalability and reliability considerations (e.g., rate limiting, retries, monitoring)
  • Security and privacy (e.g., PII handling, access control)

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.