Forward Deployed Engineer at Scaled Cognition - Interview Preparation Plan | RealPrep

Forward Deployed Engineer at Scaled Cognition - Interview Preparation Plan | RealPrep

Scaled Cognition - What You Should Know

Scaled Cognition is a pioneering AI company focused on developing specialized large action models (LAMs) and agentic AI for customer experience (CX) and enterprise workflows. Their core innovation lies in the Agentic Pre-trained Transformer (APT) models, designed for rational, controllable, and action-oriented AI rather than just token prediction. Their flagship system, APT-1, excels in agentic benchmarks and is built for high reliability, deterministic outputs, and minimizing hallucinations, making it suitable for critical business applications. The company emphasizes practical AI implementation, focusing on business utility and controllable AI. They have developed a unique approach using synthetic data generation, action modeling, and self-play reinforcement learning through agent-to-agent simulations to train their models. This allows for efficient development and deployment of AI agents that can understand their roles, goals, and context, enabling them to take actions aligned with business logic and policies. Scaled Cognition has secured significant funding, including a $21 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, highlighting strong investor confidence in their technological potential and efficient development approach. They aim to transform how businesses adopt AI by making it more practical, less risky, and better aligned with business needs, enabling higher automation rates and trustworthy AI interactions.

Core Values

Reliability and TrustworthinessControllable and Rational AIFocus on Action and Business UtilityInnovation in Agentic AICustomer Experience Excellence

Recent News & Developments

Announced a strategic partnership with Genesys to advance responsible agentic AI for customer experience orchestration, including an investment from Genesys in Scaled Cognition (October 16, 2025).
Introduced APT-1, their first system, which achieved #1 on agentic benchmarks and was developed at a significantly lower cost than typical AI projects (February 12, 2025).
Highlighting their specialization in agentic AI, with models designed for decision-making and action-taking rather than just text prediction, aiming to eliminate hallucinations and increase reliability in workflows (October 16, 2025).

Interview Types & Description

Technical Interview

Assesses your core engineering skills, knowledge of programming languages, data structures, algorithms, system design, and understanding of AI/ML concepts relevant to agentic systems.

Preparation Tips

Brush up on Python, data manipulation, and cloud technologies.
Review fundamental AI/ML concepts, especially those related to agentic behavior and large action models.
Practice system design problems, focusing on scalability and real-time data processing.

Sample Questions

Describe how you would deploy and manage an AI model in a client's production environment.
Explain the difference between traditional LLMs and agentic AI models like APT-1.
How would you troubleshoot a production issue where an AI agent is not performing as expected?
Design a system to ingest and process real-time events from millions of client machines.

Quick Practice - Technical Interview

Behavioral Interview

Evaluates your soft skills, work ethic, problem-solving approach in real-world scenarios, and cultural fit with Scaled Cognition's collaborative and innovative environment.

Preparation Tips

Prepare examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for common behavioral questions.
Highlight instances where you've worked with clients, solved complex problems, learned quickly, or collaborated effectively in a team.
Be ready to discuss your motivations for working at a cutting-edge AI company and specifically at Scaled Cognition.

Sample Questions

Tell me about a time you had to learn a new technology quickly for a project.
Describe a situation where you had to handle conflicting priorities or urgent client requests.

Client Interaction / Problem Translation

Assesses your ability to understand client needs, translate vague requirements into actionable technical tasks, and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preparation Tips

Practice asking clarifying questions to uncover the root cause of a client's problem.
Emphasize your approach to breaking down complex problems into smaller, manageable steps.
Be ready to discuss how you manage client expectations and provide updates.

Sample Questions

How would you approach a client who describes a problem in very vague terms?
Describe a time you had to explain a complex technical concept to a non-technical stakeholder.