Zillow frontend interviews favor real-world work over LeetCode: greenfield React coding, refactoring a messy function, accessibility, and frontend system design.
This guide is built from 3 Zillow interview reports shared by FrontendLead members between November 2023 and October 2025, cross-checked against Zillow’s official interview prep page and questions members have tagged with Zillow. Member data for Zillow is thinner than for larger companies, so we flag where details may vary by team.
The single most useful fact comes from Zillow itself: its prep page describes a greenfield coding exercise that mimics real problems you’d face on the job rather than algorithm puzzles, plus a separate refactoring exercise with unfamiliar code. A senior member’s onsite matched that exactly. Spend your prep on building small React features from requirements and on cleaning up code you didn’t write.
By Shivam Bhalla · Updated
01Zillow frontend interview at a glance
- Timeline
- Often about 3 to 5 weeks; confirm with your recruiter
- Process
- Recruiter screen, technical screen, virtual onsite
- Onsite
- Several rounds covering coding, refactoring, system design, accessibility, and behavioral
- Coding style
- Greenfield, real-world features rather than algorithm puzzles
- Frameworks
- React is the default; one member reported a React and Redux pairing exercise
- Signature topic
- Refactoring unfamiliar code and building features from requirements
- Also tested
- Accessibility, in its own set of questions
- Leveling
- Zillow uses P-levels; a senior member interviewed at P4
02Zillow frontend interview process
Zillow publishes prep videos for each software engineering round: system design, greenfield coding, refactoring code, and behavioral answers using the STAR method. The stages below combine those with member reports.
- 1
Recruiter screen
About 30 minutesExpect questions about your background, the team you’re interested in, and why Zillow. Zillow has several product areas, from home search to 3D home tours, so ask which team you’d join and what it builds.
- 2
Technical screen
About 45 to 60 minutesA Zillow interviewer described their screens on a public forum as a set of domain questions to gauge your level, followed by a small coding challenge in the same area, with no LeetCode questions. One member’s first round was more open-ended than they expected. After some chat about past work, the interviewer asked for their opinions on React, then posed an open-ended data-loading problem the team was facing. The member had no direct experience and struggled.
Treat this round as a conversation about real engineering problems. If you hit a gap, reason from first principles out loud instead of going quiet.
- 3
Virtual onsite
Several rounds, usually in one dayA senior member’s P4 onsite had five parts:
- Accessibility questions.
- System design: a Zillow product page.
- React coding: a form feature built from requirements.
- Refactoring: improving a large, unfamiliar function.
- Behavioral questions, with a designer as the interviewer.
Another member listed similar topics: a React and Redux pairing exercise on data fetching and state, a media-heavy UI design, server-side rendering, and general frontend and behavioral questions. Exact rounds vary by team, so ask your recruiter for the list.
- 4
Decision
VariesInterviewers submit feedback and the hiring team decides. Some public reports mention slow communication after the onsite, so a polite follow-up with your recruiter is reasonable.
03Zillow’s four round types
Zillow’s official prep page names four software engineering interview types. Here’s what each one means for a frontend candidate.
| Round | What Zillow says | What it looks like for frontend |
|---|---|---|
| Greenfield coding | Mimics real-world problems instead of LeetCode or algorithm questions | Build a React feature from a list of requirements |
| Refactoring code | Work with unfamiliar code and show how you refactor and maintain it | Break up a large function, add tests, and explain each change |
| System design | Translate customer problems into simple, stable, scalable solutions | Design a Zillow-style product page |
| Behavioral | Answer with the STAR method | Stories about collaboration, including with designers |
Notice the phrase “customer problems” in the system design description. Start design answers from the home shopper’s goal, not from the architecture diagram.
Members only
Coding rounds: questions Zillow candidates were asked
6 real Zillow interview questions
Every prompt members reported, with the round, the level, and the follow-ups interviewers asked.
Members only
How to ace Zillow’s refactoring round
The exact Zillow interview prompts
Every prompt members reported, with the round, the level, and the follow-ups interviewers asked.
Members only
Zillow frontend system design questions
3 real Zillow interview questions
Every prompt members reported, with the round, the level, and the follow-ups interviewers asked.
07Accessibility at Zillow
A senior member’s onsite included a dedicated set of accessibility questions, and Zillow’s careers site states a commitment to digital accessibility. Prepare to answer these confidently:
- How do you make a custom dropdown or modal accessible? Cover roles, focus management, and Escape to close.
- How do you test accessibility? Mention keyboard-only testing, a screen reader, and automated checks, and note that automated tools miss many issues.
- How would you make an interactive map usable without a mouse or without sight? Offer a list view as an equivalent, not just ARIA labels on markers.
- When do you use ARIA, and when is semantic HTML enough?
Review Web Accessibility and ARIA roles, then practice Focus-Trapped Dialog.
08Behavioral interview at Zillow
Zillow’s prep page asks candidates to use the STAR method: situation, task, action, result. One member’s behavioral round was run by a designer, so expect questions about how you work with design and product partners.
Zillow’s current core values are useful anchors for your stories:
- Consumers are our north star: a time you changed a plan based on user needs.
- Turn on the lights: a time you made a decision transparent by documenting the why.
- Own it: a project you drove from start to finish.
- Better together: a disagreement with a designer or PM that you resolved.
The technical screen may also include “What do you like and dislike about React?” Have an honest, specific answer ready, such as liking composition and disliking effect dependency pitfalls.
09How to prepare for the Zillow frontend interview
Skip heavy LeetCode prep unless your recruiter says otherwise. Focus on practical React, refactoring, accessibility, and product design.
| Days | Focus | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Greenfield React features | Signup Form, then build a validated form with rules added one at a time |
| 3 | Data fetching and state | useAsyncResource, Paginated Orders Table |
| 4 | Refactoring | Improve a function, then refactor an old file of your own out loud |
| 5 | Accessibility | Focus-Trapped Dialog and Web Accessibility |
| 6 to 7 | System design | Design Airbnb, then sketch a search-heavy product page |
| 8 | JavaScript fundamentals | Build Promise, Throttle II |
| 9 to 10 | Behavioral | Write STAR stories for each core value; see behavioral questions |
For a longer runway, the study plans page can extend this into a multi-week schedule.
10Zillow frontend interview FAQ
How long is the Zillow frontend interview process?
Public sources estimate about three to five weeks from recruiter screen to decision. Timing depends on scheduling and the team, so ask your recruiter.
Does Zillow ask LeetCode questions for frontend roles?
Generally not. Zillow’s own prep page says its greenfield coding exercise mimics real-world problems rather than LeetCode or algorithm questions, and the members’ rounds were practical React, refactoring, and design. One member prepared for algorithms based on older posts and found the interview was nothing like that.
What is the Zillow refactoring interview?
You get unfamiliar code, often one large function, and explain or perform a refactor. Interviewers look for understanding the code first, protecting behavior with tests, extracting clear functions, and flagging bugs separately.
Does Zillow test accessibility in frontend interviews?
Yes, at least on some teams. A senior member had a dedicated set of accessibility questions in the onsite. Know semantic HTML, focus management, ARIA roles, and how to test with a keyboard and screen reader.
What frontend system design questions does Zillow ask?
Members reported designing Zillow-style product pages around search and listings. The exact prompts are in the members-only sections above. Start from the home shopper’s needs.
What level is a senior frontend engineer at Zillow?
A senior member interviewed at P4. Confirm the level and its expectations with your recruiter, since leveling can depend on the role.