I applied online and was also referred internally. I don't believe that I would have been contacted otherwise as Stripe seems to procure hundred(s) of applicants per role.
The screening started with standard (why Stripe, tell me about your background, etc) followed by some behavioral questions (tell me a time when….). Definitely be prepared for behavioral questions during the screening call - which in my opinion, isn’t the norm during your first exploratory conversation. The recruiter told me very little about Stripe, the team, the role, or what they were looking for - so the JD was the only insight I had through this point. As others have mentioned, its very much ‘the Stripe show’, and not candidate focused at all.
After the screening round, I was scheduled to meet with a peer on the team and told they would be asking me ‘situational questions’. It was an incredibly sterile, impersonal, and transactional, structured interview. There was very little human interaction - it was clear that the person was tasked to ask me 6 hypothetical questions which I assume are scored against other candidates. The questions were easy, if not almost blatantly obvious(?). But as a tech professional who has 10+ years of experience in corporate settings it really made me wonder what they’re actually asking, or why it is holds any value. The questions covered very elementary and rhetorical process/conflict resolution themes (ie. How would you handle a disagreement with a Sales person? How do you handle competing priorities? How do you handle a disengaged client?) They encourage you to ask clarifying questions, or make assumptions - however when you do, you are only given more vague information. I was unimpressed with this entire second interview as it seemed more of a test of how you could come up with a great answer to a vague Stripe scenario than any real measure of your personality, successes, experience, or skills. I was given time to ask a few questions at the end, but only received (surprise surprise) more vague responses.
Stripe seems to attract a lot of top talent with Ivy League (or similar) pedigrees. Also, given Stripe employees are highly compensated [within the averages] for each role, it seems a decent amount of Stipe employees take title demotions to work there. You will definitely be competing with people who (IMO) are overqualified for the role and will likely need to be one to two levels above the role you’re applying for to even compete. Everyone on the team that I interviewed for has Ivy League Bachelors, Masters, or Doctorate degrees which leads me to believe this team (or perhaps Stripe as a whole) is very interested in creating an elitist and non-diverse monoculture.