2 min lesson
Loop overview and how Cursor differs
Put this idea into your own words: "Cursor evaluates a Research Scientist across a handful of stages, but the offer is decided in one of them."
Step 1 of 3
Cursor evaluates a Research Scientist across a handful of stages, but the offer is decided in one of them: a paid, multi-hour work simulation where they put you in the seat and watch how you actually operate. Everything before it is a filter; the onsite is the verdict.
Hold the whole shape in your head before you prep a single answer. Each stage tests a different slice of the same claim - that you can take an ambiguous RL-for-coding problem and drive it to a result that ships. The screens check fundamentals and signal. The deep-dive checks whether you own your own past work. The onsite checks whether you can do the job.
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Full explanation
The Loop at a Glance
Interactive diagram. Step through it with the Next and Previous controls below, or Tab to a region to read its detail.
Step through each stage. Counts and order shift by candidate and seniority - the structure is reliable, the exact counts are not.
Cursor's onsite is a work simulation rather than a whiteboard. They hand you a project-shaped problem, pay you for the day and watch how you operate when no one is telling you what to do. Bias your prep toward operating well under ambiguity, not toward memorizing RL trivia, because the trivia gets checked in 60 minutes and the operating gets checked over 8 hours.