Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.
01
Evaluation factor
Technical depth
35% weight
Probe depth in Solidity and EVM internals: reentrancy patterns, delegatecall proxy storage collisions, signature replay, oracle manipulation, plus tooling such as Foundry, Slither, Echidna, and Halmos.
Evidence to listen for
Command of the specific attack surface, tooling, and controls the role covers
Understands how the underlying system works, not just how the tool reports on it
Can explain an attack or control chain end to end
Distinguishes what they found themselves from what a scanner flagged
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Tool operator only; no understanding of the systems underneath.
2
Needs Improvement
Runs tooling but cannot explain findings or how the attack works.
3
Satisfactory
Solid working knowledge; depth thins outside familiar tooling.
4
Very Good
Strong command of the domain; explains attack and control chains clearly.
5
Excellent
Explains bug classes at bytecode and storage-slot level, and names invariants they wrote in Foundry or Echidna to catch them.
02
Evaluation factor
Real incidents and findings
30% weight
Ask for specific audits shipped: protocol names, lines of code reviewed, critical and high findings, Code4rena or Sherlock placements, and any live exploit they postmortemed.
Evidence to listen for
Brings specific incidents, findings, or audits they personally worked
States their own role rather than the team's
Describes what was actually at risk and what changed afterwards
Can talk about a finding that turned out to be wrong
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
No hands-on work; knowledge is entirely certification or coursework.
2
Needs Improvement
Limited exposure; cannot describe their contribution to an incident.
3
Satisfactory
Real casework with adequate detail; ownership sometimes vague.
4
Very Good
Specific incidents with clear personal scope and what changed after.
5
Excellent
Cites named engagements with severity counts, links public reports or contest profiles, and describes findings the client actually confirmed and patched.
03
Evaluation factor
Risk judgement
20% weight
Test severity calls: how they weigh likelihood versus funds at risk, judge admin key and upgradeability risk, and separate real findings from theoretical noise.
Evidence to listen for
Prioritises by actual exploitability and business impact, not raw severity scores
Can argue for accepting a risk as well as fixing it
Knows the difference between a finding and a problem
Does not cry wolf or wave things through
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Treats every finding as critical, or waves real risk through.
2
Needs Improvement
Follows severity scores mechanically; no business context.
3
Satisfactory
Reasonable prioritisation; less confident arguing for risk acceptance.
4
Very Good
Prioritises by exploitability and impact; can justify accepting a risk.
5
Excellent
Justifies severity using concrete attacker cost, preconditions, and value at risk; concedes when an issue is informational rather than inflating it.
04
Evaluation factor
Getting things fixed
15% weight
Look for how they drive remediation: rewriting fixes with dev teams, verifying patches on the diff, mitigation review rounds, and disclosure etiquette on live protocols.
Evidence to listen for
Writes findings engineers can act on rather than a wall of output
Has persuaded a team to fix something they did not want to fix
Explains risk to executives in business terms
Works with the org rather than policing it
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Adversarial with engineering; findings never get fixed.
2
Needs Improvement
Reports are unactionable; no influence beyond raising tickets.
3
Satisfactory
Adequate reporting; relies on mandate rather than persuasion.
4
Very Good
Actionable findings and a real record of getting fixes shipped.
5
Excellent
Describes fix review cycles where the patch introduced new issues, and shows tact handling disclosure on deployed contracts holding user funds.
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