GTM Engineer Take-Home Projects (and How to Score Them)

PaddockGTM. Updated October 2026.

The best GTM engineer take-home is short (under three hours), paid, and close to the real job: build a small list for your actual ICP, enrich it, and write the first message. Grade it on judgment (who they picked and why) more than polish. Below are five project options and a scorecard.

Ground rules

Keep it under three hours. Longer filters out people with jobs, who are often the best candidates.
Pay for it. It signals respect and gets better work.
Use your real ICP, so you learn something too.
Ask for a 5-minute Loom walking through it. The explanation matters more than the file.

5 take-home project ideas

1. The 50-account list. "Build a list of 50 companies that fit our ICP and are likely to buy this quarter. Explain the signal you used and why." Tests: targeting, signals, data judgment.

2. The first email. "Pick five accounts from your list and write the first email to the right person at each." Tests: buyer understanding, copywriting.

3. The workflow sketch. "Diagram how you'd automate this list so it refreshes every week. Name the tools and what each step does." Tests: systems thinking, tool fluency.

4. The diagnosis. "Here's a campaign: 1,000 emails sent, 0.4% reply rate, 1 meeting. What do you check first, and what would you change?" Tests: judgment, deliverability knowledge.

5. The teardown. "Look at our website and current outbound. What would you change in your first two weeks?" Tests: prioritization, initiative.

Most teams combine 1 and 2, or 1 and 3.

Scorecard

Score each 1–5:

Criterion	What a 5 looks like
Targeting judgment	Clear, defensible reason for every account; uses a real signal
Data quality	Right people, verified contact data, no obvious duplicates
Messaging	Short, specific, sounds human, ties to the signal
Systems thinking	Knows what to automate and what to keep manual
Communication	Loom is clear, concise and honest about trade-offs

Anything under 3 on targeting judgment is a no, however polished the rest is.

Red flags in submissions

50 accounts with no explanation of why
Every email clearly AI-written and identical in structure
A complex automation for a motion nobody has tested
No mention of deliverability anywhere

For candidates: how to stand out

Explain your reasoning, flag what you'd test first, and say what you'd do differently with more time. Hiring managers remember judgment more than polish. Build your own version before you're asked: see 10 GTM engineering projects.

FAQ

Should take-homes be paid? Yes. A small payment respects the candidate's time and improves the quality of submissions.

How long should a GTM engineer take-home be? Under three hours, plus a short recorded walkthrough.

Want candidates who already passed this bar? Book a call → · Want practice? Introduce yourself →