The Interview Process
Explore the key components of the Engineering Manager interview process.
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Engineering leaders play an important role in a company's operations, so companies invest significantly in hiring good managers. While companies strive to make the right hiring decisions across all roles, the cost of hiring an ineffective manager is significantly higher than that of hiring an underperforming engineer.
During engineering management interviews, candidates are evaluated for skills such as people management, project management, collaboration and communication, organization building, and technical knowledge. Although the interview process varies from company to company, all companies share some common components in an EM interview.
Recruiter screen
The interview process typically starts with a recruiter screen, which evaluates whether the candidate’s experience and skill set match the job’s requirements. This is a lightweight conversation that covers some preliminary questions.
The recruiter screen is a high-level interview, typically lasting between 20–30 minutes. It focuses on gauging the candidate’s ability and experience, usually against the following criteria:
The number of years of people management experience.
Skills, technologies, and areas of expertise.
Another purpose of this interview is to give the candidate an overview of the company, the nature of their responsibilities, and the interview process itself.
Leadership screen
The leadership or management interview evaluates the candidate’s people management knowledge and leadership skills. It is similar to the engineering phone screen interviews conducted for hiring engineers. The leadership screen is conducted by the company’s engineering leaders and typically lasts 45–60 minutes.
This interview’s purpose is to learn about the candidate’s experience and background at a much deeper level. It decides whether the candidate should be brought on-site for the full-loop interview or not. An on-site or full-loop interview is a big investment for the company. A leadership screen interview ensures that the right candidate is brought in for the full loop interview.
Writing assignment
Occasionally, some companies will ask candidates to submit a writing assignment before the on-site or full loop interview. This is another step to validate that the candidate has the minimum skills required to pass the full loop. There is no standard template for this assignment. It can cover various topics, including people management and project management. Usually, it will involve some situational questions like resolving a conflict situation, making hard decisions in a difficult situation, or making some critical design trade-offs.
On-site or full loop interviews
If previous interview steps go well and there is a good alignment between the candidate's experience and the company’s needs, the candidate will be called in for a full loop interview. Full-loop interviews vary from company to company, but there are essentially four main components to them:
Technical
People management
Project management
Behavioral
During these interviews, candidates are rigorously assessed for their technical expertise, leadership capabilities, and management acumen. The objective is to determine their overall fit within the team and the broader company culture.