How we interview · Engineering manager

Hire engineering managers who grow teams and ship

Engineering managers and senior engineering managers, interviewed on people leadership, delivery and technical judgement. We don't run director or VP searches.

An engineering manager's work shows up in other people: who they hired, who grew, whether the team ships predictably and stays. None of that is on a CV, and it's easy to over-hire a confident talker or under-rate a quiet builder of teams.

We look for managers who still have real technical judgement, run delivery without heroics, hire well, give direct feedback, and build teams people want to stay in.

What they work on: Teams of roughly 5 to 15 engineers, or several teams through other managers at the senior level.

When to hire one

Your strongest engineer is managing by accident and stopped coding.
The team has doubled and delivery got less predictable.
Good engineers are leaving and you're not sure why.

What we assess in engineering managers

Every report also covers impact, judgement, how they raise the team and how they work with others.

Craft

People: Hiring, one-to-ones, feedback, growing engineers and handling performance problems early.
Delivery: Planning, predictable execution and saying no to the right things.
Technical judgement: Reviewing designs, spotting risk, balancing new features against tech debt.
Team health: Clear goals, healthy on-call, and a culture people choose to stay in.
Partnership: Working with product, design and other managers toward shared outcomes.

How we recommend a level

Engineering manager: Leads one team: hiring, growth, delivery and its technical quality.
Senior engineering manager: Leads several teams or managers, and solves problems that cross departments.

The 60-minute interview

Warm-up (10 min): A team they built or turned around: what they changed and what happened.
People scenarios (25 min): A struggling senior engineer, a conflict between two leads, a hire that isn't working.
Delivery and design (20 min): A slipping project and a design review: where would they step in, and where would they trust the team?
Their questions (5 min): Do they ask about the team before the title?

Red flags we screen for

Every success is 'I', every failure is 'they'.
No example of hard feedback given well.
Has lost touch with how the team's systems work.

What you receive for each shortlisted candidate:

Candidate D.G.

Engineering Manager · 60-minute technical interview

Sample report

Tested: People scenarios (an underperforming senior, a lead conflict), a slipping project and a design review.
Strong: Specific, kind and direct on feedback. Clear examples of engineers they grew. Good design questions.
Gaps: Has only managed one team. Less experience hiring at volume.
Level: Engineering manager. Not yet senior EM.
Probe next: How they would hire three engineers in a quarter, and a time they removed a project from the roadmap.

RecommendationShortlist

Questions about hiring engineering managers

No. We hire engineering managers and senior engineering managers. Director, VP and CTO searches are outside what we take on.

First interviewed profiles usually reach you within a few days of the brief, and selection through your own rounds takes about two weeks. Joining then depends on the candidate's notice period, which in India is often 30 to 90 days.

A percentage of the hire's annual CTC, set by seniority and paid only when the candidate joins. There's no retainer and no fee if nobody joins.

Not usually, but they need real technical judgement. We test it with a design review in every manager interview.

Other engineering roles we hire

Hiring on your own terms? Permanent hiring, contract hires or interviews only.

Tell us the role.

Four details and we'll come back within a working day with how we'd approach it.

No retainer. You pay only when someone joins. Or write to talent@algosmiths.com