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    Interviewing for an Engineering Manager Role? 15 Questions You Should be Prepared to Answer

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    We break engineering manager interview questions down to work history, the open role, and behavioral situations.

    Congratulations! You have an interview to become an engineering manager. That’s great news. There’s just one problem – interviewing to become an engineering manager is probably going to be quite a bit different from your previous interviews.

    Here are 15 common engineering manager interview questions every candidate should prepare for. If you thoughtfully consider them and have good answers for each, you’ll be well on your way to nailing the interview.

    Related: Interviewing with the CTO? 3 Strategies to Help Prepare

    Basic work history questions

    These questions are among the most basic, but can still be very hard to answer if you’re not prepared for them. Be sure to know your resume and cover letter inside and out. I find it helps to think of your career as a series of short “stories.”

    In addition, this is a golden opportunity to really put your best foot forward. Take control of the interview, delving into what you think is most relevant to the job. Take this opportunity to connect them to your strengths.

    If you think of your interview as a movie, this is the trailer meant to get people excited about going to see the movie.

    Example questions for Engineering Manager Roles on work history:

    Tell us about yourself

    What was your role with your previous employer?

    Why did you leave your last role?

    How many direct reports have you managed in the past?

    What’s the largest budget you’ve ever managed?

    Questions about the open role

    These questions probe how interested you are in the role and how hard you worked to learn more about it. It’s also an indirect gauge of how your previous experience has helped you to understand what the role requires. If you’re able to glean interesting insights from the job posting that others can’t, interviewers will notice that.

    When I interview someone for a position, I want to know how invested they are in getting the job. I want someone who’s eager. A good way to parse that out is to determine whether they’ve done their homework or not, and it’s these kinds of questions that I use to determine just that.

    Example questions for Engineering Manager candidates on the open role:

    What can you tell us about the role you’re applying for?

    Which aspects of the role do you anticipate are the most challenging?

    What can you tell us about this company?

    How do you think your skills match our needs?

    Behavioral questions

    Behavioral questions are very common for engineering management interviews. These questions demand that you be quick on your feet. Again, it’s important to remember your stories and to be able to draw from them to apply them to the question at hand.

    If you know your stories, you likely don’t need to imagine what you would do in a given situation, you can discuss what you really did do and how you might do things differently in the future given what you’ve learned from your experience.

    One useful framework that I’ve learned for answering questions like these is called STAR:

    Situation

    Task

    Action

    Result

    When answering behavioral questions, try hard to:

    Cover what exactly happened (Situation),

    What you had to do in that situation (Task),

    What you did as an individual (Action), and

    How things played out as a result (Result).

    Related: What is the Star Method and How to Incorporate it into Interviews

    With this approach, you clearly define what happened and how you personally contributed to its resolution.

    Example behavioral questions for Engineering Manager candidates:

    Tell us about a time you made a mistake. What happened and what did you learn from it?

    Share an example of when you faced a conflict.

    Tell us about a time when you faced an ethical dilemma.

    How did you handle it when a project was coming down to the wire – what did you do?

    Related: 30 Behavioral Interview Questions You Should Be Ready to Answer.

    Closing questions for Engineering Manager candidates

    When going into an interview, it’s important to consider what you want to learn from the employer and the things you want them to learn about you.

    In the past, I’ve gone as far as bringing lists of things to learn and communicate into an interview and crossing things off as they were discussed. This is important because in the end, you’ll get a critical opportunity to deal with any items you haven’t yet crossed off.

    Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?

    Do you have any questions for us?

    It’s likely that the engineering manager interview questions you face will be different from anything else you’ve experienced before. If you go into your interview prepared to answer these questions, you’ll be well on your way to taking the next big step in your career.

    Finally, before starting salary negotiations in an engineering manager interview, be sure to check out:

    Originally written by Patrick Sweet in April 2019. Update by the Hired Content team in October 2023. More

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      in Talent Acquisition

      How to Effectively Respond to Candidates’ Final Interview Questions

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      The seismic shift during the last two years has turned the labor market on its head. Today, there is a near record of ~11.2 million jobs available, with almost two job openings for every unemployed American. And with the constantly shifting landscape, companies continue to face high employee turnover and difficulty acquiring quality talent to fill open roles. Sixty-nine percent of recruiters believe attracting and hiring talent will be difficult for the remainder of the year, per the latest data from Employ Inc.’s latest Quarterly Insights Report.
      To overcome this challenge, it’s key to determine whether the role aligns with the expectations and preferences of job seekers. One of the best ways to find out is during the interview process. By opening the interview floor to questions from a job candidate, you have the opportunity to better understand what is important to them and make authentic connections in a highly competitive hiring environment. In the past six months, 72% of recruiters have encountered candidates who have, at one time, received multiple offers at the same time.
      “What motivates you [Recruiter or Hiring Manager] to stay on the team at your organization?”
      Job seekers know what they are looking for in their next position and want to be satisfied with their future employment. In fact, new research shows that 32% of workers would quit a job without having another one lined up if they don’t feel content or fulfilled with their job. Answering this question truthfully will help the candidate determine whether or not your organization is a good culture fit. Especially since 21% of job seekers cited poor company culture as the top reason for leaving a job in the last 12 months. Another thing to consider is welcoming the candidate to ask that same question to others. The different perspectives of your hiring team can help the candidate really understand the organization and how it might align with their values.
      “What has the company implemented to help drive improvement in the organization?”
      While this question is broad, your answer can help your organization stand out. Tie this answer to the initiatives implemented to build your company culture or improve the well-being of employees, such as mental health benefits, strong work-life balance, and flexible work arrangements, among others. Per Employ data, poor company culture is one of the top reasons employers switch jobs. You might also pull an example from how the organization was faced with a challenge, made a change, and was ultimately able to overcome that obstacle. In addition to a strong culture, reinforcing how your team solves problems collaboratively can really help improve the candidate’s understanding of why they would want to join your team.
      “How has the organization been performing against goals this year?”
      Job seekers want to know whether an organization is setting and achieving its goals. This is especially important for roles where reaching individual goals correlates with salaries, as compensation continues to be a driving factor in today’s hiring climate. Per Employ’s latest data, 42% of recruiters found making adjustments to compensation and total rewards to be the most helpful strategy in overcoming the tight labor market. That’s why it’s crucial to leave interviewees with a clear understanding of compensation, how attainable the goals are, and whether the organization has successfully achieved them.
      “What is [Hiring Manager’s] leadership style?”
      Misalignment on leadership styles can cause significant workplace issues and future career paths. That’s why job seekers need to understand their potential manager’s leadership style and for you to know how candidates like to receive direction and feedback. Answering this question with transparency is critical. Otherwise, you risk hiring a new employee who may not mesh well with the team. Employ data found that nearly one-third of workers who left their job after 90 days claim unsatisfactory company leadership as the primary rationale for departing.
      “Do you have any concerns about recommending me for this position?”
      If you have concerns about gaps in skills or experience, take the time to explain why those are important to the position and allow them to respond. The candidate’s response to the feedback can also signal how well they handle critical feedback and if they’re willing to grow in the areas they’re lacking. Pay attention to what experiences they highlight to help reduce your potential concerns. The conversation surrounding this question could ultimately make, or break, your decision to move forward with a candidate or their decision to accept the job.
      Overcome Hiring Challenges with the Right Technology
      Before an interview even takes place, sourcing the right talent for open roles is crucial. However, our data reveals the biggest challenge for over half of recruiters is finding and hiring quality candidates, while 62% said improving quality-of-hire is their top priority. In today’s tight labor market, recruiters must adapt their tactics and processes to identify the best possible candidates, which can be accomplished by investing in intelligent talent acquisition technologies to meet hiring goals.
      When determining the best solution for the needs of your talent acquisition (TA) team, ensure the technology has extensive experience in delivering recruiting results within your specific industry and business size. Identify solutions that go beyond applicant tracking and integrate a wide range of capabilities to support your hiring goals, including recruiting AI and automation, employee referral tools, analytics, and more. With these solutions, organizations will have everything needed to identify the best candidates for every job opening and the opportunity to dig even deeper during the interview process.
      Corey Berkey serves as Senior Vice President, People & Talent, at Employ Inc. 
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