About the Engineering Manager role
An Engineering Manager leads a team of software engineers, owning both the people and the delivery. They hire and grow engineers, run planning and prioritization with product partners, unblock the team daily, and stay close enough to the technical work to make sound judgment calls on architecture, quality, and risk. The output of a great Engineering Manager is a team that ships reliably and keeps getting better.
Expectations vary by company, so be explicit about the balance you want. Some organizations expect managers to still write code regularly; others expect zero coding and full focus on people and process. Team size matters too: managing five engineers on one product is a different job from managing twelve across two squads. State the team size, the product area, and the coding expectation clearly.
This is a leadership role for internal product development, distinct from an IT Manager who runs company infrastructure and support. When evaluating candidates, weigh evidence of grown engineers, improved delivery, and honest handling of underperformance more heavily than the prestige of past employers.
Engineering Manager job description template
Job brief
We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead one of our product engineering teams. You will manage and grow a team of engineers, partner with product and design on planning and priorities, own delivery quality and pace, and guide technical decisions without micromanaging them. To succeed in this role, you should pair genuine technical credibility with real care for people development. Ultimately, you will build a team that ships excellent software predictably and enjoys doing it.
Responsibilities
- Manage, coach, and develop a team of software engineers through regular one-on-ones and feedback
- Own hiring for the team, from defining roles to interviewing and closing candidates
- Partner with product managers on roadmap planning, scoping, and prioritization
- Own delivery: set realistic commitments, track progress, and remove blockers
- Guide technical decisions and review architecture proposals with senior engineers
- Uphold engineering quality standards, including code review, testing, and operational readiness
- Run performance reviews, set growth plans, and address underperformance directly
- Manage on-call health, incident response, and post-incident learning for the team's services
- Communicate status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to leadership and stakeholders
- Improve team processes continuously, from planning rituals to deployment practices
Requirements and skills
- Proven experience managing software engineers, or strong tech lead experience ready to step up
- Solid software engineering background with several years of hands-on development
- Track record of delivering software projects predictably with a team
- Experience hiring engineers and conducting technical interviews
- Demonstrated ability to coach engineers and manage performance honestly
- Enough current technical depth to evaluate architecture and quality trade-offs credibly
- Strong communication skills with both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
- Experience with Agile delivery practices and modern development workflows
- BSc in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Nice to have
- Experience managing managers or leading multiple squads
- Experience scaling a team through rapid hiring or reorganization
- Background in your product domain or industry
- Experience owning services in production, including on-call and reliability practices
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