👩💼 Role Fit and Hiring Process (For Hiring Manager)
What qualities are you looking for in a candidate for this role?
Which specific technical skills are most valued in your engineering team?
What types of problems – in terms of complexity and domain – are most common in your projects?
👥 Engineering Team (For Peers & Hiring Manager)
What are the current high-priority projects for the team?
What metrics and KPIs are most critical for engineering?
How much autonomy does the engineering team have in decision-making?
What are the most significant engineering challenges right now?
How is the engineering team structured?
How do you all collaborate with other departments?
What is the current technology stack?
How do you all decide on adopting new technologies?
How do you manage and maintain the health of your codebase?
How would you describe the engineering culture here?
What does the code review process look like in your team?
How does the team handle incident management and on-call duties?
What metrics are used to measure success in the engineering team?
What does the career path look like for engineers in the company?
What initiatives are in place to promote DEI within the engineering team?
How does the engineering team contribute to product innovation?
What disruptive technologies you're particularly excited about?
Can you describe the level of ownership and responsibility typically given to engineers in projects?
Besides technical skills, what skills do you value most on the engineering team?
How does the company view risk-taking and experimentation in engineering?
Strategic (For Leadership)
What are the immediate milestones or goals the team is focused on?
What are your growth targets for the next year, and how does engineering contribute to achieving them?
As the company scales, what do you anticipate being the biggest technical challenges?
What are the company's key top-line metrics? How are they this year?
How have recent developments in the tech industry impacted the company’s strategy?
How do you envision the engineering team evolving as the company grows?
What skills/abilities/habits do I need to be successful here?
📦 Product (For Cross-Functional Interviews, Recruiter Screen, & Leadership)
How does your product disrupt the current market, and what role does technology play in this disruption?
What is the company’s primary technical competitive advantage, and how do you plan to sustain it?
Can you describe how you've achieved product-market fit?
What does your product development roadmap look like?
What does the typical product development cycle look like in your engineering team?
How does engineering stay aligned with customer needs and feedback?
How is the product development process structured?
Could you explain your customer feedback loop and its impact on product development?
How do you manage customer churn and retention?
Can you describe how data-driven decision-making is integrated into engineering?
💰 Funding (For Leadership or Recruiting at the End)
Can you tell me more about the company's financial health overall?
What is the current burn rate and runway of the company?
How does the company view spending and investment?
What is the total funding received to date, and who are the major investors?
What were the terms and valuation of the last funding round?
Is there an expected timeline for future funding?
Have there been any recent layoffs, and what were the learnings from cost-cutting?
🚀 Culture (For Onsite Maybe, Hiring Manager + Recruiting/People Team)
How would you personally describe the work culture here?
How do different teams collaborate on projects within the company?
Can you describe how the team dynamics and company culture impact you in your role?
How does the company approach diversity and inclusion at various levels?
What initiatives are in place to promote a diverse and inclusive workplace?
Tell me about a time you listened to a quiet or minority voice in a group setting.
Tell me about a time you supported initiatives for underrepresented groups (work or personal).
Tell me about a time you recognized your team's / team member's hard work.
What are your team's/engineering/company's values? How do they align with each other?
Is there a career ladder? How does it look like?
🗣️ Real Talk (Various Team Members @ Final Stages)
What are the current market challenges faced by the company?
Can you describe the competitive landscape in your market?
What are the current market growth trends?
How does the company navigate regulatory and external factors?
What keeps you up at night? Aka what challenges is the org facing that you want to improve/fix?
What is a personal guiding principle of yours?
Why should I not join your team?
Is there anything you'd change about how your team works to make the team more effective?
Is there anything you wish you knew before joining?
What's your favorite thing you've worked on during your time here?
