Scale Engineer

Software Engineering Manager

Software Engineering ManagerP9High

The Software Engineering Manager (P9) interview at Aurora is a comprehensive assessment designed to evaluate a candidate's leadership capabilities, technical acumen, strategic thinking, and ability to manage and grow high-performing engineering teams. This role requires a blend of strong technical background, excellent people management skills, and a proven track record of delivering complex projects.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~14d

Experience·8 - 15 yrs

Comp band·US$180000 - US$250000

Interview time·180 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Leadership effectiveness
  • Team building and development
  • Strategic thinking and planning
  • Technical depth and breadth
  • Problem-solving and decision-making
  • Communication and interpersonal skills
  • Execution and delivery

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review Aurora's mission, values, and recent product launches.
  2. Understand the company's engineering culture and best practices.
  3. Prepare specific examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for behavioral questions.
  4. Brush up on system design principles and common architectural patterns.
  5. Think about your leadership philosophy and how you develop engineers.
  6. Be ready to discuss your experience managing budgets, roadmaps, and cross-functional collaborations.
  7. Research common challenges faced by engineering managers and how you've addressed them.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 05 phases

01 / 05
01

Phase 01 of 05

Company & Self-Assessment

Weeks 1-2: Aurora's business & culture, career review, STAR stories.

Weeks 1-2: Deep dive into Aurora's business, products, and engineering culture. Understand the company's strategic goals and how engineering contributes. Review your own career achievements and identify key projects and leadership experiences relevant to a P9 role. Start outlining STAR method stories for common leadership and technical challenges.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Tell me about a time you had to make a difficult technical decision that impacted your team. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?
  • How do you foster a culture of innovation and psychological safety within your engineering team?
  • Describe your approach to managing underperforming engineers. Provide a specific example.
  • How do you balance the need for rapid feature delivery with maintaining code quality and system stability?
  • Walk me through a complex system you designed or significantly contributed to. What were the key challenges and trade-offs?
  • How do you prioritize competing demands from product management, engineering, and other stakeholders?
  • Tell me about a time you had to resolve a conflict within your team or between your team and another.
  • How do you stay current with emerging technologies and ensure your team is leveraging them effectively?
  • Describe your experience with hiring and onboarding engineers. What do you look for in a candidate?
  • How do you measure the success of your team and your own effectiveness as a manager?
  • What is your philosophy on mentorship and career development for engineers?
  • How do you handle technical debt and ensure its management is part of the roadmap?
  • Describe a time you failed. What did you learn from it, and how did you apply those learnings?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Remote/Hybrid

Interview focus

Remote team management strategiesCross-cultural communicationBuilding trust and cohesion in a distributed environmentLeveraging technology for remote collaboration

Common questions

  • How do you handle underperforming engineers in a remote setting?
  • Describe a time you had to adapt your management style for a distributed team.
  • What tools and strategies do you use to foster collaboration and communication in a remote team?
  • How do you ensure code quality and project timelines are met with a remote team?
  • What are the unique challenges of managing a team across different time zones, and how do you overcome them?

Tips

  • Highlight experience with remote or hybrid team leadership.
  • Provide specific examples of successful remote project delivery.
  • Demonstrate understanding of asynchronous communication best practices.
  • Showcase your ability to build a strong team culture regardless of location.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

Expand a step for evaluation criteria, sample questions, and prep notes.

DSA

Coding questions at Aurora.

Frequently reported on Aurora loops

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Other guides

More at Aurora.