# Software Engineering Manager
**Role:** Software Engineering Manager · **Level:** Director
**Company:** [Cohesity](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/cohesity)
**Difficulty:** High
**Salary:** US$180000 - US$250000
**Experience:** 10 - 15
**Timeline:** ~4 days
This interview process is designed to assess candidates for a Director-level Software Engineering Manager role at Cohesity. It evaluates leadership capabilities, technical depth, strategic thinking, and cultural fit.
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/interviews/cohesity/director-software-engineering-manager
---
## Overall evaluation

- Leadership and People Management
- Technical Acumen and Strategy
- Business and Strategic Alignment

## Questions asked

- Describe your leadership philosophy and how you build high-performing engineering teams.
- How do you balance innovation with execution and delivery?
- Tell me about a significant technical challenge you faced and how you overcame it.
- How do you foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your teams?
- What is your approach to managing underperformance and developing talent?
- Describe a time you had to influence senior leadership on a technical or strategic decision.
- How do you ensure alignment between engineering efforts and business objectives?
- What are your strategies for managing distributed or remote engineering teams?
- How do you approach architectural decisions and ensure scalability and reliability?
- Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn from it?

## Preparation tips

### lists

- Deeply understand Cohesity's mission, values, products, and recent news.
- Review your career accomplishments and prepare specific examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
- Familiarize yourself with common leadership and management frameworks.
- Practice articulating your leadership philosophy and technical vision.
- Prepare thoughtful questions for each interviewer.
- Understand the challenges and opportunities facing the software engineering industry.
- Network with current Cohesity employees if possible to gain insights.

### studyPlan

- {"title":"Company and Self-Assessment","longDescription":"Week 1-2: Focus on understanding Cohesity's business, products, and market position. Research their engineering culture, values, and recent technological advancements. Review your own leadership experiences and identify key achievements relevant to a Director-level role. Prepare STAR stories for common leadership and management scenarios.","shortDescription":"Weeks 1-2: Cohesity Research & Leadership Experience Review."}
- {"title":"Technical Deep Dive","longDescription":"Week 3: Deep dive into technical leadership principles, system design at scale, and modern software development methodologies. Refresh your knowledge on cloud technologies, CI/CD, and DevOps practices. Prepare to discuss how you foster innovation and manage technical debt.","shortDescription":"Week 3: Technical Leadership & System Design."}
- {"title":"Behavioral and Strategic Preparation","longDescription":"Week 4: Focus on behavioral and situational questions related to people management, conflict resolution, strategic decision-making, and stakeholder management. Practice articulating your vision for engineering teams and how you drive results. Prepare questions for the interviewers.","shortDescription":"Week 4: Behavioral & Strategic Scenarios."}

## Location differences

- {"location":"Global","differences":{"tips":["Research Cohesity's presence and impact in the specific region.","Be prepared to discuss your experience managing diverse teams, potentially across different geographies.","Highlight any experience with local hiring practices or talent acquisition strategies.","Understand the competitive landscape for engineering talent in the location."],"interviewFocus":["Understanding of local market talent pool and compensation benchmarks.","Familiarity with regional regulatory or compliance requirements if applicable.","Cultural nuances in team management and communication.","Local economic factors that might influence hiring or project timelines."],"commonQuestions":["How do you handle a team member who is consistently underperforming?","Describe a time you had to make a difficult decision that impacted your team. What was the outcome?","How do you foster innovation within your engineering teams?","What are your strategies for managing remote or distributed teams effectively?","How do you balance technical debt with delivering new features?","Tell me about a time you had to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers.","What is your approach to hiring and retaining top engineering talent?","How do you stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends?","Describe your experience with Agile methodologies and how you've adapted them.","How do you measure the success of your engineering teams and your own leadership?"]}}
- {"location":"Cohesity Headquarters (e.g., San Jose, CA)","differences":{"tips":["Thoroughly research Cohesity's mission, values, and recent achievements.","Be prepared to discuss specific examples of how you've driven business outcomes through engineering leadership.","Understand Cohesity's competitive advantages and market position.","Prepare questions that demonstrate your strategic thinking and interest in Cohesity's future."],"interviewFocus":["Deep understanding of Cohesity's product portfolio and strategic direction.","Experience in managing large, complex engineering projects with significant business impact.","Ability to influence and collaborate with senior leadership across the organization.","Proven track record of driving technical excellence and innovation at scale."],"commonQuestions":["How do you manage stakeholder expectations across different departments (e.g., Product, Sales)?","Describe your experience in scaling engineering teams and processes.","How do you drive a culture of accountability and ownership within your teams?","What are your strategies for mentoring and developing engineering leaders within your organization?","Tell me about a time you had to pivot a project due to market changes or strategic shifts.","How do you ensure the quality and reliability of software delivered by your teams?","What is your philosophy on performance management and career progression for engineers?","How do you approach budgeting and resource allocation for your engineering department?","Describe your experience with cloud-native architectures and microservices.","How do you foster collaboration between different engineering disciplines (e.g., backend, frontend, QA)?"]}}

## Round 1: HR Phone Screen
**Type:** HR Screening · **Difficulty:** High · **Duration:** 45 min
Initial screening to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.
This initial screening call with HR aims to understand your background, career aspirations, and motivation for applying to Cohesity. They will assess your general fit for the role and the company culture, as well as discuss salary expectations and logistics.
**Interviewers look for:** Enthusiasm for the role and Cohesity.; Basic understanding of leadership principles.; Clear communication.; Alignment with Cohesity's core values.
**Evaluation criteria:** Leadership potential.; Communication skills.; Cultural alignment.; Initial assessment of experience.
**Common rejection reasons:** Lack of clear leadership vision.; Inability to articulate strategic thinking.; Poor communication or interpersonal skills.; Insufficient experience in managing engineering teams at scale.; Lack of cultural fit.
## Questions

- Tell me about your background and experience in software engineering management.
- Why are you interested in this Director of Engineering role at Cohesity?
- What are your salary expectations for this position?
- Describe your leadership style.

## Preparation tips

- Be prepared to discuss your resume in detail.
- Articulate why you are interested in Cohesity and this specific role.
- Have a clear understanding of your salary expectations.
- Be ready to share examples of your leadership experience.

## Round 2: Hiring Manager Interview
**Type:** Leadership and People Management Interview · **Difficulty:** High · **Duration:** 60 min
Assesses leadership, people management, and strategic thinking.
This interview focuses on your leadership experience, people management skills, and strategic thinking. The hiring manager will delve into your past accomplishments, challenges, and how you approach building and leading engineering teams. Expect behavioral and situational questions.
**Interviewers look for:** Ability to lead and inspire teams.; Strategic vision for engineering.; Experience in managing and developing engineers.; Sound judgment and decision-making.; Understanding of software development lifecycle.
**Evaluation criteria:** Leadership capabilities.; Strategic thinking.; People management skills.; Problem-solving abilities.; Technical depth relevant to management.
**Common rejection reasons:** Lack of strategic thinking.; Inability to articulate technical vision.; Poor problem-solving skills.; Weak people management skills.; Difficulty in handling complex scenarios.
## Questions

- Describe a time you had to lead your team through a significant change or challenge.
- How do you foster a culture of accountability and high performance?
- Tell me about your approach to mentoring and developing engineering talent.
- How do you balance the need for speed with the importance of quality and technical excellence?
- What is your experience in managing budgets and resources for an engineering team?

## Preparation tips

- Prepare specific examples using the STAR method for leadership, team building, conflict resolution, and strategic decision-making.
- Think about how you foster innovation and manage technical debt.
- Be ready to discuss your approach to performance management and career development.
- Understand Cohesity's engineering challenges and opportunities.

## Round 3: Technical Deep Dive
**Type:** Technical and Architectural Interview · **Difficulty:** High · **Duration:** 60 min
Evaluates technical leadership, system design, and architectural vision.
This interview focuses on your technical leadership and strategic thinking. You'll discuss your approach to system design, architecture, scalability, and how you drive technical innovation within your teams. Expect questions about cloud technologies, distributed systems, and managing technical debt.
**Interviewers look for:** Strong technical foundation.; Ability to guide technical direction.; Understanding of distributed systems and cloud technologies.; Pragmatic approach to technical challenges.; Vision for future technology trends.
**Evaluation criteria:** Technical leadership and vision.; System design and architecture.; Understanding of scalability and reliability.; Ability to drive technical excellence.; Familiarity with modern technologies.
**Common rejection reasons:** Lack of technical depth or architectural understanding.; Inability to articulate technical strategy.; Poor collaboration skills.; Difficulty in handling complex technical scenarios.; Not demonstrating a forward-thinking technical approach.
## Questions

- Describe your approach to designing scalable and reliable distributed systems.
- How do you manage technical debt and ensure the long-term health of a codebase?
- What are your thoughts on microservices vs. monolithic architectures?
- How do you stay current with emerging technologies and evaluate their potential adoption?
- Walk me through a complex technical project you led from conception to delivery.

## Preparation tips

- Review concepts of distributed systems, microservices, and cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Be prepared to discuss your experience with CI/CD, automation, and monitoring.
- Think about how you make architectural decisions and manage technical debt.
- Consider how you foster a culture of technical excellence and innovation.
- Be ready to discuss specific technologies relevant to Cohesity's stack.

## Round 4: Senior Leadership Interview
**Type:** Cross-functional and Business Acumen Interview · **Difficulty:** High · **Duration:** 60 min
Evaluates business acumen, strategic alignment, and cross-functional collaboration.
This interview assesses your business acumen, strategic alignment, and ability to collaborate with other departments. You'll discuss how you partner with Product Management, Sales, and other stakeholders to achieve business goals. Expect questions about market dynamics, product strategy, and cross-functional collaboration.
**Interviewers look for:** Understanding of business objectives.; Ability to collaborate with Product, Sales, and other departments.; Strong communication and influencing skills.; Pragmatic approach to balancing technical and business needs.; Vision for how engineering contributes to business success.
**Evaluation criteria:** Business acumen.; Cross-functional collaboration.; Stakeholder management.; Strategic alignment with company goals.; Ability to drive business outcomes through engineering.
**Common rejection reasons:** Lack of alignment with company strategy.; Poor stakeholder management.; Inability to influence cross-functional teams.; Misalignment on business priorities.; Not demonstrating a clear understanding of the business impact of engineering.
## Questions

- How do you partner with Product Management to define and execute the product roadmap?
- Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders from other departments to adopt your team's technical direction.
- How do you ensure your engineering teams are aligned with the company's overall business objectives?
- What is your approach to managing customer escalations or critical production issues?
- How do you measure the success of your engineering organization in terms of business impact?

## Preparation tips

- Research Cohesity's business strategy, target markets, and competitive landscape.
- Think about how engineering can directly impact business outcomes.
- Prepare examples of successful cross-functional collaboration.
- Understand how you prioritize engineering efforts based on business needs.
- Be ready to discuss your experience in influencing stakeholders and driving consensus.

## Round 5: Executive Leadership Interview
**Type:** Executive Interview · **Difficulty:** High · **Duration:** 60 min
Final interview with senior executive to assess executive presence and strategic vision.
This final interview is with a senior executive to assess your executive presence, strategic vision, and overall fit within the company's leadership team. They will focus on your ability to think big picture, inspire teams, and contribute to Cohesity's long-term success.
**Interviewers look for:** Strong leadership presence.; Clear and compelling vision.; Ability to think at a strategic, long-term level.; Alignment with Cohesity's executive team.; Passion for the company's mission.
**Evaluation criteria:** Executive presence and communication.; Vision and strategic leadership.; Cultural fit at the executive level.; Overall alignment with Cohesity's direction.; Ability to inspire and lead at a high level.
**Common rejection reasons:** Lack of alignment with executive vision.; Poor cultural fit at the executive level.; Inability to articulate a compelling vision.; Lack of confidence or executive presence.; Not demonstrating the gravitas expected of a Director.
## Questions

- What is your long-term vision for the engineering organization at Cohesity?
- How would you describe your leadership style in the context of leading other engineering leaders?
- What are the biggest challenges you foresee for Cohesity's engineering teams in the next 3-5 years, and how would you address them?
- Why are you the right person to lead engineering at this level within Cohesity?
- Do you have any questions for me about Cohesity's strategic direction or our leadership team?

## Preparation tips

- Reiterate your understanding of Cohesity's mission and future.
- Articulate your vision for the engineering organization and its contribution to the company.
- Be prepared to discuss your leadership philosophy at an executive level.
- Showcase your passion and commitment to Cohesity's success.
- Prepare insightful questions about the company's strategic direction.