Scale Engineer

Software Engineering Manager

Software Engineering ManagerSVP EngineeringVery High

The Software Engineering Manager (SVP Engineering) interview at MakeMyTrip is a comprehensive assessment designed to evaluate a candidate's leadership capabilities, technical depth, strategic thinking, and ability to drive engineering excellence within a large organization. This role requires a proven track record of managing high-performing teams, delivering complex projects, and contributing to the overall technical vision and business strategy.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~4d

Experience·10 - 15 yrs

Comp band·US$180000 - US$250000

Interview time·255 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Leadership Effectiveness: Ability to inspire, motivate, and guide engineering teams.
  • Strategic Thinking: Capacity to align technical strategy with business goals.
  • Technical Acumen: Deep understanding of software architecture, development processes, and emerging technologies.
  • Execution Excellence: Proven ability to deliver complex projects on time and within scope.
  • People Management: Skills in hiring, developing, and retaining talent.
  • Communication: Clarity and effectiveness in conveying ideas to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Problem-Solving: Aptitude for identifying and resolving complex technical and organizational challenges.
  • Cultural Fit: Alignment with MakeMyTrip's values and collaborative environment.

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Deeply understand MakeMyTrip's business, mission, values, and recent performance.
  2. Review your own career achievements and prepare specific, quantifiable examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
  3. Brush up on modern software architecture patterns, cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP), microservices, and CI/CD practices.
  4. Familiarize yourself with agile methodologies and how to effectively implement and adapt them.
  5. Prepare to discuss your leadership philosophy, team building strategies, and conflict resolution techniques.
  6. Think about how you would scale engineering teams and systems in a high-growth environment.
  7. Understand the competitive landscape of the online travel agency (OTA) market.
  8. Be ready to articulate your vision for engineering excellence and innovation.
  9. Practice explaining complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  10. Prepare questions to ask the interviewers about the role, team, challenges, and company culture.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Business & Self-Assessment

Weeks 1-2: MakeMyTrip business analysis, industry research, career reflection, STAR method preparation.

Weeks 1-2: Deep dive into MakeMyTrip's business model, market position, recent news, and strategic goals. Understand the travel tech industry landscape, key competitors, and emerging trends. Review your own career history and identify key leadership achievements and challenges. Prepare STAR method examples for common leadership and technical scenarios.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Tell me about a time you had to lead a team through a significant technical challenge. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?
  • How do you balance the need for innovation with the operational stability of a large-scale platform?
  • Describe your experience in building and scaling engineering teams. What are the key factors for success?
  • How do you foster a culture of accountability and high performance within your teams?
  • What is your strategy for managing technical debt and ensuring long-term system health?
  • How do you collaborate with product management and other stakeholders to define and execute the technical roadmap?
  • Describe a situation where you had to make a difficult trade-off between speed and quality. How did you approach it?
  • What are your key principles for effective communication and stakeholder management?
  • How do you stay current with emerging technologies and assess their potential impact on the business?
  • Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn from it, and how did you apply those learnings?
  • How would you structure an engineering organization to support MakeMyTrip's growth objectives?
  • What are your thoughts on the current state of the travel tech industry and MakeMyTrip's position within it?
  • How do you approach performance management and career development for your direct reports?
  • Describe your experience with incident management and post-mortems. What makes a good post-mortem?
  • How do you ensure your teams are aligned with the company's overall business strategy?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Gurugram, India

Interview focus

Understanding of the Indian e-commerce landscape and its unique challenges.Experience with scaling systems for a high-growth, high-traffic platform.Familiarity with local talent pools and hiring practices.Ability to navigate cultural nuances in team management and stakeholder communication.

Common questions

  • How do you handle a situation where a critical project is falling behind schedule due to unforeseen technical challenges?
  • Describe a time you had to make a difficult decision that impacted your team. What was the outcome?
  • How do you foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within your engineering teams?
  • What are your strategies for attracting and retaining top engineering talent in a competitive market?
  • How do you balance the need for rapid feature delivery with maintaining code quality and technical debt management?
  • In a remote or hybrid work environment, how do you ensure team cohesion and productivity?
  • How do you align engineering roadmaps with broader business objectives and market demands?
  • Describe your experience with cloud-native architectures and microservices. What are the key challenges and best practices?
  • How do you approach performance management and career development for your engineers?
  • What is your philosophy on agile methodologies and how do you adapt them to different project needs?

Tips

  • Research MakeMyTrip's recent business performance and strategic initiatives.
  • Be prepared to discuss specific examples of your leadership in a fast-paced, competitive market.
  • Highlight any experience with building and scaling teams in India or similar emerging markets.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the competitive landscape in the Indian travel tech industry.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

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

DSA

Coding questions at MakeMyTrip.

Frequently reported on MakeMyTrip loops

View all at MakeMyTrip

Other guides

More at MakeMyTrip.