Scale Engineer

Software Engineering Manager

Software Engineering ManagerL6CHigh

This interview process is designed to assess candidates for the Software Engineering Manager (L6C) role at Rokt. It evaluates technical leadership, people management skills, strategic thinking, and cultural fit.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~14d

Experience·8 - 15 yrs

Comp band·US$170000 - US$220000

Interview time·195 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Technical Acumen: Depth of understanding in relevant technologies, ability to guide technical decisions.
  • Leadership & People Management: Ability to inspire, mentor, and manage engineers, foster a positive team culture.
  • Strategic Thinking: Capacity to align team efforts with business goals, long-term planning.
  • Communication: Clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in conveying ideas to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Problem-Solving: Analytical skills, ability to break down complex issues and find effective solutions.
  • Cultural Fit: Alignment with Rokt's values, collaboration, and adaptability.

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review Rokt's company values and mission.
  2. Understand Rokt's product and the industry it operates in (e-commerce, marketing technology).
  3. Prepare specific examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for behavioral questions.
  4. Think about your leadership philosophy and how you foster a high-performing team.
  5. Be ready to discuss your experience with scaling teams and managing technical debt.
  6. Familiarize yourself with common software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies.
  7. Consider how you would handle common management challenges like underperformance, conflict, and resource allocation.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Company and Industry Immersion

Weeks 1-2: Rokt business, products, tech stack, values. STAR method basics.

Weeks 1-2: Deep dive into Rokt's business, products, and technology stack. Understand the e-commerce and marketing technology landscape. Review company values and recent news. Prepare initial STAR examples for core leadership competencies.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Describe your leadership style and how you adapt it to different situations.
  • How do you foster a culture of psychological safety and continuous learning within your team?
  • Tell me about a time you had to manage a significant technical challenge or project failure. What did you learn?
  • How do you balance the needs of your team with the demands of the business?
  • What are your strategies for attracting and retaining top engineering talent?
  • How do you handle disagreements or conflicts within your team or with other departments?
  • Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders or senior leadership to adopt a new technical approach or strategy.
  • How do you measure the success of your team and your own performance as a manager?
  • What are your thoughts on technical debt and how do you prioritize its management?
  • How do you stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Sydney

Interview focus

Understanding of local market talent pool and compensation benchmarks.Experience with specific regulatory environments if applicable (e.g., Australian privacy laws).Adaptability to the Australian work culture and communication styles.

Common questions

  • How do you handle a situation where a key team member is underperforming?
  • Describe a time you had to manage a conflict within your team. How did you resolve it?
  • What are your strategies for fostering innovation within an engineering team?
  • How do you balance delivering on short-term goals with long-term technical strategy?
  • In Sydney, we often deal with a mix of legacy systems and new cloud-native architectures. How would you approach managing a team working on both?

Tips

  • Research Australian tech industry trends and common challenges.
  • Be prepared to discuss your experience with remote or hybrid team management, as this is prevalent in Sydney.
  • Highlight any experience working with distributed teams if applicable.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

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

DSA

Coding questions at Rokt.

Frequently reported on Rokt loops

View all at Rokt

Other guides

More at Rokt.