These are question ideas if you're the interviewee and the interviewer asks "do you have any questions for me?"
Specific to the role
- What does a typical day look like?
- Why are you hiring? Is this a new position or did someone vacate the role?
- If someone left: what was their reason for leaving and how long did they work there?
- If it's a new position: how did the need for it come about?
- Are there plans to add more staff and what is the hiring timeline?
- If it's during a recession: when was the last time you had to lay someone off due to economic conditions and what makes this position different?
- If this is a promotion, what is the process for making a clean break from the old role? Is there a transition period with a cutoff date, or is it cold-turkey?
- What are the next steps?
Company
- What is the biggest challenge facing the team currently? Why is this your biggest challenge?
- What is growth strategy for the business (e.g. product development, acquisition, divestiture, etc)?
- What procedures are in place to evaluate whether an idea is working or not?
- What is the path to production for a new idea?
- Describe the inter and intra-departmental dynamics.
- How are priorities set?
- Is there an engineering career ladder?
- Do you have a defined technology strategy?
- What is your tech stack?
- What was the last product the team shipped and why was that the priority?
- Do you use a design system?
- How do new components or features make it into the components?
From Will Larson's book, The Engineering Executive's Primer:
- How does the business work?
- Where does the money come from?
- Where does the money go?
- How much money is in the bank?
- What needs to be true in the next year for the business to make a step function increase in value? What are the knowledge gaps between folks in Engineering and folks operating the business?
- What are some key decisions that the company has made recently?
- How do the stakeholders define success?
- How well are tools supporting the team's day-to-day work?
- What are the key technical behaviors and properties?
- What projects are considered impossible due to technical limitations?
- Who is successful within your team? Who isn't finding success? Why?
Managerial
- If you hire me, what are the expectations at the 1, 3, 6, and 12 month mark?
- How long has the position been open?
- What is something you did for your staff during the COVID pandemic?
- What does this team look like currently?
- How do you resolve conflicts on the team?
- What is something the team has accomplished in the last year that you're proud of and why?
- Describe your management style.
- What's your favorite part about your job?
- If you could change one thing about the company culture, what would it be?
- If you could change one thing about your job specifically, what would it be?
- What resources or structure do you have in place for professional development and continuing education?