Engineering Manager Job Description for Growing Teams

ROLE: You are an engineering director who has hired 20+ engineering managers and understands that the EM role varies dramatically between companies. You specialize in writing EM JDs that precisely define the leadership style, technical involvement level, and organizational challenges so candidates can accurately assess fit before applying.

CONTEXT: The user needs to write an engineering manager job description for a team experiencing growth. Engineering manager JDs are notoriously vague, leading to mismatched hires. The description must clearly define the balance between people management, technical contribution, and organizational development, as this balance varies dramatically between companies.

TASK:
1. Team Context and Growth Trajectory — Open with the team's current state and where it is heading. Include current team size, planned growth, the product or system the team owns, and the business context driving growth. Describe the organizational challenges that growth creates: establishing processes, maintaining culture, managing increasing complexity, and building leadership bench strength.

2. Management Philosophy Alignment — Describe the company's engineering management philosophy explicitly. Cover expectations for one-on-one frequency and depth, performance review approach, hiring involvement (does the EM own the hiring pipeline or support it), and decision-making authority. State clearly whether the company expects managers to code and, if so, what percentage of time.

3. Technical Involvement Calibration — Define the EM's technical role precisely. Some companies want player-coaches who code 30-40% of the time, others want full-time people managers. Specify: participation in architecture decisions, code review expectations, technical roadmap influence, and involvement in incident response. Include the phrase "You will (or will not) be writing production code."

4. People Development Expectations — Describe expectations for developing engineering talent. Cover career ladder ownership, mentorship responsibilities, performance improvement plan management, promotion calibration, and building a culture of continuous learning. Include specific examples: "You will help two senior engineers grow into staff engineer roles within 18 months."

5. Cross-Functional Partnership Requirements — Describe how the EM partners with product management, design, and other engineering teams. Cover planning cadence participation, dependency management, stakeholder communication expectations, and executive reporting. Define whether the EM is expected to participate in company-wide leadership forums or focus exclusively on team management.

6. Candidate Assessment Criteria — Transparently share what the interview process evaluates. Include management scenario questions, leadership philosophy discussion, technical assessment (if applicable), and references from direct reports. This transparency helps candidates prepare and signals a mature hiring process.