Datadog's Engineering Manager interview, as candidates describe it, starts with recruiter and hiring-manager screens, then a multi-interview loop covering coding, design, technical background, product and delivery, and people management.
$211K
Avg. Base Comp
$417K
Avg. Total Comp
Not reported
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidates describe the Datadog Engineering Manager interview as broad and hands-on, with more technical content than many expect for a management role. Several report a recruiter or sourcer screen and a hiring-manager conversation, followed by a loop of about five interviews. Reported topics include coding, system or high-level design, technical background, product and delivery management, and people management.
The coding round gets the most warnings. One candidate who accepted an offer describes medium-difficulty problems that required a fair amount of real code, such as a buffered file writer, with no dynamic programming. Another candidate says the technical interviews were where they fell short, because the feedback was that they didn't go deep enough into low-level detail. A third came away believing Datadog expects engineering managers to stay quite hands-on technically. Be ready to say what you still build yourself.
For the technical background round, one successful candidate chose a project carefully and built a short slide deck around it. Another says the round centered on explaining a complex project or feature they had worked on in detail. On the leadership side, candidates mention:
The final stage differs across reports. Two candidates who accepted offers describe team matching or conversations with prospective managers who pitched specific roles. Another candidate, whose process ended without an offer, presented a 30/60/90 day plan at an onsite where the hiring manager and several executives joined over Zoom. That candidate said they had not prepared the plan enough, so if that format comes up, build it well in advance.
Synthesized from 6 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report starting with a recruiter, sourcer or HR screen, then a call with the hiring manager or a management screen with senior engineering managers. These conversations covered motivation, management background and how you lead teams. One candidate suggests asking about the salary range early, since it was only shared on request.
Candidates report a coding interview and a system or high-level design interview. One candidate described medium-difficulty coding problems that required writing complete code, for example a buffered file writer. Another mentioned a messaging system like LinkedIn's as a design prompt. One candidate's feedback was that they did not go deep enough into low-level details.
Candidates report walking through a project they personally worked on in detail. One candidate who received an offer prepared a short slide deck for it, which gave the conversation structure. Pick a project where you can explain the technical decisions and your own contribution.
Candidates describe questions on execution, supporting a team operationally, handling low performers, the values you look for in a team, and using customer feedback to drive change. Prepare concrete stories from your own management experience for each of these.
Final stages vary in the reports. One candidate presented a 30/60/90 day plan at an onsite with executives on Zoom. Others describe team matching or conversations with prospective managers before the offer. Outcomes were mixed.
