Summary
Marcelo spent 8 months looking for Faireʼs head of engineering. It didn't go outbound, so there wasnʼt a job posting or req. Instead, Marcelo went deep into his own network. Faire had 13–15 engineers when Marcelo started looking for the head of engineering. They knew they would be growing fast and Marceloʼs calendar was a mess trying to do his job and manage engineers. By the time the head of engineering joined 7–8 months later, the company was at 35 engineers.
Marcelo met with over 65 candidates (many were ex-VPs of engineering at Blackberry with an old-school mentality about engineering since the engineering team for Faire is based in Waterloo). The main realization was that every engineering organization is very different. Marcelo needed to figure out the things that he was good at and should keep vs. the things that he was not as good at or as passionate about.
Marcelo is very technical and wanted to keep responsibility for the vision for technology, scaling their systems, choosing languages, frameworks, tools, etc. He also cared a lot about the people they hired, so he also kept the recruiting function. He needed a head of engineering who was very good at managing people and processes. Someone very data and metrics driven, process oriented and a very good people manager. He didn't care as much about how good the head of engineering was on technology, programming, etc. They ended up hiring Paul Poppert as their head of engineering.
Interview Questions
Think
- What did you see when you came in? What was and wasnʼt working?
- What was the impact of what wasnʼt working?
- Do you think they used you well in this role as it was set up?
- What was your impact on the business?
Execute
- When you took over this role [or started at X company] and you knew what needed to be done, how did you plan your work and your teamʼs work?
- People generally develop rhythms over time of how they plan their work. Whatʼs your rhythm around how you prioritize and manage time?
Lead
- Tell me about the team you inherited. Was it strong? How did you decide who to keep?
- If I were to talk to everyone whoʼs ever worked for you, what would they say they liked about you? What would they wish youʼd change?
- Whatʼs your style as a team leader? How hands-on are you? Do you tend to be nicer or harsher on average as a team leader?
- Do people start with your trust or do they have to prove themselves to you?
Influence
- What kind of people do you find difficult to work with?
- How do you typically show up in a room? Are you the quiet person, do you jump right in, when and why do you decide to chime in?
- Have you had to deal with politics and power dynamics? Howʼd you manage that? How do you handle a political environment?
EQ
- (Create opening by using the context) What should I know about what best motivates you and what pushes your buttons?
- (Create opening by using the role) How do you get buy-in and say no? What personalities are particularly difficult for you to work with?
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