Hiring a Head of Software Engineering is a critical decision that can significantly impact the success and innovation of your tech company.
At Recruiting from Scratch, we’ve helped our 549+ active startup clients successfully hire for Heads of Software Engineering (in addition to other Heads of Engineering roles). Based on 0+ technical hires we've made since 2019, we consistently deliver high-caliber candidates.
Below, we’re sharing how to effectively source and evaluate a Head of Software Engineering, along with some potential interview questions.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for recruiting top talent, especially for a senior-level position like Head of Software Engineering, where an average placed salary is ~$252K. Here’s a few of the ways we’d recommend sourcing for Heads of Software Engineering if you’re just starting out:
Use advanced search filters on LinkedIn: Start with LinkedIn’s advanced search filters to narrow down candidates by location, current company, experience, and more. Keywords such as "Head of Engineering," "Software Development Leader," or even “CTO” (if recruiting from smaller companies), and similar titles can identify potential candidates. We've placed engineers at 549+ startups, understanding the diverse title structures across seed through Series C stages.Similarly, we also recommend using filters to look for specific technologies your team uses, or you know you will be using. You don’t want to get down the interview process and realize that someone will have not have adequate experience with the tools you need.
Utilize LinkedIn Recruiter: This premium tool offers extensive search capabilities and outreach potential. It allows you to save searches and even get recommendations for candidates who might not be actively looking but match your criteria. In our data from 0+ placements, we find this significantly reduces the average time to fill.The experience required for a Head of Software Engineering goes beyond technical skills. However, for example, at our seed through Series C startup clients, we find that Heads of Software Engineering often need to be comfortable with being individual contributors, as they may need to produce work themselves as the company is growing.
Here’s some of the qualities our recruiters always look for in Head of Software Engineering candidates:
Proven leadership: Look for candidates who have experience leading engineering teams. Think about the size of the team you want them to manage. Do they have experience managing teams close to that size? Evidence of mentoring team members, managing through challenging product launches, and strategic leadership can be crucial here. In our data from 0+ placements, leadership is a consistent predictor of success for candidates earning an average salary of ~$252K. Technical expertise: As mentioned, candidates should have a strong background in software development with expertise in the technologies your company uses. They should also be adept at architecture and possibly have experience managing large-scale systems. Based on 0+ technical hires we've made since 2019, the ability to dive deep technically remains vital for leaders at startups.Sometimes, we work with clients who are super interested in a candidate because they come from a well-known company or worked on a well-known product. But during the interview phase, you should spend time reviewing their abilities. Do they have the technical expertise they mention on their resume? Or did they work “with” teams who used this technology, or “managed projects” that used a particular language? Pay attention to the wording they use to describe their involvement.
Business acumen: A suitable candidate should demonstrate an understanding of business operations and how they align with engineering efforts. Experience in budget management, strategic decision making, and stakeholder management is valuable.Look for candidates who have worked cross-functionally, and how/if they have worked with other teams. Terms like “stakeholder management” and “cross-functional teams” are often used at larger corporations, but we also find that our 549+ active startup clients need team players who can manage stakeholder relationships as well (such as the CEO, or founders/investors). They need to be able to speak to their work and communicate well – whether this is for an audience of 10s of people or just one or two.
Innovative thinking: A Head of Software Engineering should be forward-thinking and innovative, capable of anticipating tech trends and adapting strategies accordingly. Do they talk about their work on LinkedIn? Or do they share what they do on a personal website? Look for these indicators. If they don’t share their work publicly, ask more detailed questions about this during the interview. This forward-thinking approach is critical for the engineering and AI/ML roles we specialize in. The right mix of “job-hopping” on their resumes: Most of our 549+ active startup clients want to see reasonably long tenures at roles, where people have built products and teams over time at their companies and seen projects through. Conversely – it can also be a “red flag” if a candidate has stayed at a company too long, and their industry knowledge is limited only to what they’ve learned at that company.As you’re starting to interview candidates, pay attention to the length of their tenures, but also ask about their accomplishments within these roles. Even if they were in a role for a short amount of time – did they achieve what they set out to achieve? Or if they were in a role for a longer period– did they have some great achievements, or were they working on less-than-impressive projects?
Every company is different, so “job-hopping” has a different definition for any person you ask. However, we recommend asking candidates why they left certain roles, especially for roles between 2020-present. It could be they were laid off due to circumstances outside their control, for one or more roles they’ve held over the last several years due to the changing tech environment.
Below are some interview questions we suggest asking Heads of Software Engineering candidates. We’ve asked variations of these questions for our own candidates.
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