Learn with Engineering Managers from FAANG and Tier-1 tech companies. The course covers every interview aspect, from scalable systems to leadership, making it one of the most in-demand engineering manager courses.
Engineering Managers!
Get interview-ready with lessons from FAANG+ EMs
Master key EM interview question categories
Sharpen your coding, system design, and behavioral skills
Students who chose to uplevel with IK got placed at
Ajay Eppili
Sr. Engineering Manager
Rajat Roy
Senior Software Engineering Manager
Sujay Ghosh
Software Development Manager
Ajay Pathak
Technical Lead
Abhishek Gupta
Technical Program Manager
Pratik Agarwal
Software Development Engineer ll
Kishore Periassamy
Software Development Engineer
Anshul Bansal
Software Engineer
Suat Mercan
Senior Software Engineer
Srini K
Engineering Leader
13,500+
Tech professionals trained
$1.267M
Highest offer received by an IK alum
53%
Average salary hike received by alums
Best suited for
Current or Ex Engineering Managers
Current or Ex Directors of Engineering
Developers with team management experience
This course is not suited for engineers with no management experience and Individual Contributors
Why choose this course?
Program designed by FAANG+ leads
Covering data structures, algorithms, interview-relevant topics, and career coaching
Individualized teaching and 1:1 help
Technical coaching, homework assistance, solutions discussion, and individual session
Mock interviews with Silicon Valley engineers
Live interview practice in real-life simulated environments with FAANG and top-tier interviewers
Personalized feedback
Constructive, structured, and actionable insights for improved interview performance
Career skills development
Resume building, LinkedIn profile optimization, personal branding, and live behavioral workshops
50% Money-Back Guarantee*
If you do well in our course but still don't land a domain-relevant job within the post-program support period, we'll refund 50% of the tuition you paid for the course.*
Our highly experienced instructors are active hiring managers and employees at FAANG+ companies and know exactly what it takes to ace tech and managerial interviews.
André Terron
Software Engineer
3+ years experience
Learn more
Omkar Deshpande
Head of Curriculum
15+ years experience
Learn more
Wolfgang Kandek
SVP Site Reliability Engineering
15+ years experience
Learn more
Nick Camilleri
Head of Career Skills Devp. and Coaching
10+ years experience
Learn more
A typical week at Interview Kickstart
This is how we make your interview prep structured and organized. Our learners spend 10-12 hours each week on this course.
Thu
Foundational content
Get high-quality videos and course material for next week’s topics
Covers fundamentals, interview-relevant topics, and case studies
Assignment test and review/Leadership Workshop
Attend 3-hour leadership workshops with FAANG hiring managers following a group discussion pattern
1-hour timed test/assignments covering essential interview questions on the current week's topics
Attend 1-hour review sessions that provide solutions and feedback on the current week's test/assignments
Sun
Attend Online live sessions/Leadership Workshop
Attend 3-hour leadership workshops with FAANG hiring managers following a group discussion pattern
Classes are interactive and case-based. All live sessions exhaustively cover various question patterns and solution methodologies
Each class has mini mock interviews with live feedback with a Tier-1 tech instructor
Mon-Wed
Practice problems & case studies
Apply the concepts taught in live sessions to solve assignment questions
In class, discuss case studies' solutions and practice answering frameworks
Live doubt-solving with FAANG+ EM instructors
Every day
1:1 access to instructors
Personalized coaching from FAANG+ EM instructors
Individualized and detailed attention to your questions
Solution walkthroughs
Learn about different types of EM roles and their responsibilities
Common Scalable Concepts like DBs, Cache, Messaging Queue, etc., and Common Design Problems
2
Batch Processing Systems
Batch Processing Concepts in-depth and Common Design Problems for FAANG+ interviews
3
Stream Processing Systems
Case Studies: on APM, Social Connections, Netflix, Google Maps, Trending Topics, YouTube
Design real-time data-intensive applications like Google Maps, Netflix, etc.
Careers Workshop
2 weeks
2 live classes
1
Uplevel your professional branding, including Linkedin profile and resume
2
Learn interview strategies and salary negotiation techniques
3
Get well-researched market compensation data
4
Identify and prioritize your requirements in terms of roles
5
Discover roles best suited to your profile
Leadership Workshop
2 weeks
4 live classes
We help you master a set of question patterns and ensure that you are able to map them to one of our solution methodologies: STAR, Ice Breakers, and Philosophical methodologies.
Sessions on question patterns to understand what interviewers are looking for when they ask questions falling under the listed categories:
1
Project Experience
Tell me about a project you led from ideation to launch.
2
Motivations and Values
How do the company’s values and ideals align with yours?
3
Leadership Profile
Tell me about the biggest team you’ve built or overseen.
4
Ice Breakers
Tell me about yourself.
5
Personal Growth
How do you stay updated and educated on industry trends?
6
Conflict Resolution
How do you get people to agree with your point of view?
7
Execution and Planning
How do you deal with situations where your team is falling behind deadline?
8
Cross-Functional Skills
Tell me about a time when your team’s goal was not aligned with another team with whom they were working.
Data Structures and Algorithms
5 weeks
5 live classes
1
Sorting
Common Sorting Algorithms like Quick Sort, Merge Sort, Heap Sort, etc. and related common coding interview questions
2
Recursion
Recursion, Permutation & Combination, and Backtracking concepts in-depth and related coding interview questions
3
Trees
Binary Trees, N-ary Trees, Binary Search Trees, Trees Traversals, and related coding interview questions
4
Graphs
Graph representation, BFS, DFS, Topological Sorting, and related coding interview questions
5
Dynamic Programming
Memorization, Tabulation, and DP concepts in-depth, common coding interview questions
Relevant Technical Domain Course
4-6 weeks
4-6 live classes
Candidates can choose from:
Data Engineering
Machine Learning
Data Science
Front-end
Back-end
Full-stack
Test Engineering
SRE
Cloud
Android
iOS
Security
Embedded Software
Support Period
10 months
1
Career+Technical coaching, where you can interact with peers and instructors
2
21 Mock interviews (domain-specific mocks would also be provided based on availability)
UpLevel will be your all-in-one learning platform to get you FAANG-ready, with 10,000+ interview questions, timed tests, videos, mock interviews suite, and more.
Mock interviews suite
On-demand timed tests
In-browser online judge
10,000 interview questions
100,000 hours of video explanations
Class schedules & activity alerts
Real-time progress update
11 programming languages
Get upto 21 mock interviews withhiring managers
What makes our mock Interviews the best:
Hiring managers from Tier-1 companies like Meta
Learn with the best. No one will prepare you better!
Domain-specific Interviews
Practice for your target domain
Detailed personalized feedback
Identify and work on your improvement areas
Transparent, non-anonymous interviews
Get the most realistic experience possible
More about mock interviews
Career impact
Our engineers land high-paying and rewarding offers from the biggest tech companies, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, and Netflix.
Rohit Sharma
Works at:
Awesome course and more awesome Support Team!
Truly an awesome team, very professional, and I really enjoyed the entire course. More than everything, they have the best support team who are very responsive and are always eager to help. I have been a student for several months now, and no matter what, they care for their students, and I can't thank them enough! Kudos to the support team, without you, no matter how best the content is, IK would not be in the position where it is now.
Rahul Cherekar
Senior Technical Program Manager
Placed at:
The curriculum is planned very well and covers all the basics of programming, algorithms, and system design. Omkar's foundational videos are especially world-class and provide a good foundation before the live problem-solving sessions. Also, technical and career coaching are available during the support period, which is a good value-add. Overall, very satisfied with the program and the learning.
Palaniappan
Works at:
Uplifting Platform to Move in career ladder I feel their Curriculum is very organized and give clear direction for us to prepare interview for the product industry and particularly for the people from service industry or business house. Also give enough confident through regular test and mock interviews .
Guruprasad
Works at:
Great technical content and best service I have watched several youtube videos for technical content, but IK's teachers and their content is by far the best and their support staff makes it even better. They are available 24/7 and resolve issues immediately. Overall I am glad to be part of this program. Special thanks to Ankita Kaura, and Ashish Kumar for making onboarding a very pleasant experience.
Deepan
Works at:
Best Place to Learn System Design and DSA
The quality of the foundation material is excellent and the live sessions are extremely good and very helpful. I'm very satisfied with the response time of the support and their genuine interest to help the learners. I have already referred 2 of my colleague and they are also very happy with IK. I have not seen anything better than IK for an engineering manager to upskill and learn, Thank you IK
Shilpi S
Works at:
IK is the best! Their customer support is exceptional! IK is an amazing platform for preparing for FAANG+ companies. They provide top-notch, quick support to their students whenever help is needed, in addition to the interview prep material. Everyone involved, from instructors to support staff, has outstanding career and domain backgrounds. They genuinely care for their students' success, helping technically, professionally, and emotionally, including coaching and offer negotiation. I've always been pleased with their exceptional customer service. Thank you!
How to enroll for the Engineering Manager course?
Learn more about Interview Kickstart and the Engineering Manager course by joining the free webinar hosted by Ryan Valles, co-founder of Interview Kickstart.
A Free Guide to Kickstart Your Engineering Manager Career at FAANG+
From the interview process and career path to interview questions and salary details — learn everything you need to know about Engineering Manager careers at top tech companies.
At EM interviews, you’re typically evaluated on three main areas - coding, systems design, and leadership. To give you a clearer idea of what to expect, we’ve elaborated the interview process for EMs at FAANG+ companies.
The interview process at FAANG and other Tier 1 Companies :
1
Initial Recruiter Phone Screening
The recruiter will typically make sure candidate is who they say they are and confirm mutual fit with a few basic behavioral questions. They will ask questions that cover the basic expectations of the role and share a bit about the interview process.
2
Technical Phone Screen
This will generally be a technical round focusing on data structures and algorithms.
Expect open-ended questions that require you to ask clarifying questions/ to challenge your assumptions before jumping into solving. The interview wants to see the candidate accurately define the problem statement and requirements.
From here the candidate should be able to explain their thought process algorithmically, implement workable code (fix any mistakes or bugs), optimize, test, and discuss their solutions (answering any clarifying questions).
3
Onsite: 5-6 Rounds:
1-2 Coding rounds: The focus will be on conceptual understanding rather than memorization, and the candidate will need to be really strong in at least 1 language - preferably C++, Java, Python, Go, or C.
The candidate will be expected to a whiteboard or type their code into a shared tool without syntactic support or autocomplete beforehand.
The interviewer will typically ask conceptual questions as well, so candidates should be comfortable with APIs, OOP, testing best practices, and thinking through edge cases.
Generally, 1 hour to solve 2 problems
2 System Design rounds: The system design rounds hold a heavier weightage than the coding rounds for many top companies.
The questions will typically focus on existing products that are commonly seen around the internet (ie “How would you design Twitter’s feed?”)
2 Behavioral/ Leadership rounds: Candidates will be asked about their past experience managing people, projects, as well as their ability to grow and develop strong teams. There are many ways a candidate’s leadership can be assessed, but generally competitive companies will look into the following patterns:
Ability to build, develop, and retain teams
Ability to manage projects, timelines, and ambiguous/ complex situations
The ability to quickly and accurately assess situations to drive results
Competence to build culture and provide balance and guidance
Each of these rounds lasts about 45-60 minutes, and the cumulative score across all rounds is considered while making a hiring decision.
Engineering Management Interview Questions
At Engineering Manager interviews, the focus is more on systems design and leadership interviews. This doesn’t discount the importance of coding interviews though, as your screening round will involve solving a problem or two around core data structures and algorithms.
To be able to answer Engineering Manager interview questions at technical interviews, it is important to direct your approach in a coordinated manner, focusing on every section that is important.
Your EM prep strategy should focus on three main areas:
Engineering Manager interview questions on coding
Engineering Manager interview questions on systems design
Engineering Manager interview questions on behavioral and leadership skills
Let’s look at some Engineering Manager interview questions in each of these categories.
1
Engineering Manager Interview Questions on Coding
For a given rotated array that is sorted, write a program code to find a particular element in the array.
Write a program to check if a binary tree is a valid binary search tree.
Write a program to find if the permutation of a string (given) is a palindrome or not.
Write an error-free program to check if a given binary tree is balanced or not.
You are provided with a string in the form of a sentence. Write a program to display the characters of the string in reverse order.
2
Engineering Manager Interview Questions on Scalable Systems Design
What are the security aspects to consider while building an e-commerce application?
How would you go about designing a proximity server?
Explain how you’d go about designing a chatbot service that provides users with notifications while also allowing them to interact with the AI unit?
How would you design a platform like Uber?
How would you go about setting up security for multiple servers?
3
Engineering Manager Interview Questions on Behavioral and Leadership Skills
Tell us about the most challenging project you worked on.
Tell us about a time when you had to make a big decision for a crucial client project.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with your superior.
Tell us about a conflict you had at your workplace.
What, according to you, are important aspects of maintaining productivity at the workplace?
To understand the various types of Engineering Manager interview questions asked at top companies, don’t forget to read:
Before you sign up for any role, it’s crucial to understand what you’re signing up for and the expectations from that role. A Google Engineering Manager interview preparation would differ from Facebook Engineering Manager interview preparation and Technical Program Manager interview preparation for other tier-1 companies.
Still, there’s a common theme of expectations from a Engineering Manager.
1
Engineering Manager Job Requirements: Roles and Responsibilities
If you’re looking for Engineering Manager jobs at top companies, it is first important to understand the roles and responsibilities of engineering managers. As such, the competition for engineering manager jobs is extremely stiff, so adopting a foolproof prep strategy is crucial.
From planning technical projects and resource allocation to execution, monitoring, cross-team coordination, and risk management, Engineering Managers perform a wide range of tasks. Let’s take a quick look at the roles and responsibilities of Engineering Managers.
Visualize and plan high-impact technical projects
Lead systems design discussions and write product or system development code to solve ambiguous problems
Review code developed by other engineers and provide feedback to ensure best practices
Allocate resources and impart technical training
Coordinate with multiple teams in case of cross-functional projects
Mitigate and manage risks
Monitor project performance at various levels and create detailed project reports
2
Career Roadmap for an Engineering Manager
The Engineering Manager career roadmap begins with starting off your career as a software engineer. At most FAANG companies, you automatically become an EM at L5. Levels L5 and L6 are designated EM levels. EM roles at most FAANG companies require you to have at least eight years of experience.
Engineering Manager Salary and Levels at FAANG
Engineering Managers are often paid lucrative salaries at big companies. Senior software engineers who reach specific band levels by virtue of their experience and skill usually end up being designated as Engineering Managers.
The average software Engineering Manager’s salary in the US is around $162k per annum. Software engineering manager salaries at companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple are usually upwards of $350k per annum and include a wide array of benefits.
This includes annual average base pay of around $255k, a cash bonus of $69k, and stock options of $293k. The total average annual salary of EMs at Facebook is around $262k.
Engineering Manager at Facebook
Average compensation by level
Level name
Total
Base
Stock (/yr)
Bonus
M1
$587K
$235K
$298K
$54K
M2
$940K
$275K
$589K
$83K
Amazon Engineering Manager Salary
Salaries of Engineering Managers at Amazon range from $138k to $235k per annum.
The annual average software engineering manager salary at Amazon is around $173k, which includes an average base pay of $172k annually, a cash bonus of $198k, and stock options of up to $125 on average.
Engineering Manager at Amazon
Average compensation by level
Level name
Total
Base
Stock (/yr)
Bonus
L5 SDM
$280K
$160K
$89K
$36K
L6 SDM
$370K
$171K
$168K
$42K
L7 Senoir SDM
$579K
$172K
$347K
$74K
Apple Engineering Manager Salary
The annual average software engineering manager salary at Apple is around $243k.
This includes an annual base pay average of $221,293, an average cash bonus of $35k, and stock options that go up to $168k on average.
Engineering Manager at Apple
Average compensation by level
Level name
Total
Base
Stock (/yr)
Bonus
ICT4
$359K
$198K
$139K
$22K
ICT5
$478K
$223K
$225K
$30K
Netflix Engineering Manager Salary
Engineering Managers at Netflix are offered the highest salaries when compared to other FAANG companies.
The average software Engineering Manager’s salary at Netflix is around $315k annually. This figure is inclusive of cash bonuses and stock options.
Engineering Manager at Netflix
Average compensation by level
Level name
Total
Base
Stock (/yr)
Bonus
Sr. SW. Engineer
$305K
$275K
$14K
$13K
Google Engineering Manager Salary
Software engineering manager salaries at Google are typically between $188k and $386k per annum, depending on the band level and experience.
The average annual software engineering manager salary at Google is around $256k. This includes average base pay of around $240k, a cash bonus of $53k, and stock options of up to $212k.
Engineering Manager at Google
Average compensation by level
Level name
Total
Base
Stock (/yr)
Bonus
L5 Manager
$356K
$194K
$130K
$31K
L6 Manager
$491K
$226K
$214K
$52K
L7 Senior Manager
$686K
$270K
$334K
$81K
You can learn more about more related topics on our companies page.
FAQs on Engineering Manager Interview Course
1
What is the average software engineering manager salary in the US?
2
What are the key areas to prepare while applying for engineering manager jobs at FAANG+ companies?
3
What concepts should you prepare to answer engineering manager interview questions in coding?
4
How long is Interview Kickstart’s Engineering Manager Interview course?
5
Does the Interview Kickstart EM prep course include mock interviews?