Software Engineering Manager Interview Questions UK: 8 Real Questions and What Interviewers Want

Most Software Engineering Manager interviews in the UK follow a pattern, and knowing it beats guessing. Below are eight questions from our bank of 16, each with a note on what the interviewer is really after.

Eight Software Engineering Manager interview questions, and what the interviewer is thinking

1. How do you measure the performance of an engineering team without damaging morale or encouraging gaming?

Why they ask: Metrics are a core management topic, and misuse is common.

2. How do you plan and run delivery for a team using Agile, including estimation, sprint planning and roadmaps?

Why they ask: They want to see mature delivery management beyond simply naming Scrum.

3. How do you handle underperformance within your team?

Why they ask: Managing performance fairly and lawfully is a key manager responsibility.

4. How do you approach hiring engineers, from defining the role to the interview process?

Why they ask: Hiring is one of the highest-impact manager responsibilities.

5. How do you manage technical debt and decide when to invest in refactoring or rewriting a system?

Why they ask: It tests judgement balancing delivery pressure and long-term health.

6. Two of your strongest engineers are in a heated disagreement that is affecting the rest of the team. What do you do?

Why they ask: It tests conflict resolution and team leadership.

7. Tell me about a time you turned around a struggling team or project.

Why they ask: They want evidence of diagnosing problems and leading improvement.

8. Why do you want to be an engineering manager, and how do you balance management with technical involvement?

Why they ask: They want to confirm you chose management for the right reasons.

A sample answer to question 1

How do you measure the performance of an engineering team without damaging morale or encouraging gaming?

I'd use a small set of balanced measures and treat them as conversation starters, not targets. The DORA metrics, deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate and time to restore service, give a good view of delivery health and stability. I'd pair them with flow measures such as cycle time and work in progress, plus quality signals like escaped defects and incident trends, and with developer experience data from short surveys, drawing on the SPACE framework. I avoid individual metrics such as lines of code or story points per person, because people optimise for what's measured and trust erodes. I'd review trends with the team in retrospectives, ask what's behind them, and make improvements together. Metrics also help me explain the team's performance to product and senior leaders, showing where investment in tooling or technical debt would have the greatest effect.

Common mistake to avoid: Ranking individuals by output; relying on velocity alone

Want the rest?

Full model answers, key points and common mistakes for all 16 questions are on the Software Engineering Manager interview questions page. The first five are free, no sign-up needed.