The Manager Track
Engineering managers are leaders who empower teams to succeed, focusing on mentorship, growth, and strategic alignment rather than acting as taskmasters. Their role is to create an environment where engineers can thrive, guide the team in solving technical challenges, and ensure projects align with broader business goals.
Rather than micromanaging tasks, an effective engineering manager facilitates collaboration, removes obstacles, and supports team members in their professional development. Their primary focus is enabling autonomy and accountability within the team while maintaining alignment with organizational priorities.
It's rare for someone to transition into management and effectively lead engineers without having done significant technical work themselves. Personal experience is crucial for credibility, as engineers need to trust and respect their manager for the relationship to work. However, how individuals transition to the management track can vary by company (and potentially by individual).
We recommend the default path be to consistently exceed expectations at L4 before moving to M3; this conveniently aligns with the job levels tracked by Pave, Option Impact, Radford, and Mercer Comptryx without being a down-leveling.
M3
M3 managers are making the transition from individual contributor to people leader. They're learning to balance coding with coaching, technical decisions with team dynamics. They're the shield and the bridge for their team, protecting them from distractions while connecting them to the broader organization. They're learning to see success through the lens of team achievements rather than personal technical contributions.
- Manages a team of individual contributors, focusing on their growth and performance
- Collaborates with product managers to define and scope team objectives
- Ensures team's technical decisions align with product goals and user needs
- Facilitates effective communication between engineering and other departments
- Manages team resources and capacity to meet product delivery commitments
- Conducts regular 1:1s and drives feedback and performance evaluation
- Contributes to hiring and team composition decisions
M4
M4 managers are seasoned people leaders who can handle complex team dynamics. They're adept at managing both individual contributors and other managers, creating a cohesive unit that's greater than the sum of its parts. They're strategic thinkers who can translate high-level company goals into actionable team objectives. They're not just focused on their immediate team; they're actively working to improve cross-team collaboration and overall engineering effectiveness.
- Manages individual contributors and potentially other managers
- Aligns multiple teams or sub-teams towards common product goals
- Develops and implements engineering processes that support rapid product iteration
- Balances short-term product needs with long-term technical health
- Manages complex cross-team dependencies and resource allocation
- Cultivates a strong product engineering culture within their teams
- Responsible for budgets and hiring plans
M5
M5 directors are shaping the future of entire engineering departments. They're visionaries who can see beyond the immediate horizon, anticipating future challenges and opportunities. They're not just managing teams; they're building and evolving organizations. They're adept at navigating complex political landscapes, advocating for engineering needs at the highest levels of the company. They're the guardians of engineering culture, ensuring that growth and change don't come at the cost of the values that make the organization great.
- Manages multiple teams or sub-teams through other managers
- Develops and executes on long-term technical strategies that support product vision
- Collaborates with product leadership to align engineering efforts with business priorities
- Drives innovation and adoption of new technologies across multiple teams
- Manages large-scale technical debt and architectural evolution
- Establishes and maintains strong relationships with key partners and stakeholders
- Plays a key role in shaping the overall direction of the engineering organization
M6
M6 senior directors are the engineering leaders who shape the technological future of the entire company. They're not just part of the leadership team; they're key drivers of company strategy. They balance technical knowledge with broad business acumen, making decisions that will determine the company's success for years to come. They're the face of engineering both internally and externally, setting the tone for the entire technical organization and representing the company in the broader tech community.
- Leads one functional business unit within the company
- Develops and communicates a compelling technical vision that supports company strategy
- Influences product strategy at the executive level, representing engineering perspective
- Manages senior leaders, focusing on their growth and effectiveness
- Drives large-scale organizational changes to improve product delivery capabilities
- Establishes strong engineering brand to attract and retain top talent
- Represents the company's engineering capabilities to external partners and at industry events