CE Manager Interview Process for Internal CE Candidates

The guidelines here are based on Sourcegraph’s existing guidelines around our internal transfer process with additional requirements specific to the Customer Engineering organization.

Role Transfer/Promotion Requirements for Internal Candidates

  1. Approval from the candidate’s direct manager on performance and values alignment. This should include at least 2 consecutive quarters (6 months minimum) of proven demonstration of performance at current level in current role based on the documented CE competencies.
  2. While Sourcegraph is an all-remote company, it’s important that a customer engineering manager’s availability aligns with the teammates they manage, the sales teams they partner with and the customers their teams support. As such, internal CE candidates for management roles will need to have appropriate geographic alignment to be considered for a position.
  3. Customer Engineering Manager roles are either M3 or M4 level roles. Based on Sourcegraph compensation and leveling guidelines, only CEs at the IC3 or higher level are eligible to interview for a M3 or M4 position.
  4. Any exception to these requirements will be on a ‘needs of the business’ basis and require VP approval before interviewing.

Interview Process for Internal Candidates

All candidates (internal or external) will need to complete the same set of interviews for open manager roles. This provides for fairness and consistency for all candidates. As internal candidates have already completed the Sourcegraph Values Interview, they will be granted an exception and not need to complete that step a second time.

Hiring Manager Interview

  • This interview will be with the hiring manager.
  • For internal candidates who do not have formal management experience, the focus will be on relevant experience they have had as a peer, heading a project or working on rolling out initiatives within a team or organization. The candidate will also be asked to respond as to what their approach might be in certain situations, not on actual experience in those situations.
  • Major areas of focus: management style, building relationships with direct reports, hiring strategies, and onboarding.

Cross Functional Leader Interview

  • This interview focuses on your ability to build and maintain strong relationships cross-functionally, how to communicate, manage change and overcome challenges between and among teams, and how to jointly manage the busienss.
  • Major areas of focus: building relationships, process and alignment with other teams, communicating and handling escalations between teams.

Sourcegraph Values Interview

  • Not applicable for internal candidates.

Leadership Scenarios Interview

  • This interview will be conducted by the CE leadership team and one senior-level IC. The candidate will prepare talking points around several prompts and lead an interactive discussion around them.
  • Major areas of focus: how you would approach managing the team and your area of the business day-to-day; escalation handling; managing through change.

Experience and Skills Required for CE Manager Candidates

  1. Has significant experience as a pre-sales engineer: experience leading technical win, scoping project technical requirements, validating deals technically.
  2. Candidates should have demonstrated experience leading a complex deal from beginning to end at Sourcegraph (internal) or at another organization (external):
    • Complexity due to the size of the deal (seats, dollar amount, etc.)
    • Complexity due to nature of the customer’s requirements
    • Complexity due to the need to engage multiple stakeholders internally and externally to win the deal
  3. Direct experience having managed a client-facing team (eg, Solutions Engineering or Solutions Architecture), ideally that works with a technical product and buyer.
    • For internal candidates who do not have formal management experience, they should emphasize scenarios where they have demonstrated leadership ability - i.e., leading complex projects, acting as a team lead, spearheading company or team-wide initiatives, etc.