1. What is an Engineering Manager at Dataiku?

At Dataiku, the Engineering Manager role is a pivotal leadership position that bridges the gap between complex technical challenges and human-centric team growth. You are not just managing a backlog; you are empowering a team of engineers to build Dataiku DSS (Data Science Studio), the platform that enables organizations to democratize AI. This role sits at the intersection of product delivery, technical strategy, and people development, directly impacting how customers leverage AI, machine learning, and data analytics at scale.

This position requires a leader who can navigate the technical intricacies of a robust data platform—covering areas like distributed computing, ML pipelines, and visual interfaces—while fostering a collaborative and inclusive culture. You will be responsible for the health and happiness of your team, ensuring they have the context and resources to succeed. Unlike pure technical leads, your primary product is the team itself; your success is measured by their ability to deliver high-quality software sustainably.

You will likely work within a specific feature team or technical domain (such as Core Infrastructure, Machine Learning, or Connectivity). The role demands a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on guidance. You are expected to champion engineering best practices, advocate for technical debt reduction, and collaborate closely with Product Managers to ensure the roadmap aligns with both business goals and technical reality.

2. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for the Dataiku Engineering Manager interview requires shifting your mindset from "individual contributor" to "organizational leader." You need to demonstrate that you can drive results through others while maintaining technical respect.

Key evaluation criteria for this role include:

People Management & Mentorship Dataiku places a massive emphasis on empathy and growth. Interviewers will evaluate your philosophy on hiring, retention, and career development. You must demonstrate how you handle performance issues, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and foster psychological safety within a diverse, often distributed team.

Delivery & Process Management You will be assessed on your ability to deliver software reliably. This includes your approach to Agile methodologies, project estimation, and risk management. You need to show how you balance speed with quality and how you handle roadmap changes or missed deadlines without burning out your team.

Technical Judgment & Context While you may not be live-coding, you must possess strong technical judgment. Interviewers will look for your ability to participate in architectural discussions, understand the trade-offs in system design (particularly in the context of data and AI), and guide the team through complex technical decisions.

Communication & Stakeholder Management As an Engineering Manager, you are the translation layer between engineering and the rest of the business. You will be evaluated on your ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and how you negotiate priorities with Product Management.

3. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for an Engineering Manager at Dataiku is designed to be comprehensive and interactive, testing your practical management skills rather than just your theoretical knowledge. Based on recent candidate experiences, the process typically begins with a recruiter screen focused on cultural fit and your interest in the AI/ML space. This is followed by a conversation with a Hiring Manager to dig into your management history and leadership style.

A distinctive feature of the Dataiku Engineering Manager process is the inclusion of a practical simulation or "Role Play." Unlike standard Q&A sessions, this stage often involves a business case sent to you in advance (typically a week prior). You will then act out a scenario—such as a difficult 1:1, a roadmap negotiation, or a crisis management meeting—with the Hiring Manager and potentially another team member. This format allows Dataiku to see your leadership style in action, not just hear about it.

Candidates should expect a process that values thoughtfulness and preparation. The interviewers are looking for authentic leaders who can handle ambiguity. The "Role Play" segment specifically tests your ability to internalize context and react professionally under pressure. It is rigorous but generally regarded as a fair way to assess actual job performance.

The timeline above illustrates the typical flow from initial contact to the final decision. Use this visual to plan your preparation; note that the "Role Play / Business Case" is a critical juncture that requires significant dedicated prep time compared to standard behavioral rounds.

4. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

The evaluation for this role is structured to assess your capabilities across leadership, execution, and technical understanding. Drawing from candidate insights, here are the core areas you must prepare for.

People Management & Leadership

This is the most heavily weighted area. Dataiku wants to know if you can build and sustain a high-performing team. Strong performance here means showing high emotional intelligence and a structured approach to management challenges.

Be ready to go over:

• Performance Management – How you identify underperformance early and the specific steps you take (PIPs, coaching) to address it.
• Career Growth – How you align individual engineer goals with business needs.
• Conflict Resolution – Specific examples of resolving disputes between engineers or between engineering and product.
• Hiring – Your philosophy on building diverse teams and what you look for in engineering candidates beyond code.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to manage a high-performer with a bad attitude."
• "How do you handle a situation where a team member is consistently missing deadlines?"
• "Describe your strategy for keeping a team motivated during a long period of technical debt remediation."

Project Management & Delivery

You will be tested on your ability to ship software. This isn't just about Jira tickets; it's about predictable delivery and managing external expectations.

Be ready to go over:

• Agile/Scrum Methodologies – Your preferred flavor of Agile and how you adapt it to the team's needs.
• Prioritization – How you make trade-offs when the scope is too large for the timeline.
• Cross-functional Collaboration – How you work with Product Managers and Designers to define requirements.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "The Product Manager adds a critical feature two weeks before the deadline. How do you handle it?"
• "Walk us through a project that failed or was significantly delayed. What was your role and what did you learn?"
• "How do you measure the velocity and health of your engineering team?"

The Role Play / Business Case

This is the practical application of the skills above. You will likely receive a document outlining a fictional team scenario (e.g., "Team X is burnt out and the Tech Lead is threatening to quit").

Be ready to go over:

• Scenario Analysis – Quickly identifying the root cause of the problem presented in the case.
• Active Listening – During the role play, you must listen to the "actor" (interviewer) and adapt, not just stick to a script.
• Actionable Outcomes – Moving the conversation toward a resolution or a clear next step.

Example questions or scenarios:

• Scenario: A simulation of a 1:1 meeting with a disgruntled engineer who feels their work is undervalued.
• Scenario: A roadmap negotiation where stakeholders are demanding impossible timelines.

Technical Strategy

While you won't likely write code, you must prove you can manage the technology.

Be ready to go over:

• Technical Debt – How you advocate for refactoring against feature work.
• Architecture Review – How you facilitate technical decisions without dictating them.
• System Design – High-level understanding of distributed systems, SaaS architecture, or ML pipelines (depending on the specific team).

5. Key Responsibilities

As an Engineering Manager at Dataiku, your day-to-day work revolves around enabling your team to build the "Universal AI Platform." You are the unblocker-in-chief. You will spend a significant portion of your time in 1:1s and coaching sessions, ensuring that each engineer has a clear path for growth and is unencumbered by administrative hurdles.

You will partner heavily with Product Management to translate high-level business requirements into actionable engineering tasks. This involves participating in roadmap planning, breaking down epics, and helping the team estimate complexity. You are responsible for the "how" and "when" of delivery, while Product owns the "what" and "why."

Additionally, you will play a key role in organizational scaling. This includes recruiting and interviewing new engineers, onboarding them effectively, and contributing to the broader engineering culture at Dataiku. You will also act as a technical steward, ensuring that the team adheres to security standards, quality guidelines, and architectural best practices, particularly regarding the scalability and reliability of the Dataiku platform.

6. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To succeed in this interview, you need to highlight a specific blend of technical background and management experience.

• Management Experience – Typically requires 2+ years of direct people management experience. You must have experience conducting performance reviews, hiring, and managing salaries/promotions.

• Technical Background – A solid background in software engineering is essential. While you may not code daily, you should have a history of being a hands-on engineer (Java, Python, and JavaScript are core to Dataiku's stack).

• Delivery Experience – Proven track record of managing software projects from conception to production using Agile methodologies.

• Communication Skills – Exceptional verbal and written communication is a must-have. You need to be able to explain technical risks to non-technical leadership.

• Nice-to-have skills:

  • Experience in the Data, AI, or ML domain.
  • Experience managing distributed or remote teams.
  • Familiarity with enterprise software architectures (on-premise, cloud, Kubernetes).

7. Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what candidates face at Dataiku. They focus heavily on behavioral patterns and situational leadership. Do not memorize answers; instead, use these to practice your STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) storytelling.

Behavioral & Leadership

• "Tell me about a time you had to let an employee go. How did you handle the process and the team's reaction?"
• "Describe a time when you disagreed with a technical decision made by your team. Did you intervene? Why or why not?"
• "How do you ensure psychological safety in your team, especially when mistakes happen?"
• "Give an example of how you coached a junior engineer into a senior role."

Process & Execution

• "How do you balance technical debt remediation with new feature development?"
• "Describe a time you had to manage a project that was falling behind schedule. What actions did you take?"
• "How do you handle scope creep coming from upper management?"

Role Play / Situational

• (Based on the case study) "Your Tech Lead is refusing to adopt a new process that the rest of the organization is using. Have a conversation with them to resolve this."
• "You have two strong engineers who fundamentally disagree on an architectural approach. How do you resolve the deadlock?"

Technical Philosophy

• "How do you evaluate new technologies or tools before allowing them into your stack?"
• "What is your approach to code reviews and quality assurance?"

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical is the Engineering Manager interview? The interview is technically grounded but management-focused. You will not likely be asked to invert a binary tree on a whiteboard. However, you will be expected to discuss system design, architecture, and technical trade-offs fluently. You must demonstrate that you can earn the respect of senior engineers.

Q: What is the "Role Play" exactly? This is a simulation exercise. You are given a packet of information (the "Business Case") about a week in advance. During the interview, you "play" the manager in a specific scenario (e.g., a difficult conversation). The goal is to see your natural leadership style, empathy, and ability to think on your feet.

Q: Does Dataiku support remote work for this role? Yes, Dataiku has a strong remote-friendly culture, though they also have hub offices (e.g., New York, Paris). The role description typically specifies the region (e.g., US East), but day-to-day work is often distributed.

Q: How long does the process take? The process can vary, but expect it to take several weeks from initial screen to offer. The "take-home" nature of the Business Case prep adds a week to the timeline, so factor this into your planning.

9. Other General Tips

• Understand the Product: Dataiku DSS is a complex, powerful platform. Before your interview, try to watch demo videos or read their technical documentation. Understanding the difference between their "Clicker" (no-code) and "Coder" (full-code) user personas will help you understand the engineering challenges.
• Emphasize Empathy: Dataiku prides itself on a collaborative, human-centric culture. When answering behavioral questions, always pivot back to how your decisions affected the people involved, not just the code.
• Prepare for the "French Connection": Dataiku has strong roots in France (HQ in Paris/NYC). While not a requirement, showing an appreciation for working in a global, multi-cultural environment is a positive signal.
• Respect the Business Case: Do not wing the Role Play. Treat the prep materials seriously. Write down your talking points, anticipate counter-arguments, and have a clear goal for the simulated meeting.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Becoming an Engineering Manager at Dataiku is an opportunity to lead at the forefront of the AI revolution. You will be managing teams that build the tools enabling the world's largest enterprises to operationalize machine learning. The role demands a leader who is technically competent, deeply empathetic, and process-oriented.

To prepare, focus heavily on your people management stories and the Business Case simulation. Review your past experiences with conflict resolution, delivery management, and team growth. Be ready to demonstrate not just what you achieved, but how you led your team to achieve it.

The compensation module above provides a baseline for the Engineering Manager market. At Dataiku, total compensation typically includes base salary, a bonus component, and equity. Seniority and location will significantly influence the final offer. Use this data to frame your expectations, but remember that Dataiku values the holistic package, including their strong culture and growth opportunities.

Good luck! With structured preparation and a focus on your leadership narrative, you are well-positioned to succeed.