Responsibilities of a Software Engineering Manager at a Big Tech Company
Sara's main responsibilities as a Software Engineering Manager are split between people management—including setting "clear expectations on what success and growth looks like"—and technical leadership. A significant portion of the role involves "helping people take those really big problems, parallelize it, um, and find a path towards kind of systematic execution success," showcasing expertise in both team development and complex problem-solving.
People Management, Technical Leadership, Problem Decomposition, Strategic Planning, Execution Planning
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sara Rahimian
Software Engineering Manager
Fortune 10 Tech Company
University of California, Berkeley
NA
Computer Science, Engineering - Electrical
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness, Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Honors Student, Immigrant, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. People management: Setting expectations, understanding career goals, and fostering a positive team culture.
2. Technical leadership: Providing technical guidance, defining vision, analyzing metrics, and designing solutions.
3. Problem-solving: Helping teams break down complex problems, parallelize tasks, and create execution plans for success.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role as an engineering leader?
A lot of what I do is about a 50/50 split. One part is people management. This includes setting clear expectations for success and growth, understanding career goals, and working with individuals.
I also focus on the company's culture and values, creating a team and organizational culture that aligns with them. That usually takes up half of the job.
The other half is technical. My roles have always been very technical, so I'm at some level a technical lead for everything we build. I help people understand the "what" and "why" behind our work and the vision for where we're going.
I also do analysis and gather metrics to understand our current situation and how to improve things. I help people design solutions and create execution plans to meet our goals.
I've found that people sometimes struggle to break down big, complex problems and distribute the workload. So, I help people take those large problems, parallelize them, and find a path towards systematic execution and success.