Updated September 2026
Interview a startup lead developer in four stages: a screen on motivation and scope, a pairing session in your codebase, a code review and design exercise, and a conversation with the team they would lead. Every stage should test both halves of the job, because most candidates are strong at either the coding or the leading, and you need both.
The lead developer interview plan
Keep the whole process to about two weeks. Strong lead developers usually have other processes running.
Hands-on engineering
- What is the piece of code you are proudest of from the last year, and what would a reviewer criticise in it?
- Tell me about a production incident you led. What did you do in the first hour?
- How do you decide how much testing a feature needs?
- When did you last push back on a design from someone more senior? What happened?
- What do you look at first when a pull request lands in your queue?
- Describe a time you made a slow part of the system fast. How did you find the cause?
Strong answer: concrete code and systems, a clear first hour in an incident, and testing matched to risk rather than a fixed rule.
Red flags: can't name code they wrote recently, or treats review as style comments only.
Leading a small team
- Tell me about an engineer you helped get noticeably better. What did you do?
- A junior engineer's pull request has the right idea but poor code. How do you review it?
- Two engineers disagree about an approach and the deadline is Friday. What do you do?
- How do you protect your own coding time while leading others?
- Tell me about feedback you gave that didn't land well. What did you change?
- What would you want from me as your manager?
Strong answer: a named person and specific actions, feedback that is direct and kind, and a way to break ties quickly.
Red flags: rewrites juniors' work themselves, avoids conflict, or hasn't written code in months.
"I'd just fix it and push. It's faster, and they can look at my commit to learn."
"I'd pair for 20 minutes on the worst part, leave two or three comments that explain why, and let them make the changes. Next time I'd check in before they start."
Delivery and working with product
- Walk me through how your last team went from an idea to a release.
- A founder wants a feature in two weeks that you think needs six. What do you say?
- How do you break a large piece of work into things that can ship on their own?
- What do you do when a sprint is clearly not going to finish?
- How do you keep non-technical people informed without dragging them into detail?
Strong answer: offers options and trade-offs rather than a flat no, ships small, and warns early when plans slip.
Red flags: "product should just give us a spec", or surprises people at the deadline.
Startup fit
- Why do you want to lead rather than stay a senior engineer?
- If we hire a CTO next year, what would you want from that person?
- What would you do in your first two weeks here?
- What is the smallest team you've been part of, and what did you like about it?
Strong answer: wants to lead for the team's sake, is open about a future CTO, and plans to ship code early.
Red flags: sees the title as a step away from code, or would leave if someone is hired above them.
Work sample: review a real pull request
Take a merged pull request from your repo, around 300 lines, and put back two or three problems: a missing test, an edge case, a naming or structure issue. Give the candidate 45 minutes to review it in writing, then 45 minutes to talk it through and sketch how they would split a related feature into tickets.
Look for which problems they find first, the tone of their comments, and whether they separate must-fix from nice-to-have. Keep the total under three hours.
Scoring rubric
| Outcome | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery rhythm | No release experience | Ships, but unpredictably | Ran a steady cadence | Fixed a team that kept slipping |
| Code quality | Misses seeded issues | Finds issues, harsh or vague comments | Finds most, clear and kind feedback | Finds all and teaches through comments |
| Growing engineers | No examples | Helped informally | Named person, specific actions | Several engineers grew under them |
| Technical decisions | Follows others only | Decides, rarely explains | Clear trade-offs within scope | Decisions others adopted beyond the team |
| Hiring | Never interviewed | Interviewed occasionally | Ran part of a loop | Designed a loop and sold candidates |
Weight code quality and growing engineers highest. A candidate who scores 4 on code and 1 on people is a senior engineer, not a lead.
Where Funded.club fits
A dedicated Funded.club recruiter screens lead developer candidates for both halves of the role before you meet them, with first screened candidates within 7 days and a fixed fee agreed upfront (see pricing).
Frequently asked questions
How is a lead developer interview different from a senior engineer interview?
It adds a code review exercise and a conversation with the engineers they would lead. You are testing whether people get better around them, not only whether they write good code.
Should the team meet lead developer candidates?
Yes. Two engineers they would lead should spend time with the final candidates. Their view on whether they'd want this person reviewing their work is one of your best signals.
Where do I start if I haven't written the role yet?
Start with our lead developer job description template. If the role is growing into people management across teams, read how to hire a VP of Engineering or lead developer vs CTO.
Worth a brief chat about your next hire? Book a free call.
Hiring after a funding round?
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