Develop an Engineering Manager Resume To Sell Your Skills

The best engineering managers understand people as much as they understand the latest technology trends. But when drafting an engineering manager resume, how can you sell your people and tech skills on paper? 

At Standard Resume, we’ve helped 100,000 people get hired at companies like Nike, Dropbox, and Google. Rather than leave your resume writing to chance — and potentially miss out on an interview at your dream company — we'll show you exactly how to write an engineering manager resume.

Below, find out what hiring managers look for in an engineering manager, how to sell your soft and hard skills, and several resume sample bullet points to include in your resume. 

What Hiring Managers Look for in an Engineering Manager 

As an engineering manager, you have to prove to recruiters you're well-rounded in three areas: people management, problem-solving, and project management. 

You understand technology and can code with the best. You offer the managerial experience to complete projects on time and on budget. And most importantly, you can do all of the above while recruiting new, top talent and serving as an advocate for your team (thereby helping your direct reports do their best work). 

Now, how do you convey all three on your engineering manager resume? Don't worry — simply follow the these resume tips when applying to your dream position:

1. You Know How To Manage People 

Great engineering managers develop personal relationships with their team members, recruit top talent, and — it must be said — shield tech leads and developers from the rest of the company.

In other words, the best engineering managers are there to ensure the engineering team doesn't get interrupted when writing code. 

When writing your engineering manager resume, speak about the teams you managed, budgets and timelines you oversaw, and processes you put into place. If you played a role in hiring new people or expanding the company, write about your impact. Convey how you communicated effectively across department lines and contributed to a cross-functional team for the company. 

For example:

• Speak to your managerial style: Implemented a radical candor management philosophy within the engineering team, creating a system of one-on-ones and all-hands meetings
• Point to the teams you managed: Oversaw a team of 12 within the engineering department, serving as the liaison between product, sales, and design teams
• Write about the people you hired: Expanded a team of eight members to 13 as the company launched three new product lines in a mere 13 months 

2. You Can Manage Complicated Projects 

When you move into a managerial role, the executive team expects you to oversee all projects, deliverables, and milestones demanded from the engineering department.

To prove that you can increase momentum on projects, speak to how you managed your department's budget, delegated tasks to every member of your team, and put quality assurance checks in place.

For example: 

• Illustrate how you budget time and money: Collaborated with executive team to release version 2.1 of the company’s first product, garnering a $2.1 million profit by year-end
• Prove you understand process improvement: Continuously conducted process improvements that reduced engineering check-ins by 10 hours per month, resulting in $120,000 saved each quarter
• Explain how you approach quality control: ​​​​Defined quality control standards and requirements for both hardware and software products 

3. You Know How To Solve Problems

All engineers have excellent problem-solving skills. But as an engineering manager, the problems you tackle will have as much to do with people as they do with the end product design.

Hiring managers want to know you have a proven track record for solving problems, whether it be through increasing risk assessments, decreasing defect rates, hiring new vendors, or creating new internal procedures. 

For example: 

• Hiring new vendors: Reviewed ISO documents for all new vendors, saving 12% of the department budget from the previous year
• Decreasing defect rates: ​​​​Collaborated with Microsoft to decrease defect rates for all new products by 33%
• Streamlining internal procedures: ​​​​Developed an internal processes and procedures manual, saving engineering staff a collective 120 hours annually

Engineering Manager Resume Format 

Your engineering resume should consist of five sections: your contact information, a brief summary, your work experience, an education section, and any relevant skills.

Below, we explain exactly what to write within each section, including a few resume example bullet points to list. 

Contact Information

Keep your contact information simple and to-the-point. List your first and last name, your most recent role, the city and state you reside in, and your email and phone number. If you work software engineering, you can link to your Github account. 

For example: 

Shandra Hameister | Software Engineering Manager | San Francisco, CA

shandra.hameister@gmail.com | 222.222.2222 

Summary Section 

Tailor your summary section to the engineering manager job you're applying for. In 2–3 sentences, point to how your extensive experience helps you excel in the areas of people management, project management, and problem-solving.

For example: 

Software engineer with 10 years of experience managing product development and engineering teams for startups with 100 million+ valuations. Experience developing high-quality products and managing engineering project budgets up to $4 million.

Work Experience Section

In your work experience section, you need to sell both your soft and hard skills. Show that you have excellent communication skills, can manage and collaborate with multiple departments, and can implement an engineering roadmap that crosses milestones on time and on budget.

For example: 

• Describe your people skills: Oversaw 30 direct reports across systems engineering, process engineering, and software engineering to help meet company KPIs
• Show you can double as a project manager: Lead product management initiatives that produced 12 new product launches in two years, including two patented designs 
• Speak to your communication skills: Collaborated with product, executive, and design teams to make seven new hires in four months and offer engineering support on products valued at $35 million

Education Section

Like your contact information, keep your education section brief. List the university (universities) you attended and degree(s) received. You can include your enrollment and graduation dates if you wish, but it is not required.

For example: 

The University of Iowa | Master’s Degree in Computer Science | 2008–2012

Washington University in St. Louis | Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering | 2004–2008 

Skills Section

In your skills section, list any coding languages you're proficient in, software or programs you use, or certifications or training you completed. Be careful to only list skills you are proficient in. 

For example: 

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification, SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD, WorkTraits, PolyOne, Javascript, SQL reporting, Cisco Networking certification (CCNA), Python 

Use Standard Resume to Stand Out From the Stack

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, engineering manager jobs are expected to grow by a mere 3% from now until 2028 — which is a slower growth rate compared to other positions. Here's what that means: When applying for a managerial position, you are up against plenty of other job seekers for these prominent, high-paying positions.

And that's exactly why you need a polished, professional engineering manager resume to make yourself stand out.

Martin Pedrick, head of design at Capsule, describes resumes from Standard Resumes as "better designed than 99% of the resumes out there." You can use a Standard Resume template to create a modern resume that's easy to read and sells your skillset.

To start building an engineering manager resume to land your dream job, start using the Standard Resume builder today.