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Permanent & Contract · Canada

Hire Engineering Managers

Screened for managers who grow engineers and keep the team shipping.

Why STACK IT

Built to hire engineering managers, not fill seats.

Most agencies optimize for volume. We optimize for the one hire who’s right, vetted by people who understand the work.

A calibrated 3–5 person shortlistTypically within five business days, candidates chosen for your team, not a résumé flood.

Recruiters who can vet leadership

We screen for how an EM grows engineers, drives delivery, and keeps technical credibility, not just runs standups. No candidate reaches you without two recruiters signing off.

Every candidate is real

Fake profiles, proxy interviews, and AI-assisted answers are everywhere in tech hiring. We meet each candidate face-to-face on video and screen for AI patterns, so who you interview is who shows up.

Screened to stay, not just to start

A hire that leaves in a year isn't a win. We align trajectory, growth, and total comp so the manager grows with your team instead of moving on.

You pay only when they start

Success-based and non-exclusive, no upfront fees, no retainers. We invoice on your manager's first day, not before.

How we screen

The Engineering Managers Evaluation Rubric.

We screen for how engineering managers actually think. Every shortlist is judged against the same five criteria that predict whether someone delivers in your codebase.

Open any criterion to see what separates a strong hire

Strong signal

Builds trust, grows engineers, and keeps strong people from leaving.

Falls short

Manages tickets and treats people as interchangeable resources.

Strong signal

Keeps the team shipping predictably without burning it out.

Falls short

Drives short-term output at the cost of the team and the codebase.

Strong signal

Stays close enough to the work to make sound calls and earn respect.

Falls short

Has drifted so far from the code they can't weigh tradeoffs.

Strong signal

Raises the hiring bar and gives feedback that actually develops people.

Falls short

Hires to fill seats and avoids the hard performance conversations.

Strong signal

Aligns with product and leadership and shields the team from chaos.

Falls short

Says yes to everything and passes the churn straight to the team.

A candidate only reaches your shortlist after they meet all of our standards.

Hire engineering managers with confidence.

Real technical screening, a calibrated shortlist in days, and candidates vetted for fit, not just resumes. Let’s start your search.

  • Pay only when they start
  • First candidates in 24–48 hrs
  • Screened for skills and fit

Specializations

Engineering Managers, across your whole stack.

Whatever your team runs on, we screen for the people who do the work right.

Team Building

Hiring, growing, and keeping engineers.

Hiring Mentoring

Delivery & Process

Shipping software without the chaos.

Agile Planning

Technical Leadership

Staying credible on the actual work.

Architecture Code Review

People Management

One-on-ones, growth, and hard conversations.

One-on-ones Performance

Org & Strategy

Connecting the team to the business.

Roadmaps Stakeholders

Scaling Teams

Growing from one team to many.

Scaling Hiring Plans

The cost of waiting

An open role isn’t free.

An empty seat doesn’t delay work, it redistributes it. The longer the search drags, the more it costs.

Every week a role stays open, the cost lands on the team you already have.

  • Work waits in the backlog while priorities pile up.
  • They cover work that isn’t theirs, until something slips.
  • The longer the seat stays empty, the harder the restart.

Speed isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between a gap and a setback.

Time to fill this role

Industry average National, by experience & seniority
~62 days
With STACK IT typical placement
2–3 weeks
48 hrs
First qualified candidate
3–5 days
Calibrated shortlist
18%
Fewer delivery delays once they start

How you hire

Permanent or contract, your call.

Two models, one standard of quality. Bring on the engineering managers you need the way that fits your timeline and budget.

Permanent

Permanent hire

Best when you’re building the team for the long term.

  • You only pay when they start, success-based, no upfront fee.
  • Full-cycle vetting for technical and cultural fit.
  • Backed by our 90-day replacement guarantee.
OR

Contract

Contract hire

Best when you need delivery capacity now, without adding headcount.

  • We’re the employer of record: payroll, compliance, and onboarding handled.
  • Most contractors placed in 5–10 business days.
  • Convert to permanent anytime, with a buyout discount that grows each month.

Not sure which fits? Compare permanent vs. contract

FAQ

Hiring engineering managers, answered.

The questions teams usually ask before starting a search with us.

We test leadership through real situations, not slogans. We walk through how a candidate built and ran teams, handled an underperformer, delivered through a slipping timeline, and made the call between shipping and quality. We also check they have kept enough technical depth to earn their engineers trust without micromanaging. That situational focus is central to how we screen.

An engineering manager leads software teams and delivery, while an IT manager owns infrastructure, support, and operational reliability. They are different disciplines, and we screen for the right one.

People leadership is almost always a permanent hire, since it depends on continuity and trust. On occasion an interim manager fits a transition, and we can support that too.

Leadership searches take a little longer because fit and judgment matter more than a skills checklist, but you will typically see a calibrated shortlist within about a week to ten days.

Permanent hires are success-based: you pay only when someone starts, with no upfront fee, backed by our 90-day guarantee. Contract runs on a transparent hourly rate. We will walk you through the specifics on an intro call.

Still have a question? Talk to a recruiter

Live right now

Open searches we are filling.

Bill 190 compliant by default.

Every search keeps your hiring audit-ready in Ontario.

See the Bill 190 checklist
  • Salary-range disclosure
  • AI-use transparency
  • Decisions within 45 days