How to hire a lead product engineer

How to hire a lead product engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step lead product engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a lead product engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new lead product engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a lead product engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your lead product engineer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a lead product engineer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A lead product engineer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, lead product engineers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of lead product engineer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Lead Product Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Lead Product Engineer	Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices, including tools, engines, and machines.	$38-65
   Product Lead	A product lead is responsible for monitoring the development of new products and services of an organization, starting from brand conceptualization to official market release and distribution. Product leads identify effective product management by conducting data analysis and evaluating market statistics of customer demands... Show more	$41-78
   Design Engineer	A design engineer is responsible for creating systems and applications based on their expertise. Design engineers work through client specifications based on business needs... Show more	$27-49

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Java
   • Solidworks
   • Software Development
   • C++
   • CAD
   • Product Design
   • Project Management
   • Product Development
   • UI
   • Sigma
   • UL
   • API
   • QA
   • R

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage product lifecycle of ADSL gateways, wireless routers, adapters, switches, and IP cameras.
   • Achieve Kaizen objectives, including optimizing Shipping/Receiving space, maximizing SMT running time and eliminating costly and unnecessary processes.
   • Change ECO rework processes for several customers.
   • Tool and train CMs for volume production operations.
   • Respond to and resolve UL and CSA variation notices.
   • Script the load test integration scenarios using selenium and Java frameworks.

   More lead product engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your lead product engineer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A lead product engineer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, lead product engineers' average salary in north dakota is 37% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level lead product engineers earn 41% less than senior-level lead product engineers.
   • Certifications. A lead product engineer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a lead product engineer's salary.

   Average lead product engineer salary

   $105,767yearly

   $50.85 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level lead product engineer salary

   $81,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

   Average lead product engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$139,361	$67
   2	Connecticut	$123,911	$60
   3	Arizona	$120,819	$58
   4	Nevada	$117,727	$57
   5	Louisiana	$115,159	$55
   6	Delaware	$114,890	$55
   7	Oregon	$114,117	$55
   8	New York	$113,971	$55
   9	District of Columbia	$113,572	$55
   10	Massachusetts	$110,772	$53
   11	Texas	$108,670	$52
   12	West Virginia	$106,539	$51
   13	Virginia	$105,964	$51
   14	Maryland	$104,122	$50
   15	Pennsylvania	$100,476	$48
   16	New Jersey	$100,472	$48
   17	Kansas	$99,618	$48
   18	Georgia	$99,525	$48
   19	New Hampshire	$99,348	$48
   20	Michigan	$98,740	$47

   Average lead product engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$174,918	$84.10	1,141
   2	Apple	$151,663	$72.91	438
   3	NVIDIA	$143,830	$69.15	148
   4	Amazon	$141,515	$68.04	588
   5	Starbucks	$140,336	$67.47	5
   6	Nike	$137,823	$66.26	87
   7	Salesforce	$132,731	$63.81	55
   8	Micron Technology	$132,158	$63.54	101
   9	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$130,551	$62.76	382
   10	NBCUniversal	$130,500	$62.74	17
   11	Thoughtworks	$130,234	$62.61	1
   12	Hearth	$126,282	$60.71
   13	The Home Depot	$124,236	$59.73	23
   14	Amplitude	$121,825	$58.57	4
   15	Hydro-Gear	$121,612	$58.47	5
   16	ManpowerGroup	$119,778	$57.59	66
   17	Volvo Trucks	$116,496	$56.01	7
   18	Target	$115,831	$55.69	36
   19	Vestas Blades America	$113,827	$54.72	1
   20	NRG Energy	$113,059	$54.36	2

4. Writing a lead product engineer job description

   A lead product engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a lead product engineer job description:

   Lead product engineer job description example

   Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle. Hundreds of thousands of developers around the globe trust Mattermost to increase their productivity by bringing together team communication, task and project management, and workflow orchestration into a unified platform for agile software development.
   
   Founded in 2016, Mattermost's open source platform powers over 800,000 workspaces worldwide with the support of over 4,000 contributors from across the developer community. The company serves over 800 customers, including European Parliament, NASA, Nasdaq, Samsung, SAP, United States Air Force and Wealthfront, and is backed by world-class investors including Battery Ventures, Redpoint, S28 Capital, YC Continuity. To learn more, visit www.mattermost.com.
   
   We value high impact work, ownership, self-awareness and being focused on customer success. If these values match who you are, we hope you'll learn more about working at Mattermost and apply!
   
   Mattermost is seeking a result-driven and analytical Lead Product Security Engineer to help ensure the security of our product and services across the company. As leader of our Product Security team you will work closely with a globally distributed team to support in all the different aspects of the software development life cycle. You will be responsible for the implementation of additional application security tooling and/or processes across the company and coordinate with relevant stakeholders, gather requirements, and lead the implementation.
   
   Responsibilities:Manage a globally distributed team of security engineers Ownership of vulnerability management and mitigation approaches Manage and lead security projects to increase security posture of products and company Support threat modeling of in-house developed software components Conduct application security reviews through manual code review or static/dynamic code analysis Architecture and review of security components Provide security training and outreach to internal development teams Develop security guidance documentation Support the development of our application security program Maintain and grow our bug bounty program
   
   Required Background/Skills:Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related fields, or significant professional application security experience5+ years of demonstrated experience in product security, security research and/or secure software development Familiarity with common security libraries, security controls, and common security flaws Experience with static/dynamic analysis, and common exploit tools and methods Experience in one or more programming languages, ideally Go or JavascriptComfortable with using GitExcellent written and verbal communication skills Demonstrable teamwork skills and resourcefulness Linux experience
   
   Preferred Background/Skills:Experience working in open source communities Experience with OWASP SAMM or other security assessment standards Certifications in the domain of penetration testing, or application security (e.g. OSCP, OSWE, GWAPT, …) Experience with Kubernetes / DockerExperience working in open source communities Participation in Bug Bounties, CTFs or similar activities
   
   Mattermost is a remote-first company with staff living and working across the globe. We are currently hiring staff in these countries/regions:
   
   Australia - Brazil - Bulgaria - Canada - Chile - Colombia - Finland - Georgia - Germany - Greece - India - Ireland - Mauritius - Mexico - Norway - Pakistan - Philippines - Poland - Portugal - Spain - South Korea - Suriname - Turkey - Uganda - Ukraine - Uruguay - United Kingdom - United States
   
   We are constantly working towards adding more countries/regions to this list, but first we need to make sure we are compliant with local laws and regulations, which takes time.
   Mattermost is made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. We embrace diversity and invite applications from people from all walks of life. We don't discriminate against staff or applicants based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, disability, pregnancy status, veteran status, or any other differences. Also, if you have a disability, please let us know if there's any way we can make the interview process better for you; we're happy to accommodate!

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find lead product engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any lead product engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level lead product engineers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your lead product engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit lead product engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting lead product engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new lead product engineer

   Once you've found the lead product engineer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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