2 min lesson
Walk in with three things ready
Draft a two-sentence "why Cursor" for the recruiter screen that another EM candidate could not have written.
Step 1 of 2
Walk in with three things ready
Team size, the backend systems you owned and the outcomes.
Lead with auth, API-gateway or webhook/event ownership if you have it.
Why this product and this bar, not a generic love of AI.
Name the Core Services surface that draws you and why.
Location, visa status and willingness to do the paid in-office onsite.
Clean answers so nothing stalls the loop later.
Cursor is flat and lean, with no narrow job descriptions - the EM is explicitly a player-coach who reviews code and ships, not just runs process. If your why-management story reads as relief at leaving the keyboard, you signal the opposite of the role. Frame management as a force multiplier on top of staying technical, not as a graduation away from it.
“I've led backend teams owning auth and event-delivery in production and the part I keep choosing is staying in the code while I grow the team. Cursor is one of the few places where the backend - auth, webhooks, the agent infra - is existential for a tool a million developers hit daily and where an EM is expected to still ship. The no-AI screen told me you actually care about fundamentals and that's the kind of bar I want to raise.”