Spans of control have widened fastest at early-stage startups

Percentage increase since 2019 in the number of engineers each manager supports.

Bar chart. Since 2019 the number of engineers per engineering manager has risen 34% at early-stage startups and 14% at the Tech Majors, while engineers per product manager at the Tech Majors has risen 22%.

(Please use a modern browser to see the interactive version of this visualization)

In absolute terms, an engineering manager at a Tech Major now supervises around 12 engineers; at an early-stage startup it is around 15.

Source: SignalFire, State of Talent Report 2026Get the data