That's hard to say. It feels a lot like dating. First of all, you want to avoid lemons. Secondly, you want to avoid glaring mismatches, so things can at least work out and be sustainable. But there sure are a lot of places where mismatches can occur!
Beyond company fit, there needs to be team fit (and proximally manager fit) and role fit. A lot of this depends on size, too. Company fit is going to be really important if you're anywhere early. But beyond a size, it matters a whole lot less than manager+team.
For the latter, you have to work with the team and manager on something to get a sense of what their style is and whether you'll clash. Try and find some way to talk about a problem as if it's a real world scenario, and see how easy it is to intellectually collaborate towards a solution. Does it feel natural or no? Would you trust this person enough to work with them for 8H+ a day? Keep this in mind as you compare offers.
But it's hard. You can only discern so much, and this stuff is really easy to fake in an interview. You see different shades of people once you really have to rely on them in the dint of production. This is part of what makes warm intros so powerful -- if you've worked with someone you trust and respect before, and they've worked with someone they trust and respect before, it's more likely that you and that other person will transitively be compatible. Move too far outside that transitivity and you're taking existential risks. This is why it's not always a bad thing to move around a bit more in your earlier career -- it can open up your second degree circles a bit more once you hit mid career.
Beyond company fit, there needs to be team fit (and proximally manager fit) and role fit. A lot of this depends on size, too. Company fit is going to be really important if you're anywhere early. But beyond a size, it matters a whole lot less than manager+team.
For the latter, you have to work with the team and manager on something to get a sense of what their style is and whether you'll clash. Try and find some way to talk about a problem as if it's a real world scenario, and see how easy it is to intellectually collaborate towards a solution. Does it feel natural or no? Would you trust this person enough to work with them for 8H+ a day? Keep this in mind as you compare offers.
But it's hard. You can only discern so much, and this stuff is really easy to fake in an interview. You see different shades of people once you really have to rely on them in the dint of production. This is part of what makes warm intros so powerful -- if you've worked with someone you trust and respect before, and they've worked with someone they trust and respect before, it's more likely that you and that other person will transitively be compatible. Move too far outside that transitivity and you're taking existential risks. This is why it's not always a bad thing to move around a bit more in your earlier career -- it can open up your second degree circles a bit more once you hit mid career.