Career growth has many forms, it’s a unique journey for everyone. However there are some common patterns in the career paths that help us define a career progression framework.
Let’s take a look at how this framework looks like…
The framework consists of Levels and it defines expectations at each Level to differentiate between them. To break down these expectations, we used the company values as categories:
Trust - focus on communication, ownership, independence
Impact - focus on job complexity, creating value, making an impact
Customer Success - focus on contribution to the customer’s journey
Ethics - focus relation to the team, supporting and respecting others
We identified 6 levels of career progression on a Maker path and 3 levels of the Tech Lead and the Engineering Manager path and 2 levels in Product Management:
Individual Contributor (IC) L7-L2
“Do I want to build bigger and better systems and processes?”
“Do I want to become a thought leader/specialist in my role?”
Chapter Lead (Tech Lead roles only in ENG) L4-L2 - Role Description
“Do I want to focuses on the Technical Growth of my team members and the system?”
“Do I want to focus on alignment of the technical direction?”
Manager L4-L2 - Role Description
“Do I want to manage bigger and better teams?”
“Do I want to focus on team organisation and helping people progress in the business?”
How is Levels tied to compensation?
Salary Benchmark: Compensation is tied to Levels and is set in our Salary Benchmark. Each Level has a fixed compensation assigned, meaning Equal Pay within one level no matter which path (Maker, Tech Lead or People Manager).
Salary data: Salaries are benchmarked externally using market data and internally using data from our Talent Team to make sure we are paying fairly
How do salary changes happen?
Salary Review: Our Salary Benchmark is reviewed and adjusted to market rate yearly to make sure our compensation stays competitive. Depending on the market rate and the company’s financial situation the benchmark is adjusted in June and salary changes will be implemented from July. (next adjustment from 2022, since our benchmark is up to date now)
Salary change with promotion: Yes, reaching the next level, also means higher compensation.
No salary adjustment will be made outside of the June/July review period or the reaching the next level in your career.
Titles are tied to Levels, on each path and each level there is a title assigned. You can see the titles below in the Levels description.
Levels | Individual Contributor Path | The People Manager Path | The Tech Lead Path |
Level 7 | Junior Engineer | ||
Level 6 | Mid-level Engineer | ||
Level 5 | Experienced Engineer | ||
Level 4 | Senior Engineer | Engineering Manager | Chapter Lead |
Level 3 | Staff Engineer | Senior Engineering Manager | Group Chapter Lead |
Level 2 | Principle Engineer | Director or Head of Engineering | Director or Head of Engineering |
VP/ C-level | |||