Here is an example of the what a breakdown of career progression
Principles
These are the principles I would attempt to bring to an organization
- Enhanced segmentation in levels creates more advancement opportunities without inflating titles.
- Wider salary ranges for senior leadership roles ranges widen at higher levels rather than requiring a management track to grow compensation.
- The Engineering Pendulum is supported by the salary structure moving between IC and management shouldn’t require a financial sacrifice.
- Architecture is a competency, not a role the ability to reason architecturally should be developed across all levels, not gatekept behind a title.
- Engineering individual contributors should be peers engineering management at different levels creating healther, honest feedback loops about the technical quality of the system.
- There should be paths to rotate between Manager and Individual Contributor rotation is important and both experiences are required to progress to senior leadership.
Compensation Structure
- Base pay follows a logarithmic progression — meaningful early jumps that taper at senior levels.
- Bonus is tied to company performance with linear growth across levels.
- Equity increases inversely to base pay — higher-level engineers take more of their compensation in equity.
Resources
- The Engineer/Manager Pendulum — Charity Majors on career flexibility between IC and management tracks.
- An Elegant Puzzle — Will Larson on engineering management and organizational design.
- Architects, Anti-Patterns, and Organizational Fuckery