Career ladder examples from leading teams

Artsy

Engineering career ladder from Artsy covering 12 competency areas across 5 IC levels from Engineer 1 to Staff Engineer. Based on their open-source GitHub framework.

Basecamp

Programming career ladder from Basecamp covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Junior to Principal Programmer. Emphasizes writing skill, autonomy, and simplicity.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Data roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Design roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Editorial roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Experience and Customer Support roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Management, PM, and Lead roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Operations and Business Development roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels: Operation & Execution, Tactical, and Strategic.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for People Ops and HR roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Blendle

Career growth matrix for Technology and Engineering roles at Blendle. Covers competencies across Work, Drive, and Fit categories with 3 proficiency levels.

Bradford Fults

Open-source software engineer leveling matrix covering 18 competency areas across 5 IC levels. Created by Bradford Fults, licensed CC-BY.

BuzzFeed

Product design career ladder from BuzzFeed covering 6 competency areas across 4 levels from Product Designer to Principal Product Designer. Based on their open-source GitHub design repo.

Capgemini

Software engineering grade ladder from Capgemini covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels. Created by UK engineering teams to understand ethos, values, and expectations at each level.

Carta

Engineering career ladder from Carta covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Software Engineer I to Staff Software Engineer. Based on their public engineering leveling guide.

CircleCI

Engineering competency matrix from CircleCI covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels. Notable for including Security Awareness as a core competency area.

Generic

Generic data science career ladder covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels from Data Analyst to Staff Data Scientist. Great starting point for teams building their first data career framework.

Dropbox

Engineering career framework from Dropbox covering 5 competency areas across 5 IC levels. Uses a 7-tier system focused on impact, with clear scope definitions at each level.

Buffer

Buffer is a fully remote B2B SaaS company offering social media scheduling, analytics, and engagement tools for creators and businesses. Their engineering org emphasizes simplicity, transparency, and asynchronous collaboration, balancing product velocity with a lightweight, values-driven culture. Their ladder is a good fit for teams that prioritize remote-first operations, product-minded engineers, and steady delivery over heavy infrastructure complexity.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a mature, product-led B2B/B2C SaaS company specializing in cloud storage, collaboration, and productivity tools. With a strong emphasis on craft, simplicity, and reliability, their engineering framework supports hybrid consumer + enterprise complexity. Good if your team values product polish, thoughtful UX, and multi-platform engineering.

Generic

Generic engineering manager career ladder covering 6 competency areas across 4 management levels from EM to VP Engineering. Covers people leadership, delivery, technical leadership, strategy, communication, and org development.

Envoy

Engineering career ladder from Envoy covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels from Engineer I to Principal. Clean, straightforward framework focused on craft, impact, and collaboration.

Financial Times

Engineering career framework from the Financial Times covering 4 competency areas across 4 levels. Notably streamlined with just Technical, Leadership, Delivery, and Communication pillars.

Fog Creek

The classic professional development ladder from Fog Creek Software (Joel Spolsky). Covers 5 competency areas across 5 levels. One of the earliest public engineering ladders, influential in shaping the industry.

GitLab

Engineering career framework from GitLab covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Associate to Principal. Based on their open-source handbook.

Glossier

Engineering career ladder from Glossier covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels from Junior to Principal Engineer. Inspired by Foursquare, Kickstarter, and Rent the Runway ladders. Distinguishes between Technical (Architect) and People (Manager) tracks.

Honeycomb

Engineering levels from Honeycomb covering 6 competency areas across 4 levels. Notable for including Observability & Systems Thinking as a core competency, reflecting the company's focus on production systems.

Intercom

Product management career framework from Intercom covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels from Associate PM to Director. Organized around Insight Driven, Strategy, Execution, Driving Outcomes, and Leadership Behaviors.

Khan Academy

Engineering career ladder from Khan Academy covering 6 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Emphasizes mission impact and learning mindset alongside technical skills.

Kickstarter

Engineering career ladder from Kickstarter covering 7 competency areas across 5 levels from Junior Software Engineer to Principal Engineer.

Medium

Engineering growth framework from Medium covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Engineer 1 to Principal Engineer. Based on their public growth rubric.

Meetup

Engineering career ladder inspired by Meetup's Maker/Manager framework covering 5 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Includes Architecture, Best Practices, Technical Mentoring, Process, and Communication.

Monzo

Engineering progression framework from Monzo covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels. Uses a compass-not-GPS philosophy with Technical Skills, Impact, Influence, Communication, and Leadership pillars.

Patreon

Engineering leveling guide from Patreon covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from P1 to P5. Focuses on scope of impact, ownership, and accountability.

Generic

Generic product design career ladder covering 5 competency areas across 5 levels including both IC (Designer to Principal) and a Manager track. Covers craft, research, collaboration, systems thinking, and leadership.

Figma

Figma is a fast-growing B2B SaaS platform in the collaboration and creativity space. They operate a real-time, multiplayer design tool requiring deep systems engineering, performance optimization, and thoughtful product thinking. Their ladder skews toward product-minded engineers and is ideal for orgs where craft, collaboration, and velocity matter.

Intercom

Intercom is a B2B SaaS company focused on customer communication, automation, and support tools. Their engineering operates at the intersection of product speed and technical depth, supporting a massive surface area of workflows. Great if your engineering culture balances rapid iteration with strong customer empathy and UX alignment.

Rent the Runway

The original and highly influential engineering career ladder from Rent the Runway by Camille Fournier. Uses the D&D-inspired 4-pillar framework: Technical Skill (Dex), Get Stuff Done (Str), Impact (Wis), and Communication & Leadership (Cha).

Etsy

Etsy is a large-scale marketplace operating at the intersection of B2C and B2B (independent sellers). Their engineering org values experimentation, reliability, data-driven decision-making, and scalable marketplace systems. Their framework is helpful if your environment mixes consumer behavior, search/discovery, and marketplace dynamics.

CircleCI

CircleCI is a B2B developer-tools company providing CI/CD automation for engineering teams. As a reliability-critical SaaS platform, their engineering org focuses on infrastructure, resiliency, security, and operational excellence. Their ladder fits teams building platforms, pipelines, or high-availability technical systems.

Songkick

Engineering growth framework from Songkick covering 7 competency areas across 5 levels. Notable for including Emotional Intelligence and Business Knowledge as core competencies alongside technical skills.

Sourcegraph

Design career development framework from Sourcegraph covering 4 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Uses the same Impact, Scope, Execution, Teamwork pillars as their engineering framework.

Sourcegraph

Engineering career development framework from Sourcegraph covering 4 competency areas (Impact, Scope, Execution, Teamwork) across 4 IC levels. Designed to be example-driven and bias-resistant.

Spotify

Engineering career steps from Spotify covering 6 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Emphasizes squad-based culture, autonomy, and the Spotify model of tribes and guilds.

Square

Engineering growth framework from Square/Block covering 6 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Focuses on craft, scope, problem solving, and leadership.

Thumbtack

Engineering career framework from Thumbtack covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Engineer I to Principal. Emphasizes scope, ownership, and impact at each level.

Wise

Engineering career ladder from Wise covering 6 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Based on their public engineering career map.

Wise

Product management career ladder from Wise covering 6 competency areas across 5 levels from Associate PM to Product Lead. Based on their public career map.