Career Ladder Inspiration · Engineering
Wise's engineering career framework
Engineering career ladder from Wise covering 6 competency areas across 4 IC levels. Based on their public engineering career map.
Company Wise|Year 2026|Discipline Engineering|Tracks TBD|License
Scroll horizontally to explore all 4 levels
Clone this templateIC1 - Engineer | IC2 - Senior Engineer | IC3 - Staff Engineer | IC4 - Principal Engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Skills Technical Expertise | Solid understanding of core engineering concepts. Writes clean, well-tested code. Follows team coding standards and best practices. | Strong technical depth in their domain. Can design and implement complex features end-to-end. Identifies and resolves technical debt. | Highly knowledgeable across multiple parts of the technology stack. Technical owner of significant components. Creates improvements in stability, performance, and scalability. | Deep expertise across the entire technology stack. Defines technical strategy and architecture at the organizational level. Drives adoption of new technologies and patterns. |
Skills Delivery & Impact | Delivers well-scoped features with guidance. Makes steady progress on assigned work. Knows when to ask for help. | Delivers complex features independently. Takes ownership of projects from design to deployment. Anticipates and mitigates risks. | Delivers strategic, cross-team projects. Reduces complexity to increase team velocity. Has a multiplier effect on team output. | Delivers transformative solutions that reshape how the organization builds software. Impact felt across the entire engineering organization. |
Skills Problem Solving | Solves well-defined problems within their team's domain. Iterates to find solutions when blocked. | Tackles ambiguous problems. Identifies root causes and systemic issues. Proposes and implements solutions proactively. | Solves complex, cross-cutting problems that span multiple teams. Anticipates future challenges and addresses them proactively. | Identifies and solves problems critical to the company's long-term success. Defines new approaches to unsolved problems. |
Skills Communication & Influence | Communicates clearly within the team. Shares status updates and asks for help when needed. | Communicates effectively across teams. Influences technical decisions within their domain. Explains complex topics to non-technical stakeholders. | Drives cross-team communication and alignment. Influences technical direction beyond their immediate team. Sets expectations for complex projects. | Shapes organizational communication patterns. Represents engineering perspective in company-wide strategic discussions. |
Skills Product Mindset | Understands product context for their work. Considers user impact when building features. | Has sufficient experience in their product domain and actively works on expanding it. Connects technical decisions to product outcomes. | Possesses deep technical and product understanding. Advocates for both while interacting with any other function. | Keeps up to date with technology and market trends. Applies insights to shape product and technical strategy. |
Skills Mentorship & Leadership | Participates in code reviews. Supports newer team members. Seeks feedback actively. | Mentors junior engineers. Leads technical discussions within their team. Contributes to hiring and interviewing. | Mentors engineers across teams. Drives adoption of best practices. Influences technical decisions organization-wide. | Establishes engineering-wide standards and practices. Grows Staff engineers and Engineering Managers. Shapes engineering culture. |
Framework by Wise · Licensed
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