Engineering Career Framework

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
1	Description
2	Status: Currently in use. This is a fluid document and examples in particular will evolve. No major changes will be made to this framework without wider advice and discussion.
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5		Scope of Influence		Building		Executing		Leadership
6		How much impact the work you do has on Buffer as a whole. As you progress, the work you has a bigger and bigger positive effect on Buffer		How you embody and promote coding practices to ship high quality products and services		Effectiveness in getting things done. Delivering well-scoped programs of work that meet their goals, on time, within constraints, and harmoniously		Showing an 'ownership mindset'. You challenge the status quo and effect positive organizational change outside of your mandated work
7	Engineer I	Individual tasks within a project		Receives closer guidance and technical mentoring to avoid becoming blocked/stuck.		Effectively delivers well-specced individual tasks		You take ownership of your work and learning and share feedback for team or product improvement
8		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
9		Learning and being actively developed by others	Developing knowledge of a single component of our architecture	Makes minor modifications to existing screens, or minor server changes to support client needs	Implemented sticky footer, Queried database appropriately	Completes well-specced tasks effectively, asking for help at the appropriate juncture to avoid becoming blocked/stuck.	Delivered a new support page	Raises meaningful questions or concerns	Voices concerns or need for clarification to their manager.
10		Tests new code thoroughly, both locally, and in production once shipped	Caught a bug on staging before it went live	Delivers features requiring simple local modifications	Added existing button to a different iOS surface	Communicates project status clearly and effectively	Keeps Jira up to date with progress and blockers	Takes ownership of learning and shows initiative	Accepts and integrates constructive feedback effectively, Objectively evaluating whether they've met their goals.
11	Engineer II	A project overall within a team / area. You work directly in parallel with your peers		Develops new instances of existing architecture, or minor improvements to existing architecture		Effectively delivers smaller projects, making steady progress on tasks within the project		Co-owns an area with guidance & takes initiative (e.g fixes bugs unprompted). Self-directed learning process
12		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
13		Self-sufficient in primary area of work, contributing to the project as a whole	Debugs effectively within their primary area to help find root cause.	Clearly articulates code design choices that need to be made	Identified need for new index in MongoDB	Knows when to ask for help when they are becoming stuck; does not go down rabbit holes.	Ensures stakeholders are aware of current blockers, Picks bugs off the backlog proactively when blocked elsewhere	Trusts teammates, assumes good intent in technical discussions, and is able to disagree and commit.	Gives helpful and timely feedback to managers and peers
14		Owns small-to-medium features from technical design through completion	Planning, scoping and implementing the Alt Text for Twitter images feature	Makes large functional changes with uneventful code reviews.	Built credit card input component that's functionally solid. Code review feedback is focussed on growth and improvements.	Balances pragmatism and polish appropriately	Engages with Product Management on feasibility of requested features, clarifying requirements where necessary.	Has a self-directed learning process, seeks feedback from others to find ways to improve	Received and integrated critical feedback positively and is consistently exemplifying a growth mindset
15		Works in parallel with peers, building a stronger team through effective collaboration	Proactively seeks input from teammates and finds ways to help teammates achieve their goals.	Determines data needs from product requirements	Updated Facebook API version and codebase dependencies	Defines and hits interim milestones	Mastering ability to break down tasks, plan, estimate, and cut scope to ship on time. Prioritizes in alignment with company goals. Seeks learning through retrospectives.	Makes design or quality improvements unprompted, making small improvements to leave code better than you found it.	Recognizing when a feature you’ve built isn’t quite right and calling that out and fix it proactively rather than leave it for later or for someone else.
16	Engineer III	A larger project overall within a team / area. You work in parallel with peers and often take a leading role on features or refactors.		Designs standalone systems of moderate complexity, or major new features in existing systems		Effectively delivers projects through a small team, consistently making meaningful progress.		Fully owns a service or component. Taking a considered approach to your work and your team.
17		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
18		Self-sufficient in at least one large area of the codebase with a high-level understanding of other components	Directed team response effectively during outages (able to be on-call independently or proactively address problems surfaced by advocates)	Clearly articulates code design choices that need to be made, and suggests a viable path forward	Gives helpful and kind code reviews with actionable feedback about behaviour and maintainability	Consistently stays on track with work and keeps work in line with bigger picture goals.	Scopes out work methodically, based on iterative learning. Sets realistic deadlines that drive effort and support healthy work habits. Cuts scope as needed, mitigating risk by shipping frequently.	Shows maturity around what code not to write and thinking before you code, demonstrating critical thinking	Shows curiosity and seeks to understand other points of view and alternate approaches. Engages in productive dialog with conflicting views, both inside and outside the team.
19		Contributes to the foundational good of their domain and engineering overall, defining (and refining) patterns and canonical examples, plus paying down tech debt.	Created our Open Source page and FAQ and lead efforts to help teammates safely open source code	Acts as a primary maintainer for existing critical systems	Implemented Google Auth login	Communicates technical issues and decisions clearly and proactively	Shares bad news quickly. Expresses complex issues and concepts simply and clearly.	Identifies and suggests solutions to problems impacting team.	Gives actionable feedback to others and trusts them to decide to what extent to incorporate it.
20		Proactively develops a stronger team	Leads and coaches within their team where possible and is trusted with team decisions.	Implements complex features with a large product surface area	Delivered "drag and drop" functionality for a web or mobile app	Recognizes and surfaces risks in projects or unknowns/gaps in requirements, at the scale of a roughly 1-2 week long tasks.	Asks good clarifying questions and successfully anticipate rabbit holes. Rarely needs to re-work or revisit previous code.	Exemplifies a "user first" mindset	Promotes a no-ego attitude to ideas and code, listening deeply to others and striving to do what's best for the user
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22	Senior Engineer I	Whole team/product area		Builds complex, reusable architectures that pioneer best practices and enable engineers to work more effectively		Effectively delivers projects through a large team, or with a significant amount of stakeholders or complexity		Has a consistent record of very strong leadership for their area
23		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
24		Gives guidance & unblocks others at minimum on their team/area. Their area can be outside of Buffer too, but does not have to be outside Buffer.	Upgraded our Stripe API from an old version to the latest, acting as a resource for a wide area of billing, pricing and permissions work	Seeks design/architecture or specialized input when needed (and knows when it’s needed).	Suggests multiple viable approaches and clearly communicates risks, advantages, pros and cons (tradeoffs) for each approach in architecture proposals.	Translates rough ideas into clear, executable projects with discrete tasks	Finds ways to deliver requested scope faster, and prioritizes backlog. Tackles tech debt proactively.	Recognizes patterns or process that hurt the effectiveness of your team or that don’t serve your overall, longer term goals and effectively works towards resolutions	Trusted to de-escalate conflicts and build consensus between team members about technical matters.
25		Sought out by others as technical resource	Makes others better through effective mentoring, pairing, and code reviews	Makes good, informed decisions around technical debt and tradeoffs	Avoids subtle architectural mistakes when considering new systems	Communicates with non-technical team members to give technical advice	Coordinates communication among team & stakeholders, including the right people at the right times.	Exemplifies grit and determination in the face of persistent obstacles	Helps others maintain resilience in periods of change / challenge
26	Senior Engineer II	A whole team / whole product area		Builds complex, reusable architectures that pioneer best practices and enable engineers to work more effectively		Effectively delivers projects through a large team, or with a significant amount of stakeholders or complexity		Has a consistent record of very strong ownership for their area, e.g. figuring out on-call schedules, establishing monitoring
27		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
28		Acts as a resource to unblock and enable the whole team	Implements and taught others the Redux middleware/Observer pattern to help a team work more effectively across a wide area	Reduces the complexity of projects/services/processes in order to get more done with less work	Implemented an effective testing framwork that increases both code quality and team velocity	Consistently and accurately recognizes and communicates key risks in projects	Identifies, defines, and solves strategic problems, thinking holistically about the whole system.	Exemplifies grit/tenacity in the face of obstacles, distractions or long and challenging tasks	Help others maintain resilience in periods of change.
29		Sought out by others as a mentor and provider of technical guidance and kind coaching.	Makes others better through mentoring, pairing, architecture reviews, and code reviews, exhibiting care and attention to their fellow engineer's growth	Researches and leads adoption of new approaches, systems or technologies to stay current and strive for excellence on your team	Architected frontend client with React & Redux to move away from Meteor.js and improve performance and developer experience	Communicates with non-technical team members to give technical advice	Trusted to always share status with all stakeholders, and proactively remedy communication issues.	Builds leaders within their team or domain, educates across domain.	Acts as a multiplier who shares knowledge and delegates to help others grow.
30		Routinely and consistently pushes the team forward	Reaching out to other teams within and beyond Buffer to share knowledge and implement better ways to work, such as Texture to iOS in conjunction with the Pinterest team	Exhibits excellent judgment regarding decisions across many aspects of the project	Makes architectural decisions that eliminate entire classes of bugs	Manages dependencies on other projects and teams	Managed infrastructure migration to VPC	--	--
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32	Staff Engineer	Multiple teams/projects		Sets strategic foundational direction for an engineering team / area		Manages major company pushes delivered by multiple teams		Exhibits ownership across the org - this person is a guardian of Buffer
33		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
34		Acts as a resource to unblock and enable teams across various projects.	Gives pragmatic guidance that empowers teams to develop their own solutions	Defines long-term goals and ensures active projects are in service of them.	Defined and drove complete migration plan to Swift or Kotlin	Looked to as a model for balancing product/business and engineering concerns.	Delivered multi-month engineering project on time	Exhibits excellent judgment regarding decisions across teams	Thoughtfully and effectively seeks wide context and builds buy-in for decisions affecting multiple stakeholders
35		Exhibits excellent judgment regarding decisions across many teams	Regularly accountable to architecture review outcomes and prioritization for their team, product or area	Defines the strategic vision for foundational work and supporting technologies, reducing complexity to get more done with less work	Defined and developed Buffer's continuous delivery strategy used across all product teams	Successfully plans and delivers complex, multi-team or system, long-term projects, including ones with external dependencies.	Managed a key database migration	Instills and promotes a culture of learning and development within the entire engineering team	Empowers team members to develop themselves and coached others on how to become mentors too
36		Routinely and consistently pushes multiple teams forward.	Architects and guides implementation of shared component libraries that work for several teams	Leads architecting new systems/technologies/processes to stay current and move the bottom line. Your decisions that have positive, long term, wide ranging consequences.	Defined microservices migration plan	Considers larger company context, business objectives and external constraints when planning	Managed technical migration to SOA	Exhibits ownership across the org - this person is a guardian of Buffer	Identifies and eliminates single points of failure throughout the organization
37	Principal Engineer	Entire Organization		Sets strategic foundational direction for Buffer		Manages Buffer-wide initiatives		A key strategic leader at Buffer
38		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
39		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it out with examples. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.
40	Engineer of Distinction	Industry		Influences strategic foundational direction for multiple organizations		Manages initiatives influencing mutiple organizations		A key strategic leader in the industry
41		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
42		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.		We don't yet have folks at this level, so to stay lean I've not illustrated it fully. It still exists and will be figured out properly in Version 2.0.

	A	B	D	F	H
1	Description
2	Status: Currently in use. This is a fluid document and examples in particular will evolve. No major changes will be made to this framework without wider advice and discussion.
3
4
5		Scope of Influence (IMPACT)	Building (TECHNICAL)	Executing (DELIVERY)	Leadership (LEADERSHIP)
6		How much impact the work you do has on Buffer as a whole. As you progress, the work you has a bigger and bigger positive effect on Buffer	How you embody and promote coding practices to ship high quality products and services	Effectiveness in getting things done. Delivering well-scoped programs of work that meet their goals, on time, within constraints, and harmoniously	Showing an 'ownership mindset'. You challenge the status quo and effect positive organizational change outside of your mandated work
7	Engineer I	Works on clearly defined individual tasks within a project. Receives active help.	Receives closer guidance and technical mentoring to avoid becoming blocked/stuck. Tests code thoroughly.	Effectively delivers well-specced individual tasks.	Takes ownership of your work and learning and share feedback for team or product improvement
8	Engineer II	Self-sufficient on projects within a team / area. Works directly in parallel with your peers, owning small-medium features from design to completion.	Develops new instances of existing architecture, or minor improvements to existing architecture. Code reviews are "uneventful".	Effectively delivers smaller projects. Defines and meets interim milestones and makes consistent progress on tasks within the project	Takes initiative (e.g fixes bugs unprompted). Self-directed learning process and growth mindset.
9	Engineer III	A large project overall within a team / area. You work in parallel with peers and often take a leading role on features or refactors.	Designs standalone systems of moderate complexity, or major new features in existing systems	Effectively delivers medium team projects. Recognizes and surfaces risks/unknowns and keeps work in line with bigger picture goals. Does not go down rabbit holes.	Expemplifies customer thinking, suggests solutions to problems, and demonstrates critical thinking skills. Takes a considered and professional approach to your work and your team.
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11	Senior Engineer I	Whole team/product area, sought out as a technical resource.	Builds complex, reusable architectures that pioneer best practices. Makes good, informed decisions around technical debt and tradeoffs	Effectively delivers projects with a significant amount of complexity. Finds ways to deliver requested scope faster, and tackles tech debt proactively.	Has a consistent record of very strong leadership for their team, recognizing patterns that don't serve long term goals and helping to resolve them. Exemplifies grit/tenacity and helps others mantain resilience in times of change.
12	Senior Engineer II	A whole team / whole product area. Acts as 'technincal lead' in large surface area projects. Sought out as mentor and kind coach. Routinely and consistently pushes the team forward	Exhibits excellent judgment regarding decisions across many aspects of the project. Reduces complexity of projects/services/processes in order to get more done with less work	Effectively delivers projects with a significant amount of stakeholders or complexity. Communicates with non-technical team members, recognizes key risks, manages dependencies.	Has a consistent record of very strong leadership.Builds leaders and acts as a multiplier who shares knowledge and delegates to help others grow.
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14	Staff Engineer	Multiple teams/projects. Routinely and consistently pushes multiple teams forward.Acts as a resource to unblock and enable teams across various projects.	Sets strategic foundational direction for an engineering team / area. Defines long-term goals and ensures active projects are in service of them. Exhibits excellent judgment regarding decisions across teams	Manages major company pushes delivered by multiple teams. Looked to as a model for balancing product/business and engineering concerns.	Exhibits ownership across the org - this person is a guardian of Buffer. Instills and promotes a culture of learning within the entire engineering team
15	Principal Engineer	Entire Organization	Sets strategic foundational direction for Buffer	Manages Buffer-wide initiatives	A key strategic leader at Buffer
16	Engineer of Distinction	Industry	Influences strategic foundational direction for multiple organizations	Manages initiatives influencing mutiple organizations	A key strategic leader in the industry

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
1	Description
2	⚠️ First Working Version. Expect continued iterations.
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5	- We believe engineering management is a craft in its own right, distinct from being a maker and a traditional (outside engineering) manager. - We encourage movement between the maker and manager paths at the time that feels right for that person and our team. - We value T-shaped growth and recognize that there are many ways to be an effective engineering leader. No two engineering managers will be exactly the same. - As leaders, we create an environment where people are creative and innovative, learn, try new things, and sometimes make mistakes. Managers are expected to drive results and are accountable to the outcomes of their teams, but the basis for advancement as a manager is behavior that is consistently in service of Buffer’s mission and values, and not outcomes alone. - Scope of Influence is the main driver of promotion toward the next level. The Building, Executing and Leadership pillars detail expectations at each level, which are necessary to meet the current level, but not sufficient on their own for promotion to the next level.
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7		Scope of Influence		Building		Executing		Leadership
8		Acts as an amplifier to increase the potential and magnify the impact of others. This Pillar drives promotion to the next level.		Builds belonging, supporting the emotional well-being and flourishing of group members. Champions company values and healthy culture. (engineers build the product, managers build the team) (** that works for all of Buffer / long run sustainable)		Defines processes and structures that enables the strong growth and execution of a diverse engineering organization		Provides strategic support to engineers to help them build the career they want. Inspires day to day excellence and growth by effectively resolving performance issues with compassion.
9	Engineering Manager	Directly manages engineers, magnifying the impact of their direct reports. Has impact at the teams level		Engineers have a healthy, supportive and inclusive work environment		The team is productive, delivering software of the quality standard the team needs at this point in time ( ships product while sustaining engineering), in a predictable and reasonable time frame. ( consistently meeting business needs)		Engineers are effectively coached and held accountable to meeting their role expectations. They are getting the encouragement, recognition and feedback needed to succeed and grow.
10		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
11		Empowers team and grows leadership of direct reports	Builds autonomous, independent teams where engineers are empowered to make decisions. Does not "micro-manage"	Builds psychological safety on teams	Is inclusive of others and welcomes ideas from all teammates	Balances openness to new ways of working with building momentum to see solutions through	Leads effective team retros, adjusts tooling or processes and maintains a shared understanding between engineers of how to work together	Career roadmaps/planning	Holds regular 1-1s with continuous discussion of career goals personal needs or challenges. Builds a deep understanding of each teammate and how to help them flourish.
12		Shares context and information transparently	Delegates growth opportunities effectively	Embodies a "First Team Focus"	Supports and partners effectively with PMs, other engineering leaders, and key stakeholders to push Buffer forward through enabling their team(s)	Ensures Good Tradeoffs are intentionally made	Maintains relevant technical context. Asks the right questions. Stewards architecture review process.	Sets clear expectations, holds engineers accountable and gives feedback to grow others	Gives regular, clear and actionable feedback to direct reports. Practices open honest communication with peers. Avoids ruinous empathy
13		Ownership, initiative in solving problems to further increase impact of your direct reports	Unblockes teammates when needed, is proactive is improving team challenges	Trusted to build out their teams in alignment with our culture, values and technical needs as a hiring manager	Conducting interviews and assisting with hiring of individual contributors. Building culture through effective onboarding and role modelling	Project Management and team direction	Lead team in planning out work, sets impactful yet realistic/sustainable team goals. Surfaces challenges that could hamper ability to deliver	Relates feedback, growth goals, and career roadmap to business outcomes and results	Objectively evaluates reports and stewards all aspects of their career progression.
14	Mastered the Above, Plus:
15	Senior Engineering Manager	Magnifies impact of their direct reports, and functional areas of the engineering org at the groups of teams level		Consistenly takes action to build a culture where diverse team members can flourish		Same as above; plus one-way decisions and complex inter-dependecies are minimized		Has mastered the craft of engineering management
16		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
17		Owns significant strategic initiatives that consistently and routinely push forward groups of teams	Leading and owning the onboarding process for new engineers within functional groups of engineering	Builds culture and alignment across engineering management as a group	Leads manager roundtables for new-to-Buffer managers	Translates culture and technical vision into effective processes for their engineering team(s).	Proactively and consistently evolves tooling and/or ways of working and/or communication that drives results and reduces complexity	Develops engineering management skills in others	Trusted to mentor and advise other engineering managers. Could manage managers if there was an organizational need.
18		Gaining buy in and support at the wider organization level for initiatives you own	Successfully evangelizing the role of Mobile within the product ecosystem	Anticipates changing needs and is proactive in crafting an environment where diverse group members can flourish	Consistently leads culture initiatives that strengthen our team, such as bringing data to people management through transparent use of metrics	Manages complex projects and successfully anticipates inter-team dependencies	Breaking complex roadmaps and dependencies down into impactful yet sustainable team goals that can be worked on in iteratively a Lean way	Models and builds an overall feedback culture	Gives effective feedback, and to strengthen alignment with Buffer's mission and values, going beyond own team/own direct reports when appropriate
19	Mastered the Above, Plus:
20	Director of Engineering	Owns large-scale, major strategic iniatives across engineering, and has impact at the whole engineering team level		Stewards and models Buffer's values and is looked to as a guardian of our culture		Same as above; plus consistently shapes processes to achieve business goals		Champions and furthers the craft of engineering management at Buffer
21		Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example	Concept	Example
22		Owns major strategic initiatives that consistently and routinely push forward all of engineering	Plans and leads major infrastructure upgrades, overhauls; stewards entire hiring process for all engineering	Leads initiatives to address issues stemming from hidden dynamics and company norms	Directed resources to meaningfully improve diversity at all levels	Effects change that has a substantial positive impact on the engineering organization or a major product impact	Coaches others on Lean methodology; consistently delivers large complex projects in an iterative way that frontloads business value	Supports the development of a signficant part of the engineering org, and widely viewed as a trusted advisor	Mediates escalated situations, empowers underperforming teams, and resolves conflict
23	Mastered the Above, Plus:
24	VP of Engineering	Owns company wide strategic initiatives that are executed through engineering, and has impact at the whole-Buffer level		Builds culture across the company, consistently driving cultural change in line with our evolving vision and mission, creating and maintaining a "best place to work"		Defines structures, frameworks and roles to support the success of functional areas across engineering, driving execution and results		Champions and furthers the craft of engineering management within and beyond Buffer, establishing Buffer as a thought leader in intentional engineering leadership