One interesting failure I see in many startups is a lack of a career ladder. The common refrain is “We’re early and scrappy, we don’t need hierarchy!” - and I’m inclined to agree! But you also need to hire the right talent, which starts with a ladder.

There is a flipside - where a company copies a Netflix or Google’s career ladder and adheres to it blindly. This can only increase your hiring costs.

A workable ladder starts with you and what you care about (and, what tactical problems you need to be solving). There’s a lot of extras - conference speaking requirements, patents, and so on, in many ladders. These do not serve you at an earlier scale. These, frankly, are more for a justification on denying promotions than anything else.

Where to start?

From the bottom - Juniors Link to heading

Start with the lowest level talent. Define base capabilities and expectations.

Junior:

Completes work with assistance.

Mentorable and coachable.

Lives company values.

Next step up - Engineers Link to heading

What defines the next step up? Responsibility and autonomy should grow.

Engineer:

Completes most work autonomously

Accessible to juniors

Lives company values

Terminal step - Senior Link to heading

Senior is generally the first terminal role. Fully autonomous, this is the apex of the typical IC role.

Senior:

Fully autonomous

Capable of planning initiatives for Engineers

Actively mentors others

Lives company values

And beyond - Staff+ Link to heading

Staff+ is where things get weirder. Staff+ has a number of archtypes - the Right Hand, Team (/Org) Lead, and so on. For many startups, these roles are optional as well.

Staff+:

Fully autonomous across multiple application domains

Plans initiatives for teams and individuals

Actively involved with Product and other organizations

Mentors others

Lives company values

And so on Link to heading

“This is too simple” is probably what you’re saying now. That is deliberate. As I mentioned earlier, this should be tailored to your company’s needs. Maybe you have a category for “interaction with Support”, or “Sales Enablement”. If you’re a larger organization, you might have “Guild Leadership” or an internal talk track. Build a framework for the skills you need.

Once you have this ladder, check if your current employees match. If you hire Seniors and put them over Staff and vice-versa, you’re making a more complicated management topology to manage.

Keep it simple - hire who you need when you need them. And don’t hire for skills you don’t have yet.