Career frameworks create fairness by clearly setting expectations for each level of a role. While defining or updating roles and levels typically falls to department heads, it often becomes a collaborative effort – the work is heavy, and true alignment takes real investment. As levels typically connect to compensation through salary bands, equity across teams is becoming table stakes.
Many companies have now made their career frameworks public, making it easier for any leader to find examples that fit the scale and needs of their own teams. On this page, I’ve collected some of the most impressive frameworks along with selected leadership articles that describe real-world experiences of building or improving them.
While “career ladder” remains a common phrase, more leaders are moving away from it because it implies a simple checklist for promotion. Careers rarely move straight upward. “Career progression framework” better captures the colorful paths people actually follow.
Recommended Resources
Redgate’s Progression Framework: Redgate released one of the most impressive career frameworks available. It maps progression across teams and lets you drill down into any role at any level. Formats vary slightly between disciplines, but the underlying structure and clarity are outstanding. (may take multiple hours)
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework: GOV.UK shows that mature career frameworks aren’t just a private sector phenomenon. This resource demonstrates how to integrate competencies across a wide range of digital and data roles. Even if you don’t work on digital products, you’ll learn a lot from how the system is designed. (may take multiple hours)
Dropbox Engineering Career Framework: Dropbox’s public framework focuses specifically on Engineering. It stands out for the way it defines different Engineering flavors and breaks down expectations for each level, including a separate track for Engineering Management. The framework does an excellent job clarifying concepts like Craft, Culture, and Impact without resorting to vague buzzwords. (may take multiple hours)
Career ladder from junior to director — guidance for UX professionals: Jing Jin shares how she built a career ladder for her UX team from scratch. It's a practical example of how role clarity and growth paths can drive impact even in medium-sized organizations. Jing also covers the importance of offering dual career tracks, allowing senior professionals to choose between management and individual contribution. (11 min read)
Building a better ladder: Matthew Holloway argues that strong frameworks go beyond checklists of skills. His focus on team-wide strength mapping and making levels visible across boundaries offers a practical way to align collaboration expectations. Inspiring and actionable without losing realism. (10 min read)
Scaling an Engineering Org: A Journey Through Roles and Responsibilities: John Doran with a quick but helpful read on evolving an existing career framework. John offers a down-to-earth view into his organization’s growing pains and how they intended to address them through maturing their expectations and levels. (6 min read)
A New Path to COO: Jessica Zwaan offers a personal perspective on the nonlinear path to executive leadership. She describes how she intentionally shifted from HR into broader business operations to position herself for a COO role, illustrating how career growth often requires strategic lateral moves. (9 min read)
Career framework inspiration from the world's best companies: Progression.fyi curates a wide collection of public and open-source career frameworks. If the examples above don’t quite fit your context, this is a rich resource for finding models and inspiration. (may take multiple hours)