Domain Expertise & Skill
Learning core engineering practices, debugging basics, and beginning to understand the team's product domain.
Solid grasp of software-engineering fundamentals; independently builds end-to-end features and starts suggesting codebase/process improvements.
Mastery of core concepts; connects personal work to team/department goals and mentors others in technical design.
Recognised subject-matter expert for the team's primary domain; sought for advice across teams.
Deep product & technology insight across the whole engineering org; aligns technical strategy for multiple projects.
Defines new technical approaches that unlock company initiatives; aligns strategy with corporate priorities.
Execution & Results
Completes well-defined, tightly scoped tasks under guidance; focus on building craft and reliability.
Plans and delivers small projects/features on schedule with clean, production-ready code.
Leads medium-sized projects end-to-end: breaks work down, sets milestones, delegates to juniors, and keeps stakeholders updated.
Drives complex multi-team projects, evaluating trade-offs and coordinating external partners to hit milestones.
Tackles poorly defined, high-visibility programmes; scopes, aligns opinions, and delivers results noticed company-wide.
Owns execution of strategic bets (new product lines or infrastructure overhauls) while bridging hands-on work and executive direction.
Communication & Collaboration
Shares status, asks for help, and starts learning when to work solo vs. pair; relies on teammates for guidance.
Collaborates with engineers, PMs, and designers during scoping; communicates estimates and trade-offs clearly.
Coordinates cross-functional partners in discovery and delivery; provides clear milestone updates to stakeholders.
Exemplary communicator and mentor; keeps multiple teams aligned through clear plans and regular updates.
Navigates diverse stakeholder opinions, aligning org-level priorities and presenting outcomes in company forums.
Engages executives and broad cross-functional groups, translating strategy into technical directions and vice-versa.
Leadership & Influence
Focus on self-development; no formal leadership duties.
Begins mentoring interns or L1 engineers; sets positive example in quality and reliability.
Mentors multiple engineers; takes ownership of team practices and elevates peers' skills.
Drives best practices adoption across the team and coaches peers at the same level.
Mentors experienced engineers across the org; proactively identifies systemic issues and leads organisation-wide solutions.
Serves as company-wide technical mentor; exercises high autonomy and ownership over mission-critical, high-stakes decisions.
Vision & Strategic Impact
Understands how assigned tasks support immediate team goals; impact limited in scope.
Suggests incremental improvements to product/process informed by growing domain insight.
Connects projects to broader department objectives and influences solution trade-offs during product discovery.
Delivers solutions that widen beyond team boundaries, shaping technical direction for related groups.
Influences product and technology scope across the engineering organisation; successes (or failures) are visible to executives.
Sets and evangelises company-level technical or business strategy, introducing innovations aligned with top-line goals.
Multiply what each person on your team can do.
That's a manager's job, and there's never time for it. Find Your Great learns from wherever your team works and distills each person's week into one or two feedback opportunities worth your attention.
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