This page defines the professional career paths (ladder) for product engineers (PO - product owners). It represents the way I have decided to build it per our organization, taking into considerations the size of the engineering team, the scale, the skills etc.
IC is in-depended contributor
EM is engineering manager
IC begin at L3.
EM begin at L5.
As a L3 IC Product Owner, you are able to successfully lead a single area of responsibility (e.g. mission).
- You are given with problems to solve
- You Maintain, Prioritize, Groom, Build "mission backlog"
- You build the mission road-map
- You monitor executions
- You require supervision and senior PO to assist
Engineers and managers typically acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to meet the expectations of this level with a relevant Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of relevant industry experience and at least 2+ years of product experience.
| Responsibility | Growth Behaviors |
|---|---|
| Execution | - You create the mission road-map based on ROI and company vision oversees by a higher PO level or lead. - You are managing the product backlog (epic, stories, bugs) and you always have a ready to work stories oversees by a higher PO level or lead - You are tracking your executions constantly. - You are expected to be provided with KPIs and goals and work around them. - You are able to communicate KPI with stakeholders. - You are building clear and focus stories for developers while communicating with different stack-holders (GD, Content, TL, Architect and etc.) - You are on the watch for production issues and urgent stakeholders requests - You discuss and approve complex epics with PO chapter lead - You issue monthly, quarterly and yearly mission summary |
| Technical Proficiency | - You are familiar with agile methodologies - You know how to build ROI - You learned how to work with KPIs - You are well familiar with the sites and Backoffice's - You know how to create prototypes, mockups, and wireframes - You know how to define MVP for products - You know how to estimate stories effort - You know how to review tests and provide feedback to the developers and tech - You know how to use the BI to gather data - You know how to measure features success - You are using the right tools to manage and document your work (Jira, Confluence) - You know how to present and talk in a large group meetings. You are clear and able to convey your messages with the group. |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and your Team | - The team has a clear understanding on the mission backlog - You collaborate with the TL on managing the team and their priorities and eliminating roadblocks and making sure the team are productive - You are acting as the connection between the team and the stakeholders - You are overseeing the different development stages of the mission executions |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the R&D | - You are able to provide a transparent updates on the mission progress and value - You collaborate and aligned with other product owners - You collaborate with the PM and coordinate regarding big projects - You collaborate with architect to build the right solution - You contribute and share knowledge with all POs |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the company | - You collaborate with graphic design team on building UI/UX - You collaborate with content team on building the content - You collaborate with stakeholders |
| Business / Domain Knowledge | - You know and understand the mission domains - You have an overview on the other missions - You understand the business aspects from stakeholders point of view |
| Culture | - You approach your work with a collaborative and team-oriented mindset - You Focus on value - Good communication - Taking responsibility of things you and the team build - You are a representative of the R&D. Do it professionally and respectfully! |
As a L4 IC Product Owner, you are able to successfully lead a one or more missions with increased complexity.
- You identify the problems that needs to be solved and you handle them
- You are independent and communicate fluently with the stakeholders
- You are aligned to the company vision and strategy and driven by them
- You focus on value and not just executions and you monitor your outcomes and derived by its results
- You assist other POs on product questions and you contribute to the PO chapter skills and practices
Engineers and managers typically acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to meet the expectations of this level with a relevant Bachelor’s degree and 7+ years of relevant industry experience and at least 3+ years of product experience.
| Responsibility | Growth Behaviors |
|---|---|
| Execution | - You have high velocity and able to handle more developers - You participate in defining work standards - You identify risks and acts on them - You are highly aligned with the company strategy and goals. - You require minimum supervision in managing the mission backlog - You always have a ready to work stories - You are expected to be able to build / groom, change your KPIs and your mission goals and work around them. |
| Technical Proficiency | - You master different agile methodologies and know which one to apply for a given team and mission - You are able to set, change, update and configure the KPIs for your missions - You are able to set, change, update and configure the ROI for your missions - You understand the system technology stack and architecture. - You are able to understand and communicate on a technical level. - You understand software scale, performance and resilience and highly concerned about it |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and your Team | - You are able to explore different work methods in order to increase team velocity and productivity - You able to communicate resource (employee) needs for the mission |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the R&D | - You assist other PO with product questions - You participate and contribute in knowledge sharing meeting |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the company | - Contribute to companies activities |
| Business / Domain Knowledge | - You have knowledge in several missions domains - You have a good understanding on all the missions - Identifying areas of improvement |
| Culture | Same as L3 |
As a L5 EM Product Owner, you are very experienced PO with proven record to lead one or more missions with increased complexity. You are less focused on leading a mission rather on leading a group of POs.
- You impact and inspire all the missions and all the POs to build great product and to be great communicators
- Your responsible to mentor all POs
- Your responsible to review different mission backlogs and make sure they are groomed and evolve
- Your responsible to lead each PO to measure, set and meet KPIs
Engineers and managers typically acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to meet the expectations of this level with a relevant Bachelor’s degree and 7+ years of relevant industry experience and at least 5+ years of product experience
| Responsibility | Growth Behaviors |
|---|---|
| Execution | - You are obsessed with making all the POs better - You review different mission backlogs and make sure they are groomed and evolve - You are responsible to define, review and update KPIs with all the POs - You set standards - You set personal goals to each PO - You set KPI goals to each PO - You make sure all the POs are aligned with company strategy and goals - You make sure the POs are aligned between themselves - You are responsible to grow the PO skills and knowledge - You are responsible to build for the PO the career path - You are responsible for the story point scale and alignment (effort estimations). You are leading it with the POs and align them. |
| Technical Proficiency | - You have good time management skills - You have good technical understanding - You are a great leader - You are able to perform 1 on 1 - You are able to recruit and dismiss employees - You are able to run performance reviews and you provide meaningful feedback |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and your Team | - You are leading collaboration activates - You find the opportunities for the team to learn/improve |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the R&D | - Share product knowledge - You make sure the R&D is aligned with the product |
| Leadership & Collaboration - You and the company | Same as L4 IC |
| Business / Domain Knowledge | - You have a strong knowledge in all missions domains and products |
| Culture | - You make sure all team members are aligned with the culture and values. You encourage the team to gain responsibility and trust. - Coaches towards mindful communication - Your team is accountable - Everyone loves working with you - Lead company culture - You gain responsibility and trust and you influence others in the team to also do so. - Builds strong, collaborative relationships in and out of the team |
As a L6 EM Head of Product, you have proven yourself as an experienced EM PO & PM. You are now a mature leader which understand the way the company values and the department culture.
Engineers and managers typically acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to meet the expectations of this level with a relevant Bachelor’s degree and 9+ years of relevant industry experience.
| Responsibility | Growth Behaviors |
|---|---|
| Execution | - You see the "big picture" and properly communicate it to peers and downstream development teams. - You will identify talents, and future leaders, cross all teams and working with other leaders to growing the next generation of tech leadership and management. - You set personal goals to each EM - PO & PM - You make sure all the POs & PMs are aligned with company strategy and goals |
| Technical Proficiency | - You have excellent time management skills - You assist your team in identify risks and acting on them |
| You and your Team | - You’re an inspiring leader and set the example for cross-functional collaboration across teams and with other areas of the company. |
| You and the R&D | - You have excellent abilities to influence without requiring reporting authority to do so. |
| You and the company | - Partners effectively with business stakeholders on strategic projects - Builds network outside the organization, can identify and sell talent on working at the organization |
| Business / Domain Knowledge | - Has deep expertise across multiple domains and missions - Familiar with each mission road-maps, concerns and targets |
| Culture | - You focus on Value and impact you produce. - You focus on growing the teams around you. - Great communicator - Makes pragmatic design decisions; identifies risks, trade-offs, and alternative solutions to be considered - Mindful of including others so that they can jointly participate in decision-making - Sets an example for giving effective feedback |