A practical guide that breaks down dual-track engineering ladders, shows how they scale with team size, and provides a curated list of 30+ public career ladders for building or improving your own framework.
Engineering career ladders are a progression framework that maps job levels, expectations, and compensation. The article explains that most ladders are dual-track, separating an individual contributor path from a people-management path, and why that split matters as organizations grow.
It walks through concrete examples for teams of different sizes. Tiny teams (under 10) usually have a single lead who handles technical direction while the founder manages people. Small teams (~20) introduce an engineering manager who balances hiring, onboarding, and project delivery. Medium teams (50+) add senior technical roles like Staff Engineer and leadership layers such as VP of Engineering. Large organizations (100-1000+) create many intermediate titles to capture increasing scope and impact.
The piece then offers a curated list of more than 30 public engineering career ladders from companies like Akeneo, Gitlab, Spotify, and Monzo, letting readers see real-world implementations. It ends with a note that the author compiled the list to help design their own framework and invites readers to contribute missing ladders.
A free guide linked at the end promises practical advice for engineering managers stepping into leadership, covering focus shifts, time management, and team growth tactics, making the resource useful both for designing ladders and for immediate managerial challenges.
Check out the full stdlib collection for more frameworks, templates, and guides to accelerate your technical leadership journey.