Etsy Engineering Career Ladder
Level Progression | Competencies
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Level Progression
Engineer I
Expectations
- You’re acquiring the basic skills, behaviors, and knowledge necessary for being a professional engineer.
- You complete narrowly-defined tasks with clear instructions.
- You are consistently a collaborative, helpful, and curious team member.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be beginners, or working towards the Beginner level in all competencies.
Engineer II
Expectations
- You work within guidelines set by your teammates to independently tackle well-scoped problems.
- You regularly deliver your work to end users and are a primary contributor to your team’s goals.
- You work on features and projects within a broader product or system.
Track Record
Your work has been integral to the success of a project of moderate complexity.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Intermediate in two or more competencies or will display some Intermediate level skills across all competencies.
Senior Engineer
Includes: Senior Engineer I, Senior Engineer II
Expectations
- You take the lead on directing and implementing solutions to moderately complex, loosely scoped problems that are aligned with your team’s goals.
- Your work extends to many parts of a product or system.
- You deliver projects independently or by leading your teammates to do so.
- You enable other engineers on your team to be successful.
Senior Engineer I
Track Record
You’ve met the above expectations over multiple projects.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Advanced in at least one competency or will display some Advanced level skills across competencies.
Senior Engineer II
Track Record
You have consistently met and often exceeded these expectations over the course of many projects. You regularly demonstrate at least one of the Staff Engineer expectations listed below.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Advanced in more than one competency. Engineers at this level (and above) should not be Beginners in any competencies.
Staff Engineer
Includes: Staff Engineer I, Staff Engineer II
Expectations
- You take the lead on directing and implementing solutions to significantly complex, unscoped problems.
- Your work extends to many parts of a domain, and may begin to influence your entire department or domain.
- You align your team’s work with Etsy business and engineering priorities to realize meaningful impact.
- You set technical direction for your teammates.
- You improve the overall quality of engineering done on your team and consistently take steps to support the growth and success of your teammates.
Staff Engineer I
Track Record
You’ve consistently met these expectations as you’ve led and completed multiple large, successful projects. Each of these projects may have taken many months or longer to see through.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Experts in one competency or Advanced in all competencies.
Staff Engineer II
Track Record
You have consistently met and often exceeded these expectations over the course of many projects. You regularly demonstrate at least one of the Senior Staff Engineer expectations listed below.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Experts in at least one competency and will display a range of Expert level skills across competencies.
Senior Staff Engineer
Expectations
- You identify and build support for the most important initiatives in your domain.
- You lead in the creation and execution of novel solutions to complex, unbounded technical problems.
- You define the architecture and technical strategy that guide many engineers in your domain or department.
- Your work has significant and lasting impact on Etsy’s business and Engineering goals.
- You consistently take steps to support the growth and success of engineers in your department and across Etsy.
Track Record
You’ve met these expectations as you’ve led numerous projects with consistently high value to Etsy. Your work (e.g. architectural decisions, implementation, etc.) has been validated as a success over a significant window of time, typically at least a year.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Experts in multiple competencies, including Leadership.
Principal Engineer
Expectations
- You identify and build support for technical initiatives that address Etsy’s most important needs.
- You define the technical vision and strategy that guide engineers across departments to solve Etsy’s thorniest, most intractable technical problems.
- Your work creates significant and lasting impact on Etsy’s business and Engineering goals, while enabling many other teams to reach their goals as well.
- You consistently take steps to support the growth and success of both engineers and non-engineers across Etsy.
Track Record
Your portfolio of successful and impactful work is long and diverse. It includes both projects you’ve led directly and projects led by others who depend on your direction.
Competencies
Engineers at this level will generally be Leading Experts in at least one competency and Expert in one or more others, including Leadership.