Engineering competencies v2: a new suite of competencies are now available, view them here or read the FAQ to understand more about this change.

Senior Engineer 1

The competencies for Senior Engineer 1 in Engineering are outlined below. Before reviewing them, it is helpful to review how to use these competencies.

Planning and Organising

Effectively manages activities within the available people, resources and keeps to expected or communicated timelines. Includes contributing to task break-down and estimating.

Breaks down large, complex technical plans into manageable tasks. Contributes to accurate estimation of tasks.

Proficiency: Foundational

Independent Working

Works independently as an individual at each level, showing self-reliance and initiative, and takes responsibility for completing tasks and seeing them through to completion.

Takes responsibility for projects, identifying and solving problems, while ensuring alignment with team goals.

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Problem Solving & Decision Making

Makes well-judged and timely decisions, identifies problems, and creates effective solutions.

Identifies inefficiencies in existing systems and proposes solutions to improve performance and reliability.

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Business Impact

Recognises the broader business context and strategically aligns actions to support organisational goals.

Articulates the business value of technical projects to stakeholders, bridging the gap between technical teams and business requirements.

Proficiency: Foundational

Communication

Effectively listens, understands, and conveys messages in a way that is appropriate to the audience - including verbal, written, use of diagrammes. Uses a range of techniques to influence and make persuasive arguments. Adopts a patient, empathic style, avoids jargon, and checks for understanding in others.

Presents clearly to larger internal groups, facilitates productive discussions, and ensures understanding and alignment.

Proficiency: Foundational

Team Work

Collaborates effectively across the organisation.

Facilitates team collaboration, and engages in cross-functional projects. Promotes mutual respect and values diverse perspectives.

Proficiency: Foundational

Curiosity & Learning

Continuously seeks and creates opportunities for learning and growth.

Experiments with new tools, technologies and techniques as part of their professional development activities.

Proficiency: Foundational

Leadership of Self and Others

Guides oneself and inspires & develops others to achieve common goals. Reflects on their personal growth to identify areas to enhance their performance and for further development.

Leads by example, takes ownership of complex tasks, and encourages team members to deliver high quality code and solutions through feedback, code reviews, pairing sessions etc.

Proficiency: Foundational

Technical

Demonstrates and shares technical and domain expertise, and develops high-quality, secure and reliable software solutions following industry standards.

  1. Highly proficient in their engineering domain. Writes code and documentation that peers consider high quality.
  2. Designs solutions that account for non-functional requirements such as security, reliability, observability, and accessibility, alongside functional needs.
  3. Leads the resolution of incidents. Balances short-term needs with long-term stability during production issues. Follows up on actions from incident retrospectives.
  4. Able to pick up unfamiliar code, processes, or issues to troubleshoot or review.

Proficiency: Working knowledge