The Engineering Career Path and the Engineering Progression Framework have been updated with the following additions or changes:
Adding a new role at Principal Engineer level for an “Individual Contributor” as distinct from “People Manager” and clarifying the responsibilities, expectations, and levels of competence expected for each role.
Making a clear distinction at Senior 2 Engineer for separate “Individual Contributor” and “People Manager” making clear the responsibilities, expectations, and levels of competence expected for each role
Completing the progression framework for all roles (including the above new roles) up to and including Tech Director, and updating it to better reflect competencies required in each role.
These changes are made in order to
Encourage staff to make career choices which match their goals and motivators
Ensure People Managers choose this important role for the right reasons (they genuinely enjoy and are motivated to do so, not because they believe it is necessary to progress)
Add a career choice for engineers who prefer and are suited to progress as Individual Contributors
Clarify the competencies required and expectations for each role, completing the progression framework up to and including Technology Director
Build our technical strength in and across teams and products
These changes reflect industry best practice for engineering career pathways, and competency frameworks.
In FT Technology, an Individual Contributor is someone who doesn’t manage any other staff, and contributes as an engineer to teams, projects, and other initiatives. The distinction being made is the difference between someone who is a contributor to a team vs. someone who is a manager of a team, a People Manager.
No, an Individual Contributor is not an architect, but does make a significant contribution to architecture decisions, technology choices, system design, performance monitoring and tuning and so on. The role is an Engineering role, so includes some hands-on development, configuration or other technical implementation.
At the FT, it has been common practice that engineers who progress from Senior Engineer to Senior 2 Engineer will make a shift to becoming a People Manager. The career path, together with updated competencies in the Progression Framework, makes clearer what is expected in each role or along each track, so that staff and their managers can make better choices, and work together to guide professional development. Engineers can choose to develop themselves and work toward either track, or change tracks during their FT career. From now, all People Manager roles can only be filled if they are advertised, and candidates are selected through an interview process.
Reporting lines may differ, depending on the team or group structure, and the specific role and scope of the roles. For example, if an Individual Contributor role and scope lies within the products and services of teams reporting to a single People Manager, then their reporting line may be to that People Manager. Tech Directors will define the role structure, with consideration to the scope of the roles, and the individuals holding those roles.
New job descriptions and new competencies are designed to make it clearer for all employees to know what’s expected of them, and how they are expected to perform their role. People Manager roles should form a specific place in a team’s or group’s organisational structure, and a team will typically be 3 - 10 direct reports. Over time, this will result in fewer People Managers in Technology, and is a deliberate step to select those whose professional and personal motivators match the requirements of People Management, and who deliberately choose this career path. Fewer People Managers means a more consistent employee experience, as we are better able to develop and support managers in their roles.
Yes it is possible for engineers to “switch” tracks. These improvements make it clearer what’s required in both types of roles, and help to guide staff and managers to set objectives and create a plan to develop toward any role. People Manager roles require staff to apply and interview for them, in order to demonstrate their experience, competencies as well as their motivations for aspiring to a manager role. “Switching” to a different role or different career track should be a conversation with a manager to plan objectives and consider available opportunities.
Progression through the promotions process is available for individual contributor roles up to and including Senior 2 Engineer (Individual Contributor). This is because these roles are generally more available in our teams and structures. Interviews are required to progress to all People Manager roles and to any Principal Engineer Individual Contributor. These roles are created through business need, have a specific place in team structure, and require candidates to demonstrate their relevant experience during an interview.
All engineering roles require staff to demonstrate their leadership skills - such as communication, teamwork, curiosity and learning, and leadership of themselves and others. Even without a People Manager title or role, it is possible for engineers to take on a leading role within their team, to demonstrate they are capable of taking responsibility for projects or initiatives and to encourage others to participate in a collaborative effort toward a common goal. (This is often in a “tech lead” capacity, and is as a result of an assignment - but could be a project or other initiative.) Engineers can and should mentor other engineers, whether formally or informally within a team, in order to help others onboard, understand a new domain or project, and to improve their skills and competencies as an engineer. The updated competencies provide guidance to staff for their development.
Tech lead isn’t a job in our career path, it’s a responsibility or assignment within a team. It usually involves leading a project or an initiative that is clearly defined and often has a specific timeline. A tech lead often takes responsibility for achieving a particular goal or objective by leading a team, setting assignments, reviewing the work the team delivers, and so on. It’s common at the FT to use “tech lead” to mean “team manager,” but there is currently no direct link, and this is inconsistently applied. It is our intention to allow any engineer, in any role or level, to take the responsibility of a tech lead, whether they are an Individual Contributor or People Manager, although these assignments usually are made at Senior, Senior 2 or Principal Engineer level. Assignment of an engineer to a tech lead responsibility is at the discretion of a People Manager for a team.
Yes! tech lead responsibility can be assigned to engineers at any level, although most commonly this will be at Senior, Senior 2 or Principal Engineer level roles, and will depend on the scale of the challenge, the impacted products and teams, the skills and experience of the engineers, and the available capacity of the individual
Some roles at Senior 2 and Principal level will continue to have aspects of both of these responsibilities. In some cases (such as very small teams or in some geographic locations), it might always be necessary for a People Manager to lead and manage a team and set the technical direction for the products and services which fall within their remit. This is challenging but not impossible to do, and the People Manager role is defined with significant overlaps with the Individual Contributor role and competency. There will be products or domains where we will continue to need these “hybrid” roles, and the competency framework will support engineers and their managers in specifying the requirements and responsibilities for roles like this.
The Technology Director requires significant experience as a People Manager - it’s the main part of the role. Any applicant for a Tech Director position would be required to demonstrate their relevant experience, competencies and motivation for this role, as described in the job description and the competency framework.
For most engineers, these changes just clarify what is expected of you in your role. The new competencies are designed to help you form objectives and a professional development plan, together with your manager. There are no changes to terms and conditions, or your assignments, unless your manager has already discussed this with you.
At the moment, there are some cases of Senior (1) Engineers managing people or teams. These arrangements will remain in place, and these individuals will be supported with tailored objectives for evaluating their performance and developing them in their careers. All People Manager roles from now will be at Senior 2 or above.
Those S2s who have been Principal Engineers in the past, and stepped down to an S2 Individual Contributor role, would have the same opportunity to apply for new Principal Engineer Individual Contributor roles as any other candidate. These roles will be created where the business need exists. (Recent examples include one each in Customer Products and Internal Products, which were advertised.)
Salary benchmarking reveals that the salary bands for Principal Engineer and Senior 2 Engineer are relevant for both Individual Contributor and People Manager roles. Remuneration decisions remain subject to the skills & experience of the individual, and the impact of the role, but impact can be made as either an individual contributor or a people management role, or a mix of both. AIP (or bonus) % is the same for Individual Contributors and People Managers at the same job role level.
It starts now: you may have seen an Individual Contributor role recently advertised for Customer Products or Internal Products, the role description for which is based on the new competencies and this differentiation between Individual Contributor and People Manager. Over time, as the need for a role emerges, there will be the ability to introduce new roles, specifying whether these are Individual Contributor or People Manager roles. The new competencies are being introduced now and updated on https://engineering-progression.ft.com/. (The previous competencies will remain for a short period while everyone is getting used to the new ones, to allow some time to translate objectives and plans into the new framework.) We’ll also be updating the framework for Operational roles (e.g. Operations and Global Service Desk, and similar roles).
There isn’t a set number of roles, it’ll depend on the business need for these roles, and a clearly defined role to be described and advertised.
Speak with your manager and explain the reasons for your preference. It may not be possible to accommodate a preference, because it depends on the need for such a role in the product or domain where you work, and it may not be possible to transfer your other responsibilities and/or team(s). It’s always best to keep discussing how you’re doing, and what you most want out of your role, with your manager so that you can make a plan and work at positioning yourself to take opportunities as they arise.
This updated progression or competency framework is designed to help everyone better understand how an employee should develop themselves, and what they should be able to demonstrate through examples of their experience. Engineers will have a clearer idea of what they should include in their application - whether applying for an open role or applying for a promotion within their own role and team. Progression to People Manager roles (Senior 2, Principal or Tech Director) is always subject to application and interview. Once communicated, the new framework will replace the existing one, and all engineers will develop their careers with guidance from this new framework. Promotions applications in Q1 2025 are not impacted; managers and staff members can rely on the existing competencies and progression framework for those conversations and applications. Managers may find the new competencies helpful, but are not required to use them for this February 2025 Promotions round.
We expect People Managers to use the updated competencies to give feedback to employees, set new development objectives and manage performance. Employees should refer to the progression framework when evaluating their own progress, and we hope the language used is helpful for everyone to better describe performance, behaviours and the impact on business outcomes and teams.
Yes, beginning with all Engineering roles, and moving on to Operational roles, we aim to communicate these in Q1 and early Q2 2025.
The framework is designed by the Leadership team and HR colleagues, with significant input and review by Tech Directors - including many of the same people who created the original framework.. The new framework leverages industry best practice for a progression or competency framework. What will really help is to create a few examples to serve as guidance for applying the competencies to day-to-day work, so that engineers know how to relate them to their roles in practice.
Please speak with your own manager, any Tech Director or Rebecca if you have questions - or suggestions to improve - the competencies or any materials we’re using to communicate them. You can also use GitHub issues (remember these are public) or the #engineering-progression-framework slack channel.
We will be replacing the old frameworks with this new one. The progression site (https://engineering-progression.ft.com/) will include the old and new frameworks for a few months while everyone is learning about the new competencies and translating their existing objectives and plans. After a few months the old framework will be removed. The Operations Progression framework will also be updated and incorporated into the same website. The site will continue to be public-facing, in order to promote transparency, and to demonstrate to prospective employees that progression and career development matters at the FT. We’ll be decommissioning the API, but the site will remain.
Yes, there is an overlap - but it is a reasonable one. All of us have a responsibility for delivery, whatever our role is: making sure that as individuals and teams we are making progress in delivering software and solutions which meet the FT’s objectives. Delivery Managers have an important and distinct role in supporting our teams in the discipline of delivery, following best practice, and contributing to larger initiatives and programmes which span teams, groups and companies. We operate in a complex ecosystem, so there is plenty of work for everyone.
Not many, not right away. This expansion of the job family makes it possible for new roles to be created in the future, as the shape of our teams, or the “business need” arises.
No. This change creates more choice for career planning, and makes it clearer what is required to progress. Promotions remain constrained by the shape of our teams (business need) and available budget.
There is no change to anyone’s role (unless they are already speaking to their manager about this). If they are already a People Manager (which is true of most engineers at these levels, and there are a few cases with People Managers at Senior 1 level), they will remain People Managers. There are some people working in an Individual Contributor role at Principal and S2 level, and they will remain in their role as it’s currently defined.