What is a job leveling framework?

What a job leveling framework contains

A short list of levels, each with a title and a one-line summary of its scope: how much guidance the person needs, how far their work reaches and which decisions they own.

For each level, the skills it expects and the rating it expects them at. This is what turns a list of titles into something people can be assessed against.

Often a separate manager track that starts at a set level, so people can keep growing without managing others.

Read: What is a career ladder?

What a job leveling matrix is

A job leveling matrix is the same framework laid out as a grid: the levels across the top and the skills or criteria down the side. Each cell says what that level expects.

Many organizations share one set of level definitions across departments and add each department’s own skills underneath. That keeps a level 3 in sales comparable with a level 3 in engineering.

Read: What is a skills matrix?

How many levels to use

There is no single right number. With too few levels, people wait years between promotions; with too many, the steps between them stop meaning anything.

Start with the levels you can describe clearly today. It is easier to split a level later than to merge two levels that people already hold.

How to build a job leveling framework in 5 steps

1. List the roles you have

   Write down every role in one department and order them roughly by scope, from the narrowest to the widest.

2. Group them into levels

   Put roles of similar scope on the same level, even if their titles differ today.

3. Write what each level expects

   One or two lines per level on scope, autonomy and impact, then the skills each level expects and at what rating.

4. Decide on a manager track

   Decide whether managing people is a separate track, and at which level it starts.

5. Rate people against it

   Compare each person with the level they hold and the next one up, so the levels show real skill gaps, not just titles.

Example

A real five-level finance and accounting job leveling matrix: the levels run across the top, the skills down the side. Reconciling accounts is expected from the first level and stops rising at Advanced, while running the month-end close starts at Novice and reaches Expert by the fourth level.

Source: Finance & accounting career path

Want to know how other employers level these roles? See the finance and accounting levels study

Download the full finance and accounting job leveling matrix (Excel)

Job leveling vs career ladder

A career ladder is the set of levels in one line of work, such as human resources. Job leveling is the wider practice that produces those ladders and keeps them consistent across the whole organization.

Levels are also not the same as pay bands. Levels describe scope and expectations; pay bands are usually attached to the levels afterwards.

Read: What is a career ladder?

Common mistakes

• Levels defined only by title

  A title like Senior says little on its own. Without a written scope and expected skills, two people with the same title can be doing very different work.

• A different meaning in each department

  If level 3 means one thing in sales and another in engineering, comparisons and promotions across teams stop being fair.

• Too many levels

  Very small steps make promotions feel arbitrary and make the framework hard to keep up to date.

• Never checking people against it

  A framework nobody is assessed against becomes a document on a shelf. Rate people on the skills each level expects.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

• Classifying General Schedule Positions (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)
• Competence and competency frameworks (factsheet) (CIPD)

Related

• More real examples: Software engineering career path · Product management career path · B2B sales career path
• Other definitions: Skills matrix · Competency matrix · Competency framework · Career ladder · Career framework · Skills gap analysis · Competency model · Promotion readiness · Job title hierarchy