Career Ladder Inspiration · Engineering
Honeycomb's engineering career framework
Engineering levels from Honeycomb covering 6 competency areas across 4 levels. Notable for including Observability & Systems Thinking as a core competency, reflecting the company's focus on production systems.
Company Honeycomb|Year 2026|Discipline Engineering|Tracks TBD|License
Scroll horizontally to explore all 4 levels
Clone this templateSoftware Engineer | Senior Engineer | Staff Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Skills Technical Contribution | Writes clean, functional code. Learning the codebase and engineering practices. Delivers assigned work with guidance. | Deep expertise in one or more areas. Writes exemplary code. Makes sound technical decisions. Drives quality improvements. | Expert across multiple areas. Architects complex, high-impact systems. Sets technical direction for the team. Evaluates new technologies. | Industry-level expertise. Defines long-term technical vision. Creates novel solutions. Pushes boundaries of what's technically possible. |
Skills Impact & Scope | Impact on individual tasks and small features. Learning how their work contributes to team goals. | Impact extends to the full team. Identifies and pursues high-leverage improvements. Delivers features with measurable business impact. | Impact extends across multiple teams or the entire engineering organization. Drives initiatives that improve engineering effectiveness at scale. | Impact shapes the company's competitive position. Drives transformational change that affects the entire organization and industry. |
Skills Ownership | Takes ownership of assigned tasks. Follows through on commitments. | Owns medium-to-large features end-to-end. Proactively identifies and addresses issues in their area. | Owns critical systems and processes. Takes responsibility for outcomes beyond their immediate scope. Ensures long-term health of systems. | Owns the most critical technical decisions and systems. Accountable for organizational technical excellence. |
Skills Communication & Influence | Communicates clearly about own work. Open to feedback. Learning to collaborate effectively. | Communicates effectively with team and cross-functional partners. Gives constructive feedback. Influences within the team. | Communicates technical vision across the organization. Influences without authority. Drives alignment on complex decisions. | Communicates at the executive level. Shapes organizational strategy. Influences company-wide decisions through technical perspective. |
Skills Collaboration & Mentorship | Collaborates within the team. Seeks mentorship and learning opportunities. | Mentors junior engineers. Collaborates effectively across teams. Participates in hiring. | Mentors and grows engineers across teams. Leads cross-functional initiatives. Drives engineering culture improvements. | Builds the next generation of leaders. Shapes engineering culture at the organizational level. Represents the company externally. |
Skills Observability & Systems Thinking | Understands the basics of monitoring and observability. Learning to debug issues in production. | Applies observability principles to their work. Understands system behavior in production. Can debug complex issues. | Champions observability practices. Designs systems with deep understanding of production behavior. Drives improvements to how we understand our systems. | Defines organizational standards for observability and systems thinking. Drives industry best practices. |
Framework by Honeycomb · Licensed
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