Level | Skill (Individual) | Influence (Team) | Thinking (Team) |
L1 - Program Mgr I | • Developing an understanding of business needs and priorities, and are beginning to apply this understanding to solve design team needs.
• Able to identify team needs and work with your manager to identify solutions. • You’re able to translate operational decisions into execution tasks. | • Have a developing understanding of how your operational work impacts the design organization and empowers team members to do their work.
• Beginning to use your understanding of processes to coordinate systems that make design more efficient.
• You are supportive and engaged with the design organization and culture. | • Spend time fully understanding project needs, and partner with your manager to contribute to the coordination and organization of assigned projects.
• Starting to propose improvements to existing processes.
• Contribute to project planning and coordination.
• You are learning to create clear timelines and ownership responsibilities, and you communicate clearly with project partners. |
L2 - Program Mgr II | • Have a developing understanding of business priorities, and can confidently apply your understanding to solve design team needs.
• Are beginning to develop cross-functional and external business partnerships that support your projects and focus areas. | • Have a clear understanding of the why behind your project work and are able to articulate how it will affect individuals, the org, and our larger goals. • Beginning to proactively own team communications related to your systems and projects, and can identify ways that ops can affect broader design org goals. | • Spend time fully understanding project needs, and are beginning to contribute to the project planning process.
• Propose improvements to existing processes, prioritize your own work, and track project goals and progress.
• Beginning to lead steps in the project planning process (i.e. ownership assignments, crafting budgets, tracking deliverables). |
L3 - Sr Program Mgr | • Have a strong understanding of business operations, are able to drive cross-functional alignment, and confidently apply your understanding to solve org needs across several areas and priorities.
• Beginning to contribute to scaling operations, and advocate for the resources needed to drive operations at scale. | • Have a clear understanding of the why behind your project work and are able to articulate how it will affect individuals, the org, and our larger goals.
• You use this understanding to influence broader org planning. • Proactively identify team needs across multiple functions, and use research or evidence to influence stakeholder or leadership decisions. | • Spend time fully understanding org needs, and and establish clear processes with multiple stakeholders or teams.
• Can prioritize your work effectively based on business and customer needs, and document your thinking with minimal guidance.
• You’re comfortable working with project tools to document your work and are defining new tools, templates, or systems to recommend better ways of working.C |
L4 - Lead Program Mgr | • Have an expert-level understanding of design and business operations, and confidently apply your understanding to solve org needs across multiple disciplines.
• Proactively influence cross-functional decisions that impact design, as well as design org decisions that impact cross-functional teams.
• You are able to articulate and measure the success of your operational impact. | • Play a key role in setting the direction for the org by defining the business value of our operational processes.
• Have a deep understanding of the why behind our systems and how they affect the broader design org and our business goals.
• You use this understanding to influence annual planning and key objectives.
• Leading strategic planning conversations within your program and the broader design org. | • Have a deep understanding of your problem space, and establish clear working process with your teams and stakeholders. • Prioritize and document design work effectively based on business and team needs, with minimal to no guidance. • Proactively influence the overall design process or project strategy, and drive and facilitate process changes with product teams and stakeholders. |
L5 - Staff Program Mgr | • Have an expert-level understanding of design fundamentals and business strategy, and confidently apply your understanding to solve needs across the design org.
• You’re coaching others who are developing their operational skillset.
• Proactively provide clear feedback cross-functionally that impacts design processes and org programs. | • Play a key role in setting processes across the team, and define the business value of DesignOps across executive leadership.
• You have a deep understanding of the why behind your work and how it will affect our customers, our business, and company-wide goals.
• Leading strategic planning conversations across the cross-functional organization. | • Have a deep understanding of your problem space, and establish a clear working process across teams and stakeholders.
• Autonomously delivering on org design projects that are L-XL in size (quarter-long, and beyond). • Proactively shaping how new processes influence the overall product development process, and defining the scope and prioritization for operational projects across the company. |
L6 - Principal Program Mgr | • Apply an expert-level understanding of design principles to high-priority projects, and coaching and developing an understanding of operational and strategic excellence across the company.
• Driving large, long-term organizational development projects, and advocating for process and quality at the company level. | • Have a deep understanding of company-wide goals, and you influence C-Suite decision-making and strategy. • Proactively driving strategic conversations at the executive and company level. | • Have a deep understanding of the company’s organization and processes, and establish new ways of working for design at large.
• Proactively scoping and autonomously delivering on company-level projects that are L-XL in size (quarter-long, and beyond).
• Actively defining the scope and prioritization for operational and foundational work at the company level. |