Level | Skill (Individual) | Influence (Team) | Thinking (Team) |
M5 - Manager | • Effectively handles daily tasks and leads projects with little guidance from their manager
• Guides individual contributors
• Identifies solutions using established approaches to solve defined problems
• Consults with their manager on low-risk decisions impacting the team
• Actively seeks feedback and engages in growth discussions
• Remains focused and resilient under pressure
• Seeks to understand others' intentions and outcomes | • Regularly recognizes and rewards team impact
• Provides timely, specific, actionable feedback and addresses employee concerns
• Utilizes 1-on-1s to drive performance and engagement
• Partners with their manager to address low performance effectively
• Understands and mitigates bias during meetings
• Applies an equity lens to ensure visibility, access, and opportunity for everyone
• Challenges ideas, not people, and commits to decisions when necessary
• Stays engaged in others' work without taking over
• Collaborates with their manager to structure the team with the right people and roles
• Holds the team accountable for their results | • Sets clear, challenging, measurable goals/OKRs aligned with company OKRs with manager's support
• Communicates priorities clearly
• Proactively shares information and ideas with the team and stakeholders
• Helps the team reframe problems to understand root causes and prioritize solutions
• Builds relationships across teams and drives positive outcomes
• Learns to influence stakeholders to move work forward
• Helps the team make informed decisions by consulting the right stakeholders and balancing details with the big picture
• Defines critical questions and data needed for decisions |
M6 - Sr. Manager | • Defines the scope for projects involving multiple stakeholders
• Leads a team to execute cross-team and multi-phase projects
• Identifies solutions to clarify and solve ambiguous problems
• Understands organizational culture and decision-making processes
• Owns low-risk decisions impacting the team
• Actively seeks feedback and drives growth discussions
• Remains focused and resilient under pressure
• Understands others' intentions and outcomes | • Regularly recognizes and rewards team impact
• Provides timely, specific, actionable feedback and addresses employee concerns
• Utilizes 1-on-1s to drive performance and engagement
• Equitably connects team members with opportunities and gives concrete challenges to solve
• Understands and addresses bias in meetings
• Applies an equity lens to ensure visibility, access, and opportunity for everyone
• Challenges ideas, not people, and commits to decisions when necessary • Stays engaged in others' work without taking over
• Creates a clear vision and resources for delegation
• Helps the team adjust plans to overcome external disruptions and embrace challenges | • Sets clear, challenging, measurable goals/OKRs aligned with company OKRs
• Helps the team understand how their work connects to the company's mission and strategy
• Communicates team priorities and trade-offs effectively
• Tailors messages to the audience and presents them clearly
• Proactively shares information and ideas to make reasoning explicit
• Helps the team reframe problems to understand root causes and prioritize solutions
• Anticipates conflicting viewpoints and influences key stakeholders
• Crafts narratives to influence and align stakeholders
• Helps the team make informed decisions by consulting the right stakeholders and balancing details with the big picture
• Defines critical questions and data needed for decisions • Determines trade-offs, risks, and benefits before deciding |
M7 - Group Manager | • Defines strategy for products and processes
• Identifies new opportunities and leads a team to deliver cross-team, multi-phase projects
• Introduces new solutions to solve ambiguous problems
• Navigates organizational culture and influences decision-making
• Owns strategic decisions impacting the team
• Demonstrates self-awareness and manages behavior patterns
• Navigates the team through ambiguity and helps them remain resilient
• Empathizes with others and offers understanding | • Regularly recognizes and rewards team impact
• Provides timely, specific, actionable feedback and addresses employee concerns
• Asks challenging questions to promote growth and different thinking
• Equitably connects team members with opportunities and gives concrete challenges to solve
• Motivates team members to bring their authentic selves and celebrates unique contributions
• Recognizes and addresses bias
• Anticipates challenges, integrates conflicting viewpoints, and drives the team to commit to critical priorities
• Delegates work effectively and ensures proper team structuring
• Helps the team adjust plans to overcome external disruptions and embrace challenges | • Sets clear, challenging, measurable goals/OKRs aligned with company OKRs
• Helps the team understand how their work connects to the company's mission and strategy
• Plans effectively and avoids firefighting
• Develops compelling messages and presents them with clarity and credibility
• Encourages constructive debate without defensiveness
• Simplifies complex problems and prioritizes the right solutions
• Helps the team understand the connection between changes and the company’s mission
• Removes barriers, enables action, and celebrates team wins
• Anticipates challenges, integrates conflicting viewpoints, and drives the team to commit to critical priorities
• Uses narratives to influence and align key stakeholders
• Frames decisions by explaining the “what,” “why,” and “how”
• Balances short-term and long-term goals |
M8 - Director | • Defines strategy and contributes to the broader vision for the team
• Leads the team to deliver strategic initiatives requiring collaboration with senior leaders
• Designs industry-leading solutions to solve ambiguous problems
• Builds partnerships to influence decisions and outcomes
• Accountable for strategic decisions impacting the team
• Seeks growth opportunities with mentors across the company
• Demonstrates self-awareness and manages behavior patterns
• Navigates the team through ambiguity and change, maintaining resilience | • Seeds opportunities and lets others discover issues
• Coaches managers to develop culture and capabilities
• Adapts approaches to motivate high performers and improve low performers
• Understands team members' career goals and provides meaningful growth experiences
• Motivates the team to bring their authentic selves and celebrates unique contributions
• Recognizes and addresses bias
• Takes action against inequitable processes or outcomes
• Anticipates challenges, integrates conflicting viewpoints, and drives the team to commit to critical priorities
• Delegates work effectively and constantly seeks to improve team operations
• Takes ownership of execution failures and rapidly remedies issues | • Defines the team's roadmap and OKRs in alignment with the company’s strategy
• Ensures team and cross-functional stakeholders are committed to working towards the vision
• Understands how the team's goals connect with other teams and identifies opportunities for collaboration
• Communicates complex, challenging, or unpopular ideas with poise and conviction
• Continually simplifies processes and avoids overcomplication
• Aligns team efforts with the company’s strategy, balancing short-term and long-term goals
• Recognizes what works well and avoids unnecessary changes
• Generates and celebrates short-term wins, empowers team members during change, and coaches them to manage change effectively
• Removes barriers to collaboration and drives resolutions with diverse stakeholders
• Knows when to challenge peers and leadership thoughtfully and adjusts approach to maximize influence
• Acts decisively in critical situations, even when making challenging or unpopular decisions |
M9 - Sr. Director | • Expert-level understanding of UX with strong skills in specific areas
• Proactively identifies and solves gaps in existing systems
• Confidently applies expertise to meet product design needs for the team and beyond
• Contributes to a culture of design quality and high standards • Uses prototyping to envision and inspire future product states
• Coaches others in developing their understanding of product design
• Invests in building a network of external mentors for personal growth and adaptation | • Coaches team members to utilize their capabilities at the highest level
• Builds a culture of recognizing and rewarding impact
• Understands team members' career goals and delegates work to provide meaningful growth experiences
• Speaks up and seeks resolution when encountering inequitable processes or outcomes
• Recognizes and celebrates unique contributions within and across teams
• Equitably sponsors others for expanded responsibilities and promotions
• Removes barriers to collaboration and harmonizes conflicting viewpoints to drive resolutions | • Defines the team's roadmap and OKRs in alignment with the company’s strategy
• Ensures team and cross-functional stakeholders are committed to working towards the vision
• Understands how the team's goals connect with other teams and identifies opportunities for collaboration
• Communicates complex, challenging, or unpopular ideas with poise and conviction
• Continually simplifies processes and avoids overcomplication
• Aligns team efforts with the company’s strategy, balancing short-term and long-term goals
• Recognizes what works well and avoids unnecessary changes
• Generates and celebrates short-term wins, empowers team members during change, and coaches them to manage change effectively
• Removes barriers to collaboration and drives resolutions with diverse stakeholders
• Knows when to challenge peers and leadership thoughtfully and adjusts approach to maximize influence
• Acts decisively in critical situations, even when making challenging or unpopular decisions |