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DXP Team Structure

Career Levels

Shared level ladder and advancement dimensions used by every career-paths/<track>.md. Applies to the four tracks in reference/tracks.md.

Levels

Section titled “Levels”
#Level
1Trainee
2Junior
3Junior Advanced
4Semi Senior
5Semi Senior Advanced
6Senior Level 1
7Senior Level 2
8Senior Level 3

Level 8 is not a step before the Tech Leader role — it is the Tech Leader role (roles/leader.md). Reaching it means taking on Tech Leader’s responsibilities (leading a project’s delivery, managing Developers) rather than a further individual- contributor promotion.

Progression diagram

Section titled “Progression diagram”

Past Tech Lead the path is no longer track-specific. It forks into a people-management branch and a technical-authority branch, both converging at Tech Director:

flowchart LR
    L1[Trainee] --> L2[Junior] --> L3[Junior Advanced] --> L4[Semi Senior] --> L5[Semi Senior Advanced] --> L6[Senior Level 1] --> L7[Senior Level 2] --> L8[Senior Level 3 / Tech Lead]
    L8 --> TM(Tech Manager)
    L8 --> EXP(Expert)
    TM --> TD(Tech Director)
    EXP --> TD
    TD --> GTD(Global Tech Director)

L1–L8 is one track’s IC ladder (see each track’s career-paths/ file for what each level means concretely). Tech Manager, Expert, Tech Director and Global Tech Director are cross-track leadership roles — see roles/manager.md, roles/expert.md, roles/regional-director.md and roles/director.md. Advancement criteria beyond Tech Lead aren’t defined yet — a later spec’s scope.

Advancement dimensions

Section titled “Advancement dimensions”

Every step up L1–L8 is evaluated across four dimensions. Autonomy, Impact/scope and Mentorship are the same for every track and defined here. Technical complexity is track-specific — see the relevant career-paths/<track>.md.

TransitionAutonomyImpact / scopeMentorship
Trainee → JuniorFrom needing step-by-step direction to executing well-defined tasks independently, checking in at milestones.From a guided sub-task to owning a well-defined task end-to-end.N/A — is mentored, doesn’t mentor yet.
Junior → Junior AdvancedHandles ambiguity within a single task without escalating it.From a single task to a small cluster of related tasks within one feature.Helps unblock peers on questions inside its own area of work.
Junior Advanced → Semi SeniorChooses its own implementation approach for familiar problems; doesn’t need it reviewed before starting.From a task cluster to owning a full feature.Reviews peers’ code with substantive feedback, not just style nits.
Semi Senior → Semi Senior AdvancedPlans and sequences its own multi-step work within a feature.From one feature to multiple features, or one with cross-cutting dependencies.Onboards and ramps up new Trainees/Juniors on the project.
Semi Senior Advanced → Senior Level 1Owns a feature end-to-end with only periodic check-ins.From feature-level to influencing the project’s technical direction.Mentors Semi Seniors toward their own promotion.
Senior Level 1 → Senior Level 2Operates without needing technical oversight; others seek its direction.From one project’s technical direction to patterns reused across projects on the account.Coaches other Seniors and shapes the track’s shared practices on the project.
Senior Level 2 → Senior Level 3Sets the technical approach for the whole team, not just its own work.From technical influence to owning a project’s delivery outcome — timelines, quality and team output.Mentors formally as a management responsibility, not an add-on to individual work.