Career Path

Axelerant strives to provide a positive and challenging environment to fulfill your career growth from hire to retirement. As part of Axelerant taking ownership of career progression, we recognize that the doer’s (individual contributor) and manager’s paths are different. Yet their operations are intertwined and supportive of each other. And each is ultimately responsible for their success.

The Performance Pipeline Model
The Leadership Pipeline Model

Axelerant follows the intent of The Performance Pipeline to determine the most relevant attitudes and outcomes for every level of the organization. From the individual contributor’s delivery of the right things to our managers, ensuring we’re going in the right direction. Each career level at Axelerant hopes to provide the proper challenge to help people be their best.

See https://axelerant.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OA/pages/3330768937 for job descriptions.

Individual Contributor Career Path

The ultimate impact of individual contributors at Axelerant is the implementation or support thereof. As in delivering the product or services that add value for all customers–external and internal. And each contributor’s role builds upon the one prior, like the Honeycomb Engineering Ladder.

For the individual contributor (IC) role career path, Axelerant builds upon the Skills Framework for the Information (SFIA) 8 global skills and competency framework–a 2-minute introduction. SFIA originated as a framework for the information and communication technology (ICT) community. It has evolved to define the skills and competencies required across various business and professional functions.

More on why use SFIA 8.

Typical Individual Contributor Career Levels

Level

Typical Titling

Impact

Level

Typical Titling

Impact

L1

Apprentice Engineer|Specialist

Follow

L2

Associate Engineer|Specialist

Assist

L3

Engineer|Specialist

Apply

L4

Senior Engineer|Specialist

Enable

L5

Staff Engineer|Specialist

Ensure, advise

L6

Principal Engineer|Specialist

Initiate, influence

L7

Distinguished Engineer|Specialist

Set strategy, inspire, mobilize

Job Titling and Role Levels

The typical job title shared above is not tied to that role level. The underlying behaviors or emotional maturity determines a job’s role level. For example, a senior engineer, project manager, and consultant might be L4, L5, and L6, respectively.

Individual Contributor Behavior and Level Relationships

The SFIA standard has great success and a global footprint because it reflects reality within the ICT industry. Roles blend technical and non-technical professional skills and competencies into seven recognizable behavioral factors, attributes, and context levels.

Management Career Path

Axelerant bases its management career path on The Leadership Pipeline, a framework for identifying, developing, or recruiting managers as they progress within an organization. The leadership pipeline provides Axelerant with the following benefits.

  • Grow leaders across the organization.

  • Create leadership agility.

  • Improve execution power.

  • Increase organizational efficiency.

The formal manager transition begins when a person has at least four, preferably five, direct reports. In the meantime, they're considered supervisors alongside their contributor position.

Management Career Levels

Level

Typical Titling

Impact

IC EM Level

Level

Typical Titling

Impact

IC EM Level

M1

Director

Productivity–Integrate all the pieces for actual productivity.

L4

M2

Senior Director

Competitive Advantage–Do better than or different from the competition.

L5

M3

Vice President

Profit–Make sure the business is profitable now and in the future.

L6

M4

Chief ____ Officer

Perpetuation–Ensure long-term viability and success of the enterprise.

L7

Learn more by reading the book, The Leadership Pipeline.

Mixed Career Levels

Some roles, like People Operations Manager and Project Manager II, have individual contributor and manager responsibilities. Their primary role level is that of the individual contributor and secondary manager. This means their salaries are individual contributor based, though they can access additional coaching, mentoring, support, and training at the relevant manager level.

Expectations by Career Level

References