How to Build a Job Matrix that Grows Teams and Builds Clarity
This is the exact framework I use to keep my team motivated, track growth, and make sure everyone knows what it takes to move from one level to the next. No guesswork involved.
Greetings, Data Engineer,
I made a mistake. If you lead a team of data professionals, chances are, you're making the same mistake I did with career development.
For years, I didn’t worry about career plans. I thought I was doing fine.
Today, I’m sharing how my peers and I went from having no plan to building the wrong one and finally getting it right. I’ll show you what worked for us, what didn’t, and how to skip the trial and error. Hopefully, you’ll avoid the same mistakes.
🧱 Context and Background
I’ve never been the kind of person who needed a formal title. Never needed someone to show me the path from A to B.
I’ve always defined my own goals. Set my own priorities. Built my own roadmap.
That’s always been true for most of my peers, too. And the people I’ve led.
Until it wasn’t.
As our team grew, people started asking for development plans. They wanted structure. They wanted to know what growth looked like.
I get it.
Salary is not enough. Data professionals also want something they could add to their CVs. Something to brag about on LinkedIn.
And you know what? Most people need someone to show them the way forward.
They want clarity. They want direction. They want to know what Senior means. How to get there.
Ambiguity is not an option.
And as leaders, you and I need to give people that structure.
If we don’t, people feel stuck. They feel underappreciated. They disengage.
Eventually, they leave.
And if you lose your best people because you couldn’t give them a path to grow—that’s on you.
So here’s what we did.
🧪 Version 1: Not Great, Not Terrible
It started during one of our quarterly retros. Some team members said they needed a career development plan.
We looked at each other and realised: yep, we messed up.
We had nothing.
We’d been growing teams for years without a structured way to support people’s development.
We needed to act fast.
The People team had a general framework, but we didn’t like it. It was too generic. Not tailored to data people.
So, we locked ourselves in a meeting room at our London office and improved it.
My peers—the Heads of Insight Analytics—lead data analysts. Their teams focus on delivering fast business value.
I, on the other hand, as the Head of Data Engineering, lead data and analytics engineers. My team cares about deep tech. Infrastructure. Data modelling.
We built one matrix for everyone.
Same goals. Same levelling. Same responsibilities.
We agreed on the framework. Presented it. Used it for about a year.
For the analysts, it worked really well. The matrix fits their needs. Helped them focus. Helped managers run better 1:1s and reviews.
For engineers, not so much.
We framed everything in terms of business impact and cross-functional influence. But engineers wanted technical depth. Architecture. Ownership of infra.
We prevented their career growth. I prevented their growth.
I took that as a personal failure.
So I started over.
Here’s how I fixed it—and how you can build your own.
🛠️ Version 2: Great for Tech Pros
🎯 Consider your team’s goals
In my 1:1s, I’ve always been asking about long-term goals.
Some engineers said they wanted to become managers or even CDOs.
Others said, “I just want to design systems that don’t break at scale.” They wanted tech challenges, not meetings.
So when we had new projects, I used ask: “Is this aligned with what they’re trying to grow into?”
Now I think bigger: “How do I take these goals and actually translate them into a visible career path?”
That’s when the framework kicks in.
🧭 Plan for your needs
Your team’s goals are one half of the equation. The other half is you—the team’s needs.
What roles are missing?
What risks are coming?
🔮 Planning future needs means forecasting. If you know your roadmap includes a real-time product next year, you better start skilling someone up on streaming tech now.
This is risk management.
Career development can and should reduce organisational risk.
📐 Build a draft
Start with a spreadsheet. Don’t overthink the tool.
My coworker, Nour, had shown me Cleo’s career progression framework. I decided to borrow some ideas into my spreadsheet.
My draft had:
Columns (Job Levels):
IC1: Entry Level
IC2: Junior
IC3: Intermediate
IC4: Senior
IC5: Lead
IC6: Principal
Rows (Responsibilities and Behaviours):
Scope of Influence
Level of Autonomy
Complexity of Problem Solving
Responsibility and Accountability
Let’s zoom into one:
Make sure each cell describes observable behaviour.
Make sure you don’t frame these as checkboxes. Your data team members shouldn’t be able to come to you and tell you: “I did this once, so I’m ticking the box”.
Make each cell specific enough for your reportees to know where they are headed to, but vague enough to be able to personalise requirements according to their and your needs.
When people read it, they should instantly know: “Ah, I do this already” or “Nope, not there yet.”
🤖 Brainstorm & refine
If you’re blocked, use AI to help you kickstart the draft.
Here’s a version of the prompt I used (Paying subscribers can grab the actual prompt towards the end of the article):
"Create a job levelling framework for Data Engineers across six levels: Entry, Junior, Mid, Senior, Lead, Principal. Include categories like technical ownership, systems design, communication, and mentoring. For each level and category, describe specific behaviours or expectations."
ChatGPT won’t get it 100% right. But it will give you structure to react to.
Then, run real people through it.
🎯 “Would this justify X's promotion to Senior last year?”
🎯 “Does this show why Y didn’t make it to Lead yet?”
Test. Refine. Adjust.
Here’s another tip: go through it in a group meeting with your leads. Ask them to highlight where it doesn’t reflect reality.
One sentence that saves weeks: “Would you trust this to guide an actual promotion?”
Don’t miss out. By becoming a paid member, you get access to a massive library of premium content that will help you close the gap between tech and business and grow your career.
🧠 Lessons Learned
🎯 Not everyone in data has the same goals
One of my engineers told me they wanted to become a CDO one day.
Another said: “If I never have to join a stakeholder call again, I’m happy.”
You can’t serve both with the same expectations.
So, I started labelling paths.
🛣️ Management Track — Skills like stakeholder leadership, hiring, and OKR ownership.
🛣️ Technical Expert Track — Skills like architecture, infrastructure design, and mentoring tech-only.
And it’s okay if someone switches between them.
You’re not locking people in. You’re giving them options.
🤝 You are not alone int this
Here’s a cheat for you:
After you build the framework, ask your peers to asses themselves. Take that away.
Talk to your peers or other people they mention if needed.
Then, it’s time to asses them.
That way, instead of you doing all the work, you can use their and your peers’ work first. As a bound you show them how much you care about them. I hope you really do!
So, don’t just share your version of the story. See theirs first. And during your turn, reference what they’ve said.
🔁 You need to revisit it regularly
Here’s how I check if the framework is still working:
✅ Ask your leads during their 1:1s:
– “Which row no longer reflects reality?”
– “Which skill is missing?”
– “What’s causing confusion?”
✅ Review actual promotion docs. Does the matrix align with how people grew? Is the matrix fair?
✅ Run a mock calibration session with your leads. Are you all aligned on what Senior means?
If the answer to any of those is “not really”—update the doc.
💭 Final Thoughts
Building a career matrix helped me see the gaps in how I lead.
It made me realise not everyone grows like I did. That most people want guidance—even the smart, driven ones.
It’s easy to say, “People should take charge of their careers.”
But they’ll grow faster—and stick around longer—if you give them a map.
So give them one.
The matrix won’t solve all your problems. But it will build clarity, motivation, and trust.
That’s worth the effort.
Cheers,
💎 The Resource
As promised, I prepared not one but two resources for paying subscribers. Here you can find:
🤖 The AI prompt I used to build my team’s career progressing matrix.
🪜 The exact job levelling table I use to keep my team motivated and help them grow.
Click the button bellow to skyrocket the strategic clarity in your team’s career growth.