growing here

The career ladder v1

01 · the levels

Three levels, six ways to read them

Career ladder v1: what each level means
Dimension	Engineer	Senior Engineer	Lead / Architect
Scope	A well-defined piece of a client project: a service, a pipeline, a migration step.	A whole workstream or small project, from design to handover.	Several projects or a client relationship. The technical direction of a team.
Independence	Works with guidance. Asks early, delivers reliably.	Works independently. Unblocks others.	Sets the approach. Others bring problems to them.
Client contact	Joins meetings, presents own work.	Leads technical discussions, handles trade-offs with the client.	Owns trust with the client. Advises on strategy, scope and risk.
AWS depth	Solid in core services. Learning breadth.	Deep in several areas. Picks the right service and can explain why.	Designs across accounts, teams and constraints. Reviews others' architecture.
Beyond delivery	Learns, documents, shares what they learn.	Mentors Engineers. Improves how we deliver.	Shapes how Elva delivers. Helps hire and grow the team. Contributes to sales scoping.
Typical certifications	[Cloud Practitioner or Associate level]	[Associate plus a Professional or Specialty]	[Professional level; not required, shows depth]

level 1 of 3

Engineer

Scope: A well-defined piece of a client project: a service, a pipeline, a migration step.
Independence: Works with guidance. Asks early, delivers reliably.
Client contact: Joins meetings, presents own work.
AWS depth: Solid in core services. Learning breadth.
Beyond delivery: Learns, documents, shares what they learn.
Typical certifications: [Cloud Practitioner or Associate level]

level 2 of 3

Senior Engineer

Scope: A whole workstream or small project, from design to handover.
Independence: Works independently. Unblocks others.
Client contact: Leads technical discussions, handles trade-offs with the client.
AWS depth: Deep in several areas. Picks the right service and can explain why.
Beyond delivery: Mentors Engineers. Improves how we deliver.
Typical certifications: [Associate plus a Professional or Specialty]

level 3 of 3

Lead / Architect

Scope: Several projects or a client relationship. The technical direction of a team.
Independence: Sets the approach. Others bring problems to them.
Client contact: Owns trust with the client. Advises on strategy, scope and risk.
AWS depth: Designs across accounts, teams and constraints. Reviews others' architecture.
Beyond delivery: Shapes how Elva delivers. Helps hire and grow the team. Contributes to sales scoping.
Typical certifications: [Professional level; not required, shows depth]

02 · moving up

What moves you up

Promotion is based on the scope of work you already do, not on time served or exams passed. By the time we promote you, you've usually been doing the job for a while.

to Senior Engineer

Has delivered a project end to end with little guidance, and clients ask for them by name.

to Lead / Architect

Has made architecture decisions that held up under real use, and has grown other engineers.

03 · in practice

How it works in practice

Review: [twice a year / yearly], with [who] and a written summary.
Growth vs pay: Growth conversations are separate from pay conversations: [yes / no, explain].

Engineer to architect and engineer to tech lead are both valid paths. Neither is the "real" one. [Add a people-lead path if you plan one.]

Each level has a pay band, published on the pay page.