Dropbox's Software Engineer Career Framework

Results

• [Impact]
• I work with my manager to prioritize tasks that add the most value and deliver high-quality results for my customer.
• I understand and effectively participate in the core processes of my team (planning, on-call rotations, bug triage, metrics review, etc).
• With guidance from my manager, and Tech lead, I deliver high-quality work on time that adds the most value for the customer and our business.
• [Ownership]
• I follow through on my commitments, take responsibility for my work, and deliver my work on time.
• I ask questions to clarify expectations.
• I own my decisions and mistakes and learn from them.
• I contribute with urgency to operational issues (e.g., SEVs), leveraging my strengths to help find a resolution.
• I raise concerns when I am suspicious that there has been a regression in service, and I advocate for declaring a SEV if a problem is found.
• [Decision Making]
• I escalate to my manager when I get stuck and need help with a decision concerning my deliverables or priorities.

Direction

• [Agility / Innovation]
• I can adapt my work when circumstances change.
• I find new and creative ways to accomplish my work, and share my ideas with the team.

Talent

• [Personal growth]
• I'm open to and act upon feedback from my manager and peers.
• I'm gaining self-awareness about my strengths and areas for development.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g. PGP, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance).
• [Team Development]
• I model integrity and have a high standard of excellence for my work.
• I am learning to interview and assess candidates to help us build a diverse and talented team. I consistently provide timely, detailed, and evidence-based interview feedback.
• I am able to represent my team’s initiatives and goals to candidates in a compelling way.

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I can effectively collaborate and adopt necessary tools (e.g., pair programming) that adapts to virtual first and get work done.
• I work with my manager to engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values.
• [Organizational health]
• I listen to different perspectives and I remove biases from my words and actions.
• I contribute to a positive sense of community on my team (e.g., engage in team activities, offsites, and new-hire onboarding).
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• [Communication]
• I write and speak with clarity and focus.
• I listen to understand others and ask clarifying questions.
• I proactively share relevant information on my project including difficult task-level trade-offs that impact the product to my manager and team (including product/business partners).

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• I translate ideas into clear code, written to be read as well as executed.
• I participate in code reviews and raise questions to help me learn the codebases and technologies relevant to my work.
• My code is free of glaring errors - bugs are in edge cases or design, not mainline paths - and is well documented and well tested with appropriate use of manual vs automated tests.
• I’m capable of reading and navigating functions and classes/modules in a large codebase that I didn’t write.
• I am learning to tackle coding tasks with high throughput while maintaining appropriately high quality; I optimize for either speed or quality, depending on the explicitly stated needs of my team

Results

• [Impact]
• I have a bias for actions, act with urgency and deliver high-quality work that will add the most value for our business, cross-functional stakeholders, and customers.
• I work with my manager to direct my focus so my work advances my team's goals.
• I prioritize the right things and don't overcomplicate my work. When necessary, I propose appropriate scope adjustments.
• I effectively participate in the core processes of my team, including recommending and implementing process improvements.
• [Ownership]
• I follow through on my commitments, take responsibility for my work, and deliver on time.
• I proactively identify and advocate for opportunities to improve the current state of projects, and team processes.
• I own my decisions and mistakes, and learn from them.
• I think a step or two ahead in my work, solve the right problems before they become bigger problems, and problem-solve with my manager when I'm stuck.
• I respond with urgency to operational issues (e.g., SEVs), owning resolution within my sphere of responsibility.
• I look for opportunities to reduce KTLO and work with the team to ease the burden for on-call.
• I am vigilant about degradations in service by tracking key metrics, and I advocate for declaring a SEV if my concerns are warranted.
• [Decision Making]
• I Identify and gather input from the right stakeholders and consider customer needs to make informed and timely decisions.
• I understand the implications of my decisions and adjust my approach based on the impact and risk, and share that rationale with relevant stakeholders.
• I escalate to my manager when I need help with a decision about my deliverables or priorities.

Direction

• [Agility]
• I have an open mindset to change, and am enthusiastic about new initiatives.
• I work with my manager to navigate complex and ambiguous situations.
• I am learning to stay calm under pressure and building practices to take care of my well-being.
• [Innovation]
• I ask questions and contribute to new ideas/approaches.
• I have a growth mindset and am comfortable experimenting with new approaches, learning, owning the outcomes, and sharing what I learned.

Talent

• [Personal growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from my manager, team, and cross-functional stakeholders and identify ways to act upon it.
• I have self-awareness about my strengths and areas for development.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., PGP, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• [Team Development]
• I model integrity and a high standard of excellence for my work.
• I help more junior members of my team, interns, or new hires taking into account their unique strengths, backgrounds, and working styles.
• I offer honest, timely and direct feedback that is delivered with empathy to help others learn and grow.
• I actively contribute to interviewing and assessing candidates to help us build a diverse and talented team in terms of background and location. I am calibrated and consistently perform high-signal interviews.
• I am able to represent my team’s initiatives and goals to candidates in a compelling way.

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I can effectively collaborate and adopt necessary tools (e.g., pair programming) that adapts to virtual first and get work done.
• I work with my manager to engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I avoid blame, clarify problems to focus on solutions, and “disagree and commit” when necessary to move decisions forward.
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values.
• [Organizational health]
• I contribute to a positive sense of community on the team (e.g. engage in team lunches, team offsites, and other virtual or in-person group activities, help with new-hire on-boarding).
• I listen to different perspectives and I cut biases from my words and actions.
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I champion Virtual First practices that help my team collaborate effectively.
• [Communication]
• I write and speak with clarity and focus.
• I listen to understand others and ask clarifying questions.
• I proactively share relevant information on my project including difficult task-level trade-offs that impact the product to my manager and team (including product/business partners).

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• I translate ideas into clear code, written to be read as well as executed.
• My code is free of glaring errors - bugs are in edge cases or design, not mainline paths - and is well documented and well tested with appropriate use of manual vs automated tests.
• I actively engage and reconcile different opinions in code reviews and can follow best practices set up by others.
• I’m able to read and navigate through a large code base and effectively debug others’ code.
• I address code tasks with both high throughput and appropriately high quality for the stage of project I am working on.
• [Software Design]
• I’m able to understand the existing designs and technology choices within my area, and I make appropriate adjustments to existing designs when necessary.
• I write exhibit good separation of concerns.
• [Architecture design]
• I’m able to decompose a simple problem or business scenario into a solution composed of multiple software components interacting with each other.

Culture

• I listen to different perspectives and I cut biases from my words and actions.
• I help foster effective communication across the team and promote inclusive meeting culture.
• [Collaboration]
• I build relationships across teams and help get to positive outcomes.
• I engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I proactively communicate and coordinate my team’s requirements with other groups and teams in engineering.
• I am capable of working with cross-functional stakeholders to identify technical blindspots and clarify ambiguity in their ideas.
• I avoid blame and solve the right problems, disagreeing and committing when necessary to move decisions forward.
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values.
• [Organizational Health]
• I contribute to a positive sense of community on the team (e.g. engage in team lunches, team offsites, and other group activities, help with new-hire on-boarding).
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I champion good Virtual First practices that help my team collaborate effectively.
• I help shape the Dropbox engineering culture through my involvement with activities outside of my team (e.g. presenting tech talks, participating in Eng RFCs, creating interview questions, planning hackweek).
• [Communication]
• I tailor my message to my audience, presenting it clearly and concisely at the right altitude.
• I proactively share information so my manager, team, and stakeholders are informed and aligned.
• I set the right expectation with my manager to balance my work and mentorship requirements.
• If there is a significant issue not being addressed, I initiate a crucial conversation even when uncomfortable.

Results

• [Impact]
• I deliver some of my team’s goals on time and with a high standard of quality.
• I understand my customers, the business’s goals and my team’s goals. I ensure my work will have the greatest customer impact.
• I can identify when my results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or serving the needs of customers in a meaningful way and work with manager to redirect my focus.
• I get work to a simple place by focusing on the heart of the problem and prioritizing the right things.
• [Ownership]
• I proactively identify new opportunities and advocate for and implement improvements to the current state of projects.
• I take responsibility for my decisions and mistakes on my project and take action to prevent them in the future. I embrace and share the learnings with others.
• When I encounter barriers, I unblock myself and my team by proactively assessing and eliminating the root cause.
• I respond with urgency to operational issues (e.g., SEVs), owning resolution within my sphere of responsibility.
• I actively seek out and eliminate sources of toil on the team and help reduce the impact of KTLO and SEVs.
• I am unafraid of declaring a SEV when needed.
• I proactively create and update playbooks for components I own.
• [Decision Making]
• I make informed decisions by consulting the right stakeholders and balancing details with the big picture. I execute against the spirit, and not just the letter, of the requirements.
• I understand the implications of my decisions and adjust my approach based on the impact and risk in the short and long-term.
• I make timely decisions and don’t cut corners that would compromise my customer’s trust.
• When possible I leverage customer insights/data to inform decisions, balancing value for the customer with other business goals.
• I escalate to my manager when I need help with a decision about my deliverables or priorities.

Direction

• [Agility]
• I embrace change and adapt quickly to it.
• I remain resilient through change by staying calm under pressure and taking care of my well-being.
• I navigate ambiguity by focusing on the greater purpose, goals, and desired impact to move forward one step at a time.
• [Innovation]
• I ask questions and contribute to new ideas/approaches.
• I have a growth mindset and am comfortable experimenting with new approaches, learning, owning the outcomes, and sharing what I learned.
• I work with my manager to find new ways of utilizing customer feedback to influence our teams' plans.
• [Strategy]
• I work collaboratively with my manager to set realistic and ambitious short-term goals to deliver customer value quickly and break these goals down into smaller projects for my team or myself.
• I execute the development roadmap for multi-phase projects, possibly as a project lead.

Talent

• [Personal Growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from my manager, team, and cross-functional stakeholders and identify ways to act upon it.
• I have self-awareness about my strengths and work on my development areas I connect with others with empathy and understanding.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., PGP, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• [Team Development]
• I model integrity and a high standard of excellence for my work. I leverage this to influence and establish best practices.
• I support the growth of my teammates by taking into account their unique skills, strengths, backgrounds and working styles.
• I actively look for opportunities to mentor new hires, interns and apprentices.
• I solicit and offer honest and constructive feedback that is delivered with empathy to help others learn and grow.
• I actively contribute to interviewing and assessing candidates to help us build a diverse and talented team by conducting more advanced domain-specific and leveling interviews.
• I am able to represent my team’s initiatives and goals to candidates in a compelling way.

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• I write code that captures the essential nature of the solution and is appropriately flexible, reusable, efficient, and adaptable to changing requirements.
• I ensure high code quality in code reviews. I adopt approaches (e.g., set up best practices and coding standards, help resolve differences of opinions) to foster an effective/collaborative code review culture.
• I have a strong awareness of the ecosystem of tools and libraries supporting my primary programming language and development environment and a strong grasp of the idioms and patterns of my language. I may be intimately familiar with the open source community surrounding it.
• I build tools and produce technical documentation to improve developer efficiency and drive alignment within my team.
• I look for ways to reduce future toil and tech debt for existing components my team owns.
• [Software Design]
• I am able to independently design software components in well scoped scenarios, with simplicity and maintenance as key considerations. My components are testable, debuggable and have logical APIs that are not easily misused.
• I know when to make significant refactors and when it’s better to leave things as-is.
• I have a strong grasp of the libraries, platforms, and systems that I rely on, allowing me to apply them expertly.
• [Architecture Design]
• I’m able to decompose problems or business scenarios into solutions composed of multiple software components interacting with each other.
• I proactively identify issues with technical dependencies of my project that are owned by other teams and surface them.
• [Business Acumen]
• I engage in listening sessions (All Hands, Quarterly Business Updates, etc.) to increase my learning and guide my work/priorities.
• I have a working knowledge of Dropbox’s org/team structure and how teams work together across Dropbox, and able to independently work with partner engineering teams to unblock code reviews, and engineering designs.

Results

• [Impact]
• I deliver many of my team’s goals on time and with a high standard of quality.
• My understanding of the business context and my team’s goals enable me to have the greatest customer impact and allows me to make independent technical decisions in the face of open-ended requirements.
• I can identify when my results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or serving the needs of customers in a meaningful way and work with manager to redirect my focus.
• I get work to a simple place by focusing on the heart of the problem and prioritizing the right things.
• I improve how our team measures and communicates customer impact.
• [Ownership]
• I proactively identify new opportunities and advocate for and implement improvements to the current state of projects — potentially having broader business impact across teams or products.
• I take responsibility for my decisions and mistakes on my project and take action to prevent them in the future. I embrace and share the learnings with others.
• When I encounter barriers, I unblock myself and my team by proactively assessing and eliminating the root cause, and focusing on the solutions.
• I respond with urgency, and drive urgency in my team to operational issues (e.g., SEVs), owning resolution within my sphere of responsibility.
• I actively seek out and eliminate sources of toil on the team and help reduce the impact of KTLO and SEVs.
• I am unafraid of declaring a SEV when needed.
• I proactively create and/or update playbooks for components I own.
• [Decision Making]
• I make informed decisions by having productive debate with the right stakeholders, seeking diverse perspectives, balancing details with the big picture, and optimizing for the company.
• I understand the implications of my decisions and adjust my approach based on the impact and risk (e.g. choosing a more iterative approach based on the degree of uncertainty with respect to product fit, while maintaining a view of the long term arc needed to accomplish business goals).
• I leverage insights about customers to inform decisions, balancing value for the customer with other business goals.
• I make timely decisions and don’t cut corners that would compromise my customer’s trust.

Direction

• [Agility]
• I embrace change and adapt quickly to it.
• I remain resilient through change by staying calm under pressure and taking care of my well-being.
• I navigate ambiguity by focusing on the greater purpose, goals, and desired impact to move forward one step at a time.
• [Innovation]
• I have a growth mindset and am comfortable experimenting with new approaches, learning, owning the outcomes, and sharing what I learned.
• I set audacious goals, take risks, and share lessons learned.
• I am beginning to push boundaries using industry best practices and customer feedback to implement strategies that drive our products, tools, or services forward.
• [Strategy]
• I define the technical roadmap for impactful multi-phase projects, refining it as the projects progress to deliver customer value quickly, and provide leadership for the people executing on the project.
• In partnership with my manager I define my team's priorities and secure buy-in by engaging stakeholders, and aligning with company priorities and customer needs.
• I generate excitement for my/the team's strategy.

Talent

• [Personal Growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from my manager, team, and cross-functional stakeholders. I know my strengths, and identify ways to take actions on my development areas.
• I have self-awareness and connect with others with empathy.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., PGP, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• Team Development.
• I model integrity and a high standard of excellence for my work. I leverage this to set and hold the bar for quality and best practices for my team (e.g. via code and design reviews).
• I identify and support areas of growth for my teammates that take into account their unique skills, strengths, backgrounds and working styles.
• I solicit and offer honest, constructive, direct, and actionable feedback that is delivered with empathy to help others learn and grow into the next level.
• I actively contribute to interviewing, and gain the trust of candidates and can represent Dropbox's mission, strategy, and culture throughout the interview process.
• I am able to represent my team’s technical challenges to potential candidates in a compelling way (e.g. 1:1 sell chats, blog posts, public speaking).

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values, leading by example.
• I build relationships and drive coordination across teams & disciplines, helping get to positive outcomes.
• I proactively communicate and coordinate my team’s requirements with other groups and teams in engineering.
• I am effective at working with cross-functional stakeholders to identify technical blindspots and clarify ambiguity in their ideas..
• I engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I avoid blame and solve the right problems, disagreeing and committing when necessary to move decisions forward.
• [Organizational Health]
• Working with my manager, I leverage the unique strengths & skills of the members of my team, and help identify talent gaps required for team success.
• I enable others to bring their authentic selves at work and contribute to building community at Dropbox.
• I ensure diverse perspectives are included, leveraging inclusive meeting practices.
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I champion good virtual first practices that help my team collaborate effectively.
• I help shape the Dropbox engineering culture through my involvement with activities outside of my team (e.g. presenting tech talks, participating in Eng RFCs, creating interview questions, planning hackweek).
• [Communication]
• I communicate with clarity, brevity, focus, and tailor my message to my audience presenting it at the right altitude.
• I proactively share information so the relevant stakeholders are informed and aligned.
• I seek to listen and understand others.
• I am effective in holding crucial conversations even when uncomfortable.
• I influence stakeholders across a variety of audiences.
• [Culture Leader]
• I act as a partner to my manager in setting the cultural tone for the team. I support an environment of psychological safety where all Dropboxers are included and heard to support connection, empathy, and productive conflict where dissenting opinions are valued and addressed.
• I help my team network and build relationships across Dropbox, creating connection and inclusion across my team and with other teams.

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• The expectations for L3 code fluency are still applicable here (though some specialist engineers may go deep in this area).
• I look for ways to simplify code and infrastructure. I prioritize tasks that lead to lower system and infrastructure maintenance and migration costs with meaningful and measurable impact..
• I can find ways to improve developer efficiency as measured by cycle time, ramp-up time, or other similar measurements..
• I preemptively identify and resolve technical risks before they jeopardize the project. I resolve cross-team dependencies earlier to ensure the successful execution of the project..
• I avoid re-inventing the wheel by leveraging other Dropbox solutions or off-the-shelf solutions with the possible trade-off in mind. I write libraries and modules that can be extended and adopted by other teams at Dropbox to increase their efficiency..
• [Software Design]
• I am responsible for designing the software or systems required in my area of ownership and ensuring that they meet their design objectives..
• I am able to give quality feedback on designs written by other members of my team, asking probing, insightful questions that solidify choices and surface erroneous assumptions.
• I effectively and quickly debug cross-module issues, and may intuit where bugs might lie due to my deep knowledge of the libraries, platforms, and systems that my software relies on.
• [Architecture Design]
• I’m able to create coherent designs with multiple components interacting across API or system boundaries; bugs do not creep in at the boundaries between components due to mismatches in expectations of what is technically feasible.
• I’m capable of rolling out a component or major feature (and deprecating an existing system or feature) reliably - including appropriate monitoring, paging, etc are in place, and that failure domains are understood and characterized appropriately before large scale rollout. For early stage products, I am able to roll out with an eye toward achieving learning goals untainted by poor quality..
• I avoid introducing toil and future maintenace work by proactively avoiding scaling issues and providing adequate documentation..
• I design clear success metrics and achieve those metrics consistently post-launch through the lifetime of the system or feature. For early stage products, those success metrics may be oriented around learning goals rather than usage goals, given the inherent unpredictability of achieving product/market fit..
• [Technical Strategy]
• I’m responsible for alignment of the software and systems in my team to overall technical strategy, making tradeoffs where appropriate in consultation with staff engineers.
• [Business Acumen]
• I engage in listening sessions (All Hands, Quarterly Business Updates, etc.) to increase my learning and guide my work/priorities.
• I have a working knowledge of Dropbox’s org/team structure and how teams work together across Dropbox, and am able to help my team effectively collaborate effectively with other teams across our org.

Results

• [Impact]
• I identify and execute on opportunities that have area/group-wide impact.
• I execute large projects to a very high standard — e.g. against a tight deadline with significant consequences of failure, or in a manner that allows rapid learning to clarify significant ambiguity, or to a standard of quality well exceeding that of the current system (though not all simultaneously).
• I know which levers to pull to drive meaningful results and understand the wider, cross-functional implications of my work. I proactively account for risks and monitor their likelihood. My project planning accounts for new capabilities necessary to deliver large-scale business impact and I work closely with partner teams to prioritize the development of these capabilities..
• I proactively identify and help to refocus my team's efforts when projects are off-course or not technically feasible and results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or customers in a meaningful way.
• I deliver net-new ways for our team/org to measure and communicate customer impact.
• [Ownership]
• I have a sense of responsibility and obligation to act on opportunities and create alignment across the engineering org/company to improve outcomes for our customers.
• I own my decisions and mistakes and take action to prevent similar mistakes in the future, sharing the learnings with others.
• When I or my team encounter barriers, I unblock us by assessing and eliminating the root cause, including recommending process and scale improvements.
• [Decision Making]
• I have a holistic view of the engineering org, customer insights and Dropbox’s goals and use my experience and judgment to make decisions optimized for the wider org, rather than my local project alone.
• I act thoughtfully and decisively in critical situations. Instead of trying to build consensus, I seek diverse perspectives, encourage productive debate with the right stakeholders and lead decision-making in critical situations even when making unpopular decisions.
• I'm able to reach the right decision despite conflicting perspectives, disagreeing and committing when necessary.

Direction

• [Agility]
• I remain resilient through change by staying calm under pressure and taking care of my well-being.
• I navigate ambiguity by focusing on the greater purpose, goals, and desired impact to move forward one step at a time.
• [Innovation]
• I push boundaries to leveraging industry best practices and customer feedback to generate and implement breakthrough ideas that aim to create new products or advance existing products and drive our tools forward.
• I create psychological safety and encourage a growth mindset with colleagues, supporting experimentation and iteration towards audacious goals.
• [Strategy and Change Management]
• When necessary, I am able to help my manager introduce change into the organization, help others understand the business case for change, and create excitement to drive adoption of the change.
• I define a long-term strategy for my team that factors in company-wide priorities, customer needs as well as the technical limitations and possibilities of Dropbox’s software and systems. I inspire my team and cross-discipline stakeholders to work toward that strategy.
• I anticipate challenges and am able to influence the technical direction of the team or org to execute on that vision even in the face of potential significant misalignment.
• I find new and creative ways of leveraging customer insights and including customer voices to influence strategy.

Talent

• [Personal Growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from those I work with and identify ways to act upon it.
• I have self-awareness about my strengths and take actions on my development areas.
• I connect with others with empathy and understanding.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., PGP, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• [Team Development]
• I am a role model for other Dropboxers and model a standard of excellence that supports a culture of high performance on my team.
• I invest time to coach and mentor my teammates (particularly ones looking to grow into L4/L5). I take into account their skills, backgrounds, working styles and solicit and provide thoughtful, constructive feedback to them..
• I devote time to spreading my knowledge widely via talks, blog posts or written documentation.
• If requested, I participate in SPRiTEs calibration sessions by providing meaningful feedback to ensure fair and consistent decisions.
• I am an active participant in the hiring process for senior candidates, and managers (for example, by participating in hiring committee, debriefs, etc.).
• I gain the trust of candidates and can represent Dropbox's mission, strategy, and culture throughout the interview process.
• I am an effective partner to my manager and am able to represent my team’s technical challenges to candidates in an exciting way (e.g. 1:1 sell chats, blog posts, public speaking).

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values, leading by example.
• I help break down silos within and across functions and influence others to reach the best outcome for Dropbox regardless of my level/title.
• I build deep cross-functional relationships, facilitate the right conversations, and settle disagreements by managing different viewpoints.
• I engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I balance multiple perspectives and disagree and commit when necessary to move key company decisions, and critical priorities forward.
• [Organizational Health]
• I leverage the unique strengths & skills of the members of my team, and help identify talent gaps required for team success.
• I champion community building efforts and inclusion initiatives. I work in close partnership with the management team to ensure a healthy engineering org.
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I build relationships and connections, and use meeting practices inclusive meeting practices to support an inclusive environment for all Dropboxers.
• [Communication]
• I tailor my message to my audience, presenting it clearly and concisely at the right altitude.
• If asked, I write to crisp narratives to create understanding, influence others, and enable effective decision-making.
• I fine tune my approach to getting buy-in and influencing stakeholders across a variety of audiences.
• I lead by example by holding crucial conversations even when they feel uncomfortable.
• I seek to listen and understand others.
• [Culture Leader]
• I act as a partner to my manager in setting the cultural tone for the team. I help create an inclusive environment of psychological safety to support connection, empathy, and productive conflict where dissenting, and diverse opinions are valued and addressed..
• I lead by example. I am aware of my public presence and actions and my influence on the people around me and Dropbox’s culture.
• I help my team network and build relationships across Dropbox, creating connection and inclusion across my team and with other teams.
• I personify Dropbox core's values and support our community.
• I point out when actions or decisions contradict Dropbox core's values and suggest alternatives more aligned with our values.

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• The expectations for code fluency do not go beyond L4 (though some specialist engineers may go deep in this area).
• [Software Design]
• I design software components that are difficult to misuse and flexible in the face of an increase in the number of adjacent use cases as appropriate to the direction of the business (neither under nor over-designed).
• I reduce complex designs and concepts to simple foundational components through correct choices of data structures, applications of algorithms, or other deep insight into the problem space (ex: 3 tree model in sync engine) and create simple interfaces to complex underlying systems.
• I’m able to review designs in related areas with high quality and ensure quality for cross-team cross-module design/API issues.
• I may have deep expertise in implementation or principles behind some of the libraries, platforms and systems relevant to my team's work.
• [Architecture Design]
• I make correct technology choices for components needed as part of a larger architecture, including making build vs buy choices for specific components, and choosing frameworks.
• I’m capable of owning the overall health and engineering quality of a system or collection of features - e.g. driving regular health reviews, curating test strategy, etc - and ensuring that the health and maintenance of my systems do not depend on the maintainers having my expertise.
• I’m capable of driving overall testing strategy of a significant system with high reliability or quality requirements (e.g. building validation systems or new test frameworks to do so).
• I’m capable of designing systems with significant ambiguity and/or lots of systems that depend on it.
• [Technical Strategy]
• I’m accountable for alignment of the software and systems in my area to overall technical strategy, making tradeoffs where appropriate in consultation with principal engineers.
• [Business Acumen]
• I leverage my fluency in Dropbox’s business, products, customers, and strategy to identify opportunities where my team can help Dropbox meet its business objectives.
• I can explain how Dropbox’s strategy and business priorities inform and guide my/my team’s priorities.

Results

• [Impact]
• I identify and execute on significant group/company-wide opportunities by understanding how technical capabilities meet customer needs. I proactively work with business owners to help them understand these new capabilities and work with them to build the right roadmap for the business.
• I execute large projects to a very high standard — e.g. against a tight deadline with significant consequences of failure, or in a manner that allows rapid learning to clarify significant ambiguity, or to a standard of quality well exceeding that of the current system (though not all simultaneously).
• I proactively identify and help to refocus my team's efforts when projects are off-course or not technically feasible and results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or serving the needs of customers in a meaningful way.
• I know which levers to pull to drive meaningful results and understand the wider, cross-functional implications of my work.
• I deliver net-new ways for our team/org to measure and communicate customer impact.
• [Ownership]
• I have a sense of responsibility and obligation to act on opportunities and create alignment across the engineering org/company to improve outcomes for our customers.
• I own my decisions and mistakes and take action to prevent similar mistakes in the future, sharing the learnings with others.
• When I or my team encounter barriers, I unblock us by assessing and eliminating the root cause, including recommending process and scale improvements.
• I transcend organizational boundaries by taking a holistic view of my group’s goals and taking responsibility across my group, not just within my immediate scope of ownership..
• [Decision Making]
• I have a holistic view of the engineering org, customer insights and Dropbox’s goals and use my experience and judgment to make decisions optimized for the wider org, rather than my local project alone.
• I act thoughtfully and decisively in critical situations. Instead of trying to build consensus, I seek diverse perspectives, encourage productive debate with the right stakeholders and lead decision-making in critical situations even when making unpopular decisions.
• I'm able to reach the right decision despite conflicting perspectives, disagreeing and committing when necessary.

Direction

• [Agility]
• When necessary, I am able to introduce change into the organization, help others understand the business case for change, and create excitement to drive adoption of the change.
• I remain resilient through change by staying calm under pressure and taking care of my well-being.
• [Innovation]
• I push boundaries to generate and implement breakthrough ideas that aim to drive our products and tools forward.
• I demonstrate creativity, e.g. by finding simple, generalizable solutions that open up or unblock new technical or business opportunities in unexpected ways.
• I create psychological safety and encourage a growth mindset with colleagues, supporting experimentation and iteration towards audacious goals.
• [Strategy]
• I partner with Directors and other members of senior EPD leadership to define a long-term strategy for my group that factors in both a deep understanding of our customers, what is happening in the business and in the market as well as the technical limitations and possibilities of Dropbox’s software and systems.
• I anticipate challenges and am able to influence the technical direction of the team or org to execute on that vision even in the face of significant misalignment.
• I find new and creative ways of leveraging customer insights and including customer voices to influence strategy.

Talent

• [Personal Growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from those I work with and identify ways to act upon it.
• I have self-awareness about my strengths and take actions on my development areas.
• I connect with others with empathy and understanding.
• I seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., external thought leadership & influencing, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• [Team Development]
• I model a standard of excellence that supports a culture of high performance on my team. I drive EPD-wide processes and define the bar for engineering-wide quality and best practices..
• I invest time to coach and mentor my teammates (particularly ones looking to grow into L5/L6). I take into account their skills, backgrounds, working styles and solicit and provide thoughtful, constructive feedback to them..
• I devote time to spreading my knowledge widely via talks, blog posts or written documentation..
• If requested, I participate in SPRiTEs calibration sessions by providing meaningful feedback to ensure fair and consistent decisions.
• I am an active participant in the hiring process for senior candidates, and managers (for example, by participating in hiring committee, debriefs etc).
• I attract talent for a variety of roles with diversity of background, and location in mind.
• I gain the trust of candidates and can represent Dropbox's mission, strategy, and culture throughout the interview process.
• I am an effective partner to my manager and am able to represent my group's technical challenges to candidates in an exciting way (e.g. 1:1 selling, blog posts, public speaking).

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values, leading by example.
• I help break down silos within and across functions and influence others to reach the best outcome for Dropbox.
• I build deep cross-functional relationships, facilitate the right conversations, and settle disagreements by managing different viewpoints.
• I engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I balance multiple perspectives and disagree and commit when necessary to move key company decisions, and critical priorities forward.
• [Organizational Health]
• I leverage the unique strengths & skills of the members of my team, and help identify talent gaps required for team success.
• I champion community building efforts and inclusion initiatives. I work in close partnership with senior EPD leadership to ensure a healthy engineering org.
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I build relationships and connections, and use meeting practices inclusive meeting practices to support an inclusive environment for all Dropboxers.
• [Communication]
• I develop compelling, clear and focused messages, and effectively present them at the executive level.
• If asked, I write crisp narratives to create understanding, influence others, and enable effective decision-making.
• I fine tune my approach to getting buy-in and influencing stakeholders across a variety of audiences.
• I lead by example by holding crucial conversations even when they feel uncomfortable.
• I seek to listen and understand others.
• [Culture Leader]
• I act as a partner to managers in setting the cultural tone for the engineering org. I help create an inclusive environment of psychological safety to support connection, empathy, and productive conflict where dissenting, and diverse opinions are valued and addressed..
• I lead by example. I am aware of my public presence and actions and my influence on the people around me and Dropbox’s culture.
• I help teams across Dropbox network and build relationships, creating connection and inclusion across the orgs.
• I personify Dropbox core's values and support our community.
• I point out when actions or decisions contradict Dropbox core's values and suggest alternatives more aligned with our values.

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• The expectations for code fluency do not go up beyond L4 (though some specialist engineers may go deep in this area).
• [Software Design]
• The expectations for software design do not go up beyond L5..
• [Architecture Design]
• I can design systems that require research on what is possible rather than relying on my past experience, and where, consequently, a significant portion of the challenge is designing an appropriately staged validation plan..
• I define the high level systems we need to build to meet strategic objectives.
• [Technical Strategy]
• I am responsible for making technical choices that have no one clearly correct answer but whose consequences have a sweeping effect across my scope in the organization.
• I rally my organization around those choices by providing a clear rationale and technical vision backing them.
• [Business Acumen]
• I leverage my fluency in Dropbox’s business, products, customers, and strategy to identify opportunities where my team can help Dropbox meet its business objectives.
• I can effectively communicate Dropbox's company-wide vision, strategy, and objectives and connect my/my team's work to them.

Talent

• I devote time to spreading my knowledge widely via talks, blog posts or written documentation..
• [Personal Growth]
• I proactively ask for feedback from those I work with and identify ways to act upon it.
• I have self-awareness about my strengths and take actions on my development areas.
• I connect with others with empathy and understanding.
• I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow.
• I seek out opportunities to learn and grow (e.g., external thought leadership & influencing, Dropbox-offered training, leveraging perks allowance etc.).
• [Team Development]
• I model a standard of excellence that supports a culture of high performance on my team. I drive EPD-wide processes and define the bar for engineering-wide quality and best practices..
• I invest time to coach and mentor my teammates (particularly ones looking to grow into L6/L7). I take into account their skills, backgrounds, working styles and solicit and provide thoughtful, constructive feedback to them..
• If requested, I participate in SPRiTEs calibration sessions by providing meaningful feedback to ensure fair and consistent decisions.
• I am an active participant in the hiring process for senior candidates, and managers (for example, by participating in hiring committee, debriefs etc).
• I attract talent for a variety of roles with diversity of background, and location in mind.
• I gain the trust of candidates and can represent Dropbox's mission, strategy, and culture throughout the interview process.
• I am an effective partner to my manager and am able to represent my group’s technical challenges to candidates in an exciting way (e.g. 1:1 selling, blog posts, public speaking).

Results

• [Impact]
• I identify and execute on significant engineering/company-wide opportunities by understanding how technical capabilities meet customer needs. I proactively work with business owners to help them understand these new capabilities and work with them to build the right roadmap for the business.
• I execute large projects to a very high standard — e.g. against a tight deadline with significant consequences of failure, or in a manner that allows rapid learning to clarify significant ambiguity, or to a standard of quality well exceeding that of the current system (though not all simultaneously).
• I proactively identify and help to refocus my team's efforts when projects are off-course or not technically feasible and results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or serving the needs of customers in a meaningful way.
• I know which levers to pull to drive meaningful results and understand the wider, cross-functional implications of my work.
• I deliver net-new ways for our team/org to measure and communicate customer impact.
• [Ownership]
• I have a sense of responsibility and obligation to act on opportunities and create alignment across the engineering org/company to improve outcomes for our customers.
• I own my decisions and mistakes and take action to prevent similar mistakes in the future, sharing the learnings with others.
• When I or my team encounter barriers, I unblock us by assessing and eliminating the root cause, including recommending process and scale improvements.
• I transcend organizational boundaries by taking a holistic view of the company’s goals and taking responsibility across EPD, not just within my immediate scope of ownership..
• [Decision Making]
• I have a holistic view of the engineering org, customer insights and Dropbox’s goals and use my experience and judgment to make decisions optimized for the wider org, rather than my local project alone.
• I act thoughtfully and decisively in critical situations. Instead of trying to build consensus, I seek diverse perspectives, encourage productive debate with the right stakeholders and lead decision-making in critical situations even when making unpopular decisions.
• I'm able to reach the right decision despite conflicting perspectives, disagreeing and committing when necessary.

Direction

• [Agility]
• When necessary, I am able to introduce change into the organization, help others understand the business case for change, and create excitement to drive adoption of the change.
• I remain resilient through change by staying calm under pressure and taking care of my well-being.
• [Innovation]
• I push boundaries to generate and implement breakthrough ideas that aim to drive our products and tools forward.
• I demonstrate creativity, e.g. by finding simple, generalizable solutions that open up or unblock new technical or business opportunities in unexpected ways.
• I create psychological safety and encourage a growth mindset with colleagues, supporting experimentation and iteration towards audacious goals.
• [Strategy]
• I partner with Directors and other members of senior EPD leadership to define a long-term vision for my team or org that factors in both a deep understanding of what is happening in the business and in the market as well as the technical limitations and possibilities of Dropbox’s software and systems.
• I anticipate challenges and am able to influence the technical direction of team team or org to execute on that vision even in the face of potential significant misalignment.
• I find new and creative ways of leveraging customer insights and including customer voices to influence strategy.

Culture

• [Collaboration]
• I promote and role model Dropbox core values, leading by example.
• I help break down silos within and across functions and influence others to reach the best outcome for Dropbox.
• I build deep cross-functional relationships, facilitate the right conversations, and settle disagreements by managing different viewpoints.
• I engage in productive conflict with thoughtful questioning and have the courage to state my point of view.
• I balance multiple perspectives and disagree and commit when necessary to move key company decisions, and critical priorities forward.
• [Organizational Health]
• I leverage the unique strengths & skills of the members of my team, and help identify talent gaps required for team success.
• I champion community building efforts and inclusion initiatives. I work in close partnership with senior EPD leadership to ensure a healthy engineering org.
• I practice the Dropbox Diversity Commitments on a regular basis.
• I build relationships and connections, and use meeting practices inclusive meeting practices to support an inclusive environment for all Dropboxers.
• [Communication]
• I develop compelling, clear and focused messages, and effectively present them at the executive level.
• If asked, I write crisp narratives to create understanding, influence others, and enable effective decision-making.
• I fine tune my approach to getting buy-in and influencing stakeholders across a variety of audiences.
• I lead by example by holding crucial conversations even when they feel uncomfortable.
• I seek to listen and understand others.
• [Culture Leader]
• I act as a partner to managers in setting the cultural tone for the engineering org. I help create an inclusive environment of psychological safety to support connection, empathy, and productive conflict where dissenting, and diverse opinions are valued and addressed..
• I lead by example. I am aware of my public presence and actions and my influence on the people around me and Dropbox’s culture.
• I help teams across Dropbox network and build relationships, creating connection and inclusion across the orgs.
• I personify Dropbox core's values and support our community.
• I point out when actions or decisions contradict Dropbox core's values and suggest alternatives more aligned with our values.

Craft

• [Code Fluency]
• The expectations for code fluency do not go up beyond L3 (though some specialist engineers may go deep in this area)..
• [Software Design]
• The expectations for software design do not go up beyond L5..
• [Architecture Design]
• The expectations for architecture design do not go up beyond L6..
• [Technical Strategy]
• The expectations for technical strategy do not currently go up beyond L6 but we expect this to change over time as we have more examples of principal engineers working in this area..
• [Business Acumen]
• I leverage my fluency in Dropbox’s business, products, customers, and strategy to identify opportunities where my team can help Dropbox meet its business objectives.
• I can effectively communicate Dropbox's company-wide vision, strategy, and objectives and connect my/my team's work to them.