Wise: Engineering Leads track

Scope

• Owns a product or platform area
• Leads team(s), typically consisting of 2 to 6 direct reports, or even larger if necessary

Impact

• Is accountable within their team for the availability and reliability of the systems their team builds
• Makes sure the team is prioritising availability and quality vs. new feature development appropriately
• Pushes for sustainable technical architectural decisions in the team with a long-term approach in mind
• Plans for sustainable growth of their team and builds a clear roadmap for milestones and impact
• Directly supports day-to-day execution of work, while may need support in driving larger, strategic pieces
• Works with the team to build hiring plans for the next 9-12 months

Behaviour

• Is directly and actively involved in the day-to-day execution of their team. Team can rely on them for guidance, coaching, unblocking, delivery and their contribution to ensure the quality of outcome.
• Well-versed at giving constructive feedback, both positive and corrective
• Coaches the team, highlights and picks up matters where team rhythm or working dynamic isn’t optimal
• Has a good balance of product and tech knowledge and can coach other engineers and product managers on both
• Makes sure the team contributes to cross-functional engineering and product efforts

Expertise

• Has a deep understanding of the technical domain covered by the team and has an opinion on how we should be moving forward
• Solidly meets the level of a level 3 Individual Contributor
• Has deep knowledge of the product and customer needs. Can help coach other Engineers and product managers (where needed) on why a feature is being built, what customer problem it’s solving and the expected impact

Scope

• Leads team(s) and projects that have tribe-level impact.
• Impacts also teams outside of their direct leadership by either coaching other leads, collaborating with the teams on bigger projects or helping them achieve their goals

Impact

• Involved with and regularly contributes to one or more cross-team project. Contributes materially to achieving the company’s goals within a tribe
• Makes the life of their team effective and helps them develop professionally
• Empowers their team to make well-informed decisions locally and execute well against them to achieve company goals
• Pushes for decisions that improve and contribute to the long-term product and tribe strategy
• Plans for sustainable growth of their team
• Has mechanisms and individuals in place to facilitate day-to-day execution. Is able to confidently direct the team based on a formulated strategy. Empowers the team or other team leads to make great decisions and supports them in doing so.
• Works with the team or team leads to build hiring plans for the next 9-12 months. Works with the recruitment team and other Engineering Leads to determine how hiring funnel can be improved.

Behaviour

• Runs mature, well-developed and high-performing team(s). Empowers and coaches team(s) so they’re able to deliver work to a high standard without their day-to-day involvement
• Cultivates a culture of continuous and honest feedback that brings out the best in people
• Coaches the team and other Engineering Leads. Independently clears the path for their team to execute towards better outcomes. Proactively identifies individuals and projects that need their support
• Identifies and develops individuals who have potential to be Engineering Leads for existing or emerging teams

Expertise

• A solid Product Engineer who can dig deep into technical or architectural issues
• Thinks about organisational design of the team, responsible for ensuring the team is staffed appropriately from the get go. Regularly evaluates the skill gaps within the team, making a case for it and doing the requisite recruitment
• Iterates the hiring process as needed to meet the needs of the team

Scope

• Leads a tribe or a group of teams with large scope and organisational impact; direct reports typically consist almost entirely of Engineering Leads and Level 5 Individual Contributors

Impact

• Guides engineering plans and works with their teams to make sure teams are prioritising a good balance between tech and product investment
• Identifies areas where new teams are needed and initiates building them or pushes to organise around new goals – both product and platform/tech
• Influences tribe/organisation design to minimise friction and maximise productivity
• Routinely improves Wise strategy in large and small ways. Helps to build and define what it means to work at Wise and to maintain culture. Brings people together to solve problems
• Exceptional understanding of and a key contributor to the engineering organisation as well as Wise company-level strategy
• Efficient conductor of different teams, engineering leads and high-level individual contributors to impact tribe and organisational level goals
• Takes a holistic approach and thinking to help us achieve the Wise mission over their tribe or teams
• Coaches and mentors others Engineering Leads and Senior Engineering Leads helping them build their teams. This includes but isn’t limited to helping make hiring plans and decisions, feedback conversations on how team members are doing, helping have tough conversations with team members and help with team structure set-up (e.g. team splits and merges)

Behaviour

• Encourages and inspires their teams and leads to set an example of culture and performance for the rest of the company
• Recognised as an exceptional and respected lead across the engineering organisation
• Helps team see when they’re not having impact and refocusing (if/when needed)
• Nurtures and develops more Senior Engineering Leads and Directors of Engineering, not just in their tribe or teams but across the organisation by mentoring and coaching potential Engineering leaders
• Builds a culture around sharing knowledge and documenting technical decisions and designs
• Helps other teams across the tribe or the company improve their culture
• Actively shapes and evolves culture in the tribe / company through setting an example
• Leads by example by contributing to the tech community via public speaking, writing blogs and other engagements helping attract engineering talent and enhancing Wise’s profile as an employer

Expertise

• Helps set the vision of the team and drives larger cross-functional technical projects which need expertise of multiple people across the teams or tribes
• Helps Engineering Leads and Senior Engineering Leads deal with ambiguity around people issues as well as tech and product vision
• Builds high performing teams or a group of Engineering Leads and Senior Engineering Leads by continuously raising the bar through coaching and mentoring