Rank is where you sit in a hierarchy. You get positional authority from it.
Role is what your responsibilities and operational authority are.
Pay is how you are compensated.
Some places try to keep these three tightly coupled — “Only people of this Rank can hold this Role, and Pay is bound to Rank.”
Only Directors can Authorize requests for X. Directors are L7M and the base pay for all L7 positions is between $A and $B, and the bonus structure for L7M is Y.
Some places try to keep them uncoupled — “Pay is independent of Rank and Role, and Rank and Role are independent of one another.”
Bill who is an L7, gets paid $X because we like him. Charlie, who is an L5, is who we trust to get things done. Charlie is an Associate, Bill is an Assistant.
I think that the best way is to loosely couple them — “Pay is indicative of experience, tenure, and responsibilities. Rank is indicative of experience and skills. Role is indicative of trust and performance”
We set your base-pay with a function of your rank and how long you’ve been with the company. We set your rank based on your skill and experience. There are certain roles that require a person to have a particular rank.
Programmers write computer programs.
Programmers must have a college degree or 5 years experience as programmers and be able to show technical acumen within 90 days. All programmers start out as L4i, which pays $X, each year of tenure at the company raises $X by Y%. Promotions up to L7 are based on ability. Promotions beyond L7 are based on ability + if there are openings in the company staffing strategy. They can stay at the company without becoming a lead or a specialist for 10 years. If they don’t become a lead or a specialist within 10 years they will be dismissed.
Squad leads are responsible for a team of people.
Squad leads must have a college degree or 5 years experience as leaders and be able to show leadership acumen within 60 days. All squad leads start out as L4m, which pays $X, each year of tenure at the company raises $X by Y%. Promotions up to L6 are based on ability. Promotions beyond L6 are based on ability + if there are openings in the company staffing strategy. They can stay at the company without becoming a platoon lead for 4 years. If they don’t become a platoon lead within 4 years they will be dismissed.
Platoon leads are responsible for a team of squads.
Platoon leads must have a college degree +4 years experience as squad leads or 10 years experience as leaders and be able to show leadership acumen within 30 days. All platoon leads start out as L5m, which pays $X, each year of tenure at the company raises $X by Y%. Promotions up to L6 are based on ability. Promotions beyond L6 are based on ability + if there are openings in the company staffing strategy. They can stay at the company without becoming a company lead or specialist for 4 years. If they don’t become a company lead or specialist within 4 years they will be dismissed.
Company leads are responsible for a team of platoons.
Company leads must have a college degree +8 years experience as leaders or 15 years experience as leaders and be able to show leadership acumen within 30 days. All company leads start out as L6m, which pays $X, each year of tenure at the company raises $X by Y%. Promotions to L7 and beyond are based on ability + if there are openings in the company staffing strategy. Company leads should be getting promoted or poached within 4 years. If they don’t move up or move on within 4 years, they will become specialists.
Specialists are experienced individual contributors who embody deep skills in a few domains.
They are organically developed from within, not hired in from the outside. All specialists are L6i, which pays $X, each year of tenure at the company raised $X by Y%. Promotions up to L8 are based on ability. Promotions beyond L8 are based on ability + if there are openings in the company staffing strategy. Specialists shall be dismissed when they have a total of 25 years tenure in the company.