Buffer’s universal career framework uses a system of levels and steps for each role to make sure teammates have the opportunity to grow in flexible ways.

• Levels: Levels are large and distinct jumps in terms of area knowledge, role complexity and overall scope. Level changes most often happen through a quarterly process called calibrations. More info at ‣. A change in level will involve People/Finance team guidance.
• Steps: Four steps are housed within each level and are meant to mark smaller milestones of growth in terms of ownership and initiative, as determined by your lead, working collaboratively with you. Steps are not necessarily meant to be a strictly linear progression; you can potentially advance multiple steps at once. A change in step can happen anytime through each area leadership’s discretion and requires no approval or discussion outside of the area.

Below are guideline rubrics for both levels and steps, for individual contributors and people leaders. The leveling charts are adapted from Radford, our provider for compensation benchmarking services. The step charts are adapted from our own area frameworks as well as other public tech frameworks from like-minded companies like Fog Creek, Medium and Rent the Runway.

Note: For most areas, the universal career framework is a reference guide only. If your areas has its own career framework, that is the framework of record. Those are:

• Advocacy
• Data
• Design
• Engineering
• Marketing
• People
• Product

Individual Contributor Job Charts

Individual Contributor Job Level Chart