You and your team’s impact on Wise, peers and customers

Junior Software Engineer: Participates in feature design and bug fixes under direct supervision. Writes, tests and documents code as per Wise guidelines. Consistently delivers small features and improvements that have an impact on customers. Takes ownership of small projects or smaller parts of large projects.

Software Engineer: Writes and reviews technical design documentation. Improves code and architecture by regularly planning technical work with the team. Regularly leads and delivers medium-sized features that improve business outcomes at product surface level. Confident contributor to cross-company engineering efforts or guilds. Provides on-call support for their area including systems they’re not familiar with. Takes initiative to plan and prioritise issues with the team and proactively fixes them. Unblocks others by reviewing their code. Prioritises tasks effectively and avoids getting caught up in unimportant details.

Senior Software Engineer: Prioritises and values undesirable/unowned work that enables the team to move faster. Regularly delivers large features and product improvements that have a meaningful impact on Wise product and customers. Takes initiative to identify and solve important problems. Coordinates with others on cross-cutting technical issues. Optimises for the predictability and regular cadence of deliverables. Keeps reliability, maintainability and scalability of our systems top of mind. Embraces long-term ownership of projects while training others to reduce the bus factor or becoming a blocker. Architects and designs services/systems using design patterns that allow for iterative delivery and future scaling. Autonomous in approach and may direct or coach other less experienced Engineers. Communicates and collaborates across functions like product, analytics and design as required. Competent interviewer at all levels.

Staff Software Engineer: Leads projects that have a direct impact on company-level goals and tribe-wide productivity and quality Recognised for high quality and quantity of hands-on technical contribution. Consistently influences and helps set tribe-wide vision and direction. Has strong influence on tribe-level product improvement goals. Acts to align work across multiple teams to maximise the impact for the company. Promotes collaboration and communication between teams while reducing the coordination cost between teams and their dependencies. Acts as a multiplier by facilitating cross-team/tribe work, by shaping broad architecture or shipping major pieces / infrastructure / tools. Proactively identifies tribe-level opportunities and issues, proposes and executes on appropriate solutions to resolve them. Sets medium-term technical direction for the tribe / team in collaboration with their peers and Engineering Leads to focus on areas that need attention or improvement. Actively helps Engineers to make design decisions that minimise the cost of future changes and reduces dependencies between teams and services. Trains them in the technical interviewing process and evaluation of candidates.

Principal Software Engineer: Leads and contributes to the development and design of systems, services and libraries with company-wide impact. Works on strategic product / engineering projects that have company-wide impact and occasionally also impact outside the company. Regularly delivers on large-scale efforts that make the entire Wise more successful and valuable. Leads the teams in identifying strategic technical areas for the company to invest in future growth. Acts to align work across multiple tribes to maximise the impact for the company. Actively works on the organisation-wide engineering practices and processes to continuously improve them. Works across the organisation to architect and design services/systems using design patterns that allow for iterative delivery and future scaling. Actively works with multiple tribes to increase communication/collaboration while minimising coordination between them. Contributes to the company level product / engineering strategy and makes sure that we execute against that effectively. Takes long-term approach in building Wise and hiring for the Engineering organisation. Collaborates at all levels, horizontally and vertically, within the company to set long-term technical vision for the company. Active interviewer and works to continuously to improve the interview process by partnering with other Engineers, Engineering Leads and Recruiters.

Soft skills, mentoring, coaching, culture, support, team contribution and advocacy

Junior Software Engineer: Collaborates with team to solve problems. Keen to learn and actively reaches out to people for mentorship and learning. Seeks out regular feedback from peers (other Engineers and Product Managers) and incorporates them in their day-to-day work. Escalates matters when appropriate without getting into rabbit holes or blocked for long time periods. Has a good sense of timeboxing tasks.

Software Engineer: Works well with other members of the team. Is able to challenge other people’s opinions and open to have their own opinions challenged too Gives timely and helpful feedback to peers and leads. Mentors, assists and teaches juniors members of their own and other teams to help them upskill and have more impact. Helps onboard new Engineers into the team.

Senior Software Engineer: Drives product improvement that impacts the Wise customer experience or empowers internal stakeholders (teams like Operations, Customer Support, Finance, etc.) to do their job effectively. Promotes a positive culture of collaboration within and across different teams. Regularly engages with other teams to make the tribe / organisation more effective. Proactively identifies and tackles technical debt becoming too big through planning work and aligning team. Does this with careful evaluation of additional cost on development. Actively mentors other Engineers in the team on individual basis or in group settings. Helps others grow through technical guidance, code reviews, documentation, etc.

Staff Software Engineer: Highly sought after and well-regarded mentor/coach for all levels. Actively sought out by others for advice, and actively seeks out others who would most benefit from help. Listens and guides debates to help reach a decision then clearly communicates it widely. Actively contributes to and takes initiatives to make Wise a great place to work. Builds a culture where product reliability, observability and scalability are part of building any new and contributing to existing systems. Regularly thinks about their team practices / processes and works with the team to improve them. Also collaborates with others to improve organisational practices and processes. Represents Wise in local meet-ups, national and international conferences by speaking or other arrangements.

Principal Software Engineer: Mentors across the organisation. Seeks out mentoring opportunities for themselves and others. Supports other Engineers in their growth as mentors. Deliberate in upskilling others, takes responsibility in their development and growth across the company. Seen as a source of expertise, wisdom and guidance. Leads and undertakes work to make Wise a great Engineering organisation to work. A calming force and influence who sets the example of resolving difficult challenges by bringing people together. Demonstrates and promotes a culture of technical documentation through design docs and knowledge sharing across the company. Represents Wise in local meet-ups, national and international conferences by speaking or other arrangements. Actively networks with Engineers outside the company and helps Wise to attract great Engineers to work here.

Technical, design, architectural, process and organisational skills

Junior Software Engineer: Good understanding of discipline basics. Competently executes on small Engineering tasks or product improvements with the guidance of other senior members (Engineers, Designers, Product Managers, etc) of the team.

Software Engineer: High level of skill in their discipline. Independently leads medium sized (4-8 engineering weeks) project through the entire life-cycle from design to development and deployment. Provides constructive feedback on others’ work through code or technical design document reviews.

Senior Software Engineer: A clear expert in one or more technical or business domains. Leads or significantly contributes to medium to large (8-16 engineering weeks) sized projects.

Staff Software Engineer: A clear expert and most highly skilled in one or more technical or business domains at Wise. Leads, works on and executes inter-disciplinary and cross-team projects

Principal Software Engineer: Most highly skilled in multiple technical and business domains at Wise. Helps with setting strategic technical direction of the company.

You and your team’s impact on Wise, peers and customers

Engineering Lead: 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.

Senior Engineering Lead: 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.

Director of Engineering: 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).

Soft skills, mentoring, coaching, culture, support, team contribution and advocacy

Engineering Lead: 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.

Senior Engineering Lead: 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. Is seen as a culture carrier by their team and organisation. Exemplifies Wise values and behaviours.

Director of Engineering: 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.

Technical, design, architectural, process and organisational skills

Engineering Lead: 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.

Senior Engineering Lead: 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.

Director of Engineering: 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.