When we took on the challenge of revamping our product design and writing career ladders together with Marian and Fernanda, our goals were clear. It wasn’t just about outlining titles or responsibilities—it was about building a growth framework that would truly support our people as they evolve, and equip leadership with the tools to recognize and nurture diverse talent.

Our goals were:

• Clarify expectations and career progression across levels (Junior, Mid-Level, Senior, Principal).
• Enable transparent and consistent evaluations during performance check-ins and PDDs.
• Guide targeted skill development, structured coaching and career progression.
• Anchor design quality in clearly defined competencies and behaviours, reduce ambiguity and increase motivation.
• Support leadership with a shared language for assessing skill coverage, hiring and team planning.

Our previous skill matrix had become misaligned with the real needs of our growing team and the evolving expectations from product and content designers. The feedback was unanimous: it was time for a reset. Designers sought concrete, actionable criteria for advancement, not vague statements or checklists. Leaders needed a shared language to coach, evaluate, and plan teams more effectively. And most importantly, we wanted a growth tool—not just another HR artifact.

So we defined this as a key initiative under our High Performing team pillar in our UX Team strategy for 2025. This is how it went.

We began by doing some research and inspiration-gathering, looking to industry gold standards like Figma, Gitlab, Intercom and other companies that explain their framework publicly. Their transparency gave us a north star: build a matrix that is as useful for self-reflection and coaching as it is for hiring and planning.​

With that we folllowed-up with:

• Co-creation: We started with open discussions between our UX leadership team involving multiple feedback rounds that included product and content designers at a later stage defining which are the competencies we believe Designers and Writers at Freenow should embody.
• Structure: We defined four clear levels (Junior, Mid-Level, Senior, Principal) and mapped each to precise competencies and observable behaviours. We wanted to make it concrete and actionable so this took us some back and forth.
• Iteration: Through critiques and feedback we refined language, competencies and expectations and stress-tested scenarios for performance reviews and interviews.

What changed:

• Clarity on progression: Each level now includes well-defined expectations and sample activities.
• Evaluative alignment: Managers and team members share a basis for discussion—eliminating ambiguity and making feedback more actionable.
• Constantly iterating: The matrix is a living document, continuously updated based on input and real career stories.

We created a proposal outlining four key skill areas and their essential skills. Craft is crucial for our team, while a category for “product” that includes vision, strategy, and research is also vital. Additionally, we aimed to include skills that are applicable across our diverse functions, such as design operations and UX writing.

Here’s our final list:

• Strategy : Product, UX Research, Vision
• Collaboration: Communication, process, team-mindset
• Craft: Visual design, interaction design, information architecture
• Impact: Effectiveness, leadership, culture

Then we began organising these into a visual format.

Ultimately, this isn’t about ticking boxes. For us, the revamped skill matrix is a tool to motivate growth, foster honest conversations, improve retention, and anchor design quality across every project.

As with any great design—in career frameworks as in products—the work is never truly done. We’re committed to evolving our matrix, gathering feedback, and sharing back with the community, following in the footsteps of teams like Figma and others.

If you’re shaping career ladders or competencies at your organization, I encourage you to involve your team early, study the best, and remember: the strongest frameworks are the ones your people feel they can own and grow with.

And as always, enjoy the process, the talks are already a big reward full of learnings!