EM 5 - Associate Director

I set technical strategy and ensure the successful delivery and operation of products and services within my area while proactively partnering with cross-functional leaders to translate strategic business direction into actionable plans and developing senior technical leaders.

Scope

You guide multiple teams or groups towards goal(s) in alignment with the entire department. You deliver on multi-departmental initiatives spanning multiple quarters and sometimes multiple years. You collaborate with all departments, ensuring strong coordination between your groups and other department initiatives.

Craft

Your focus is trained on providing strategic direction for your groups. You take in business context as input to shape long term plans for your teams. You look to the horizon to anticipate and determine challenges for your groups and prepare them for success, guiding them through those challenges. You look to leverage your technical expertise to help drive technology choices and steward the quality of delivery.

Responsibility	Behaviors
Direction	I collaborate with product and organizational leaders to set the vision, strategy and plans for my area of responsibility. I translate ambiguous problems into concrete direction and set objectives with key results for your team. I set attainable goals for my team that span weekly, quarterly, semi-annually, and/or annually. I look to the horizon to anticipate and determine challenges for your groups and prepare them for success by guiding them through those challenges.
Career	I develop other leaders in my team by providing career coaching. I assist in driving key projects in my team through coaching. I proactively grow leaders inside and outside of my team.
Alignment	I proactively collaborate with leadership and other departments to set an aligned vision and roadmap for my area of responsibility. I have a good understanding of the business and infuse learning into your team. I partner with other departments in the organization and play an important role in departmental strategy.
Execution	I efficiently deliver technical roadmaps, including evaluation of new technologies and solutions in my area of responsibility. I ensure that my team is properly staffed to execute on my domain of responsibilities. I implement and monitor development processes to ensure the predictable delivery of high-quality products and solutions. I implement and put in place monitoring processes to ensure the continued operation of high-quality products and solutions. I champion operation excellence across teams in the department beyond my team.

Communication and Collaboration

You ensure that projects within your area of responsibility are meticulously planned and initiated with all relevant stakeholders on board. You maintain strong communication, coordination, and collaboration across these projects, ensuring everyone remains aligned. You take the lead in driving a clear understanding of the technical health of existing infrastructure and ongoing projects. You provide regular updates to stakeholders and executives to keep them informed of the project status as per business needs.

You play a crucial role in the development of your team members by facilitating regular career discussions and helping them understand their performance within the framework of their career goals. Your ability to serve as a trusted advisor in your area of responsibility is widely recognized, and you consistently communicate weekly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual objectives to your group, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals.

Responsibility	Behaviors
Teamwork	I work with all key stakeholders within my department. I drive and facilitate technical design reviews alongside my team(s). I look for opportunities for my team(s) to help other teams in their initiatives.
Accountability	I communicate updates to stakeholders with clarity and actionable next steps. I identify business initiatives that fall into my teams’s responsibility and work with relevant stakeholders to take them on. I transparently communicate areas that need improvement both in my group and in the business with an action plan to improve.
Data Driven	I set goals for my group that are measurable. I prioritize initiatives based on data, not assumptions. I partner with all departments to drive clarity around areas of the business that have little observability. I communicate externally the status of key performance indicators for my group.
Culture	I identify opportunities for growth for others in Software with encouragement and support. I collaborate closely with my group to pursue becoming a world-class engineering team. I promote a culture of excellence, adaptability, and open communication, fostering an environment where creativity flourishes, challenges are embraced, and solutions are collaboratively developed.

Coaching & Mentorship

You actively seek to grow leaders within your team, recognizing the importance of mentorship and coaching in developing the next generation of leaders. You are committed to finding and implementing strategies that elevate everyone on your team, focusing on broad education initiatives that address areas of deficit and enhance overall capabilities. By proactively raising the leadership and execution skills of your team, you ensure that your group not only meets but exceeds expectations in both performance and operational excellence.

You take a hands-on approach in coaching the leaders within your team, guiding them on how to provide effective feedback, set meaningful goals, and execute plans successfully. Your mentorship extends beyond your immediate group as you invest in developing individuals and leaders across the organization. Additionally, you proactively share your expertise with others outside your team and department, helping them better understand your area to support better decision-making on products and projects. Through this, you contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration that benefits the entire organization.

Responsibility	Behaviors
Coaching	I coach leaders within my team on providing feedback, goal setting, and execution. I coach my group to improve on operational excellence continually.
Mentorship	I mentor other individuals and leaders both within and beyond your department.
Company and Department Influence	I proactively help others beyond my team/department to gain a better understanding of my area to ensure higher quality decisions on product and project decisions.

Impact

You deliver significant impact by successfully managing multiple large projects concurrently, ensuring technical excellence, and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within your team. You proactively align engineering efforts with the organization's strategic objectives, ensuring that the team's focus remains on the highest business priorities, leading to positive business outcomes. By monitoring progress towards strategic goals and making necessary adjustments, you ensure alignment and success, ultimately contributing to the team's growth and achieving organizational objectives.

Your leadership fosters a forward-thinking, high-performance team, focusing on immediate successes and sustained growth. You optimize team productivity through strategic planning, streamlined workflows, and productivity-enhancing tools and methodologies. Empowering team members to contribute to collective success drives impactful outcomes that align with business objectives. Additionally, you stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies, integrating relevant innovations into the engineering strategy. You encourage experimentation and creative problem-solving within the team, fostering an environment where new ideas are welcomed and shared, further enhancing the team's impact and industry leadership.

Responsibility	Behaviors
Projects and Initiatives	I successfully land multiple large concurrent projects, ensuring technical excellence and nurturing a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within your team. I proactively and successfully align engineering efforts with strategic organizational objectives and deliver positive results. I ensure the team is focused on the highest business priorities with positive business metric outcomes. I monitor progress towards strategic goals, making adjustments to ensure alignment and success.
Productivity	I foster a high-performance team and a forward-thinking mindset, contributing to the team's growth and success. I optimize team productivity through strategic planning. I prioritize enhancing team productivity through streamlined workflows, optimized resource allocation, and implementing productivity-enhancing tools and methodologies. I focus beyond immediate successes for sustained growth and industry leadership. I empower team members to contribute to our collective success, ultimately driving impactful outcomes that align with our business objectives through collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Adoption and Innovation	I stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies, integrating relevant innovations into the engineering strategy. I encourage experimentation and creative problem-solving within the team, fostering a culture of innovation and idea-sharing.

Strategy

You play a critical role in shaping the strategy and roadmap by partnering with cross-functional leaders to ensure alignment with the overall business strategy. Your collaboration across departments helps set a clear direction for your area of responsibility, providing both technical and project leadership that drives the team toward achieving strategic goals.

You stay vigilant in monitoring the competitive landscape and industry trends, proactively identifying areas where your team is either leading or falling behind. This awareness allows you to seize opportunities and make strategic adjustments, ensuring that your team remains at the forefront of innovation and continues to contribute effectively to the company's success.

Responsibility	Behaviors
Vision And Direction	I partner with other cross-functional leaders to set the strategy and roadmap that aligns with business strategy. I provide technical and project direction for my area of responsibility where applicable. I proactively monitor the competitive landscape and industry trends to identify opportunities where the team is leading or falling behind.
Organization	I influence my department by surfacing common challenges and efficiency gains. I champion organizational initiatives within my group.
Staying Nimble	I constantly evaluate the existing plans and look for additional optimization opportunities.

Moving to the EM 6 level

• You successfully operate at EM6 level for 24 months.
• You demonstrate expertise in your group’s domain and have influenced multiple groups beyond it.
• You expand your scope from one group to multiple groups, providing input to the department leadership team.
• You consistently demonstrate success driving strategic projects from conception to launch and landed significant impact in your domain areas of expertise.