The document provides information on core responsibilities and performance expectations for different levels of software engineering roles at LinkedIn. It outlines expectations around leadership, execution, and technical skills. For leadership, expectations progress from role modeling good behaviors to leading discussions and mentoring others. For execution, responsibilities scale from understanding team goals to collaborating across teams. And technical skills expected increase in complexity from building to requirements to defining technical strategies that impact the organization. The document is intended to help employees and managers identify areas for development and coaching to achieve career goals.

1. Core Responsibilities (Skills and Behaviors for Job Family Success)
Profession Engineering
Job Family Software Engineering
Discipline Definition Software engineers build products and services by designing, coding and testing software. They also
drive related work like software security, relevance and analytics. At more senior levels, software
engineers also help define and balance business and technology strategy.
CAREER PERFORMANCE PROFILE
A career performance profile is LinkedIn’s blueprint for performance excellence. CPPs work in conjunction with
Leadership, Leverage, Results (LLR), values and cultural tenets to guide performance management – providing
tangible evidence of what excellence looks like for a role, and in doing so helps managers and employees
identify areas of talent development and coaching to realize their desired career path.

2. Individual
Contributor
Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
CoreResponsibilities
Leadership
Be
a
role
model,
a
great
team
member
and
transform
your
career
(and
the
careers
of
others
around
you)
• Understands
LinkedIn’s
culture
and
values
and
how
this
maps
to
one’s
work.
• Ac:vely
par:cipates
in
team
discussions
by
being
open
to
diverse
ideas,
asking
ques:ons
to
learn
more,
while
respec:ng
different
work
styles
and
approaches.
• Learns
from
own
failures,
and
improves
own
and
other’s
work
as
a
result.
• Strives
to
act
as
an
owner
by
finding
facts
and
presen:ng
ideas
to
the
team
that
improves
products/services.
• Drives
their
own
self
development
by
accep:ng
construc:ve
feedback
and
proac:vely
seeks
career
guidance.
• Engages
in
resolving
conflict
in
a
healthy
way.
• Embodies
LinkedIn’s
culture
and
values,
incorpora:ng
it
into
the
way
one
works.
• Organizes
and/or
par:cipates
in
team
discussions,
invi:ng
diverse
ideas
and
engaging
in
healthy
conflict
when
needed.
• Supports
environment
where
failure
is
viewed
as
an
opportunity
to
learn
and
improve
work.
• Works
independently
to
find
facts
and
effec:vely
communicates
ideas
that
influences
products/services.
• Supports
team
members
by
onboarding
new
engineers,
delivering
construc:ve
feedback
and
mentors
others.
• Engages
in
resolving
conflict
in
a
healthy
way.
• Acts
as
a
role
model
of
LinkedIn’s
culture
and
values
and
encourages
other
team
members
to
also
live
the
values
at
work.
• Leads,
organizes
and/or
par:cipates
in
cross
team
discussions,
deliberately
bringing
in
diverse
perspec:ves
and
ensuring
ideas
are
challenged
respecKully.
• Learns
from
own
failures,
and
acts
as
a
role
model
for
others
to
do
the
same,
by
openly
and
respecKully
discussing
failures
and
learnings.
• Leads
team
projects,
defines
technical
specifica:ons
and
influences
the
direc:on
of
product/services
strategy
with
impact
across
the
organiza:on.
• Shares
learnings
and
mentors
other
engineers
in
the
team
to
improve
others’
skills.
• Engages
in
resolving
conflict
in
a
healthy
way.
• Coaches
others
on
the
LinkedIn’s
culture
and
values
and
encourages
others
to
model
these
values.
• Leads,
organizes
and/or
par:cipates
in
cross
organiza:on
discussions,
bringing
in
diverse
perspec:ves
and
tes:ng
ideas
through
a
‘member’s
first’
lens
• Creates
an
environment
where
intelligent
risks
are
encouraged
in
the
interest
of
learning
from
both
failures
and
successes.
• Proac:vely
iden:fies
product
or
technology
opportuni:es,
as
well
as
process
improvements
across
engineering,
and
influences
leaders
to
execute
on
those
opportuni:es
to
create
impact
across
the
organiza:on.
• Shares
knowledge
by
providing
on
the
job
mentorship
and
guidance
across
the
organiza:on
in
order
to
up-­‐level
the
engineering
org.
• Engages
in
resolving
conflict
in
a
healthy
way
by
u:lizing
the
clean
escala:on
process
as
needed.
• Embodies
LinkedIn’s
culture
and
values
and
champions
the
LinkedIn
way
both
internally
and
externally
to
the
tech
community.
• Leads,
organizes
and/or
par:cipates
in
global,
cross
organiza:on
discussions,
bringing
in
diverse
perspec:ves
and
tes:ng
ideas
through
a
‘member’s
first’
lens
• Creates
a
culture
where
failure
is
viewed
as
an
important
learning
opportunity,
by
publicly
discussing
own
failures
and
learnings.
• Acts
as
a
primary
driver
of
the
vision
for
product,
technology
and/or
process
across
LinkedIn
and
champions
ini:a:ves
in
support
of
that
vision.
• Demonstrates
thought
leadership
by
providing
guidance
and
mentorship
to
engineers
which
enhances
LinkedIn’s
industry
reputa:on
and
aRracts
external
talent.
• Engages
in
resolving
conflict
in
a
healthy
way
by
u:lizing
the
clean
escala:on
process
as
needed.

3. Individual
Contributor
Software Engineer
Senior Software
Engineer
Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
CoreResponsibilities
Execu.on
Collaborate,
Balance,
Commit
&
Get
Results
• Becomes
familiar
with
his/hers
own
team’s
goals,
strategy
and
tac:cs
and
how
these
align
to
key
stakeholders.
• Engages
in
team
mee:ngs
to
develop
a
beRer
understanding
of
business
and
technology
objec:ves.
• Understands
systems
and
processes
and
begins
to
iden:fy
ways
to
improve
opera:ons
and
sustainability.
• Demonstrates
an
ability
to
consistently
deliver
assigned
work
on
:me
and
meet
agreed
commitments.
• Builds
to
requirements.
• Engages
and
influences
individuals
from
other
teams
to
understand
and
align
goals,
strategy
and
tac:cs.
• Communicates
with
individuals
from
other
teams
and
listens
carefully
to
understand
their
business
and
technology
objec:ves.
• Iden:fies
areas
to
partner
on
cross-­‐group
ini:a:ves
to
achieve
joint
or
complementary
goals.
• Has
a
track
record
of
delivering
high
quality
products/services,
meets
agreed
commitments,
and
supports
other
to
achieve
their
commitments.
• Builds
to
requirements.
• Defines
and
manages
a
shared
global
strategy
and/
or
roadmap,
iterates
plan
as
required
and
alerts
stakeholders
of
any
changes
in
plan.
• Designs
and
develops
to
serve
the
business
and
technology
objec:ves.
• Works
with
other
teams
and
listens
carefully
to
create
efficiencies
across
the
organiza:on
locally
and
globally.
• Partners
on
cross-­‐group
ini:a:ves
to
achieve
local
and
global
business
goals
where
appropriate,
and
respecKully
holds
other
accountable
to
shared
goals.
• Has
a
track
record
of
delivering
high
quality
products/services
for
large
or
complex
projects,
mee:ng
their
own
and
assis:ng
the
team
achieve
commitments.
• Starts
to
define
project
stretch
goals
and
measures
success,
holding
the
broader
team
accountable
for
mee:ng
them.
• Defines
and
manages
a
shared
global
strategy
and/
or
roadmap
with
key
cross-­‐
func:onal
stakeholders
and
engages
global
teams
to
execute
on
these
plans,
iterates
plan
as
needed
and
no:fies
stakeholders
of
changes.
• Designs
and
develops
to
serve
the
business
and
technology
objec:ves.
• Designs
work
around
shared
goals
or
customer
benefits,
and
removes
barriers
that
inhibit
healthy
collabora:on
across
the
global
team.
• Aligns
different
POVs
across
teams
and
makes
smart
trade-­‐offs
between
own
and
other
team’s
goals
to
realize
LinkedIn’s
broader
goals
faster
and/or
more
efficiently.
• Has
a
track
record
of
making
a
big
impact
by
delivering
high
quality,
products/
services
that
solve
large
and
complex
problems
to
meet
own
and
team
commitments
that
can
also
be
leveraged
by
others.
• Defines
project
stretch
goals
and
measures
success,
holding
the
broader
team
accountable
for
mee:ng
them.
• Defines,
manages
and
influences
cross-­‐func:onal
stakeholders
to
get
buy-­‐in
on
a
shared
global
vision
and/
or
product/technology
roadmap,
which
enables
a
seamless
end-­‐to-­‐end
customer
experience,
and
leads
others
to
execute
on
the
shared
plan,
itera:ng
as
needed
and
aler:ng
other
teams
of
any
changes.
• Designs
and
develops
to
serve
the
business
and
technology
objec:ves.
• Designs
work
around
shared
goals
or
customer
benefits,
and
removes
barriers
that
inhibit
healthy
collabora:on
across
the
global
team.
• Takes
a
broad
perspec:ve
over
the
business
to
iden:fy
cross-­‐group
collabora:on
opportuni:es
worldwide
and
drives
teams
to
operate
collabora:vely.
• Understands
implica:ons
of
own
decisions
and
ac:ons
on
others
internally
as
well
external
impact
on
members.
• Has
a
track
record
of
guiding
large
teams
of
engineers
to
deliver
high
impact,
high
quality,
products/
services
that
solve
large
and
complex
problems
that
meet
own
and
team’s
commitments,
and
can
also
be
leveraged
by
others.
• Creates
a
culture
that
intelligently
challenges
work
objec:ves
and
success
measures,
and
asks
the
right
ques:ons
to
raise
the
quality
bar
and
drive
the
best
outcomes.

4. Individual
Contributor
Software Engineer
Senior Software
Engineer
Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
CoreResponsibilities
Cra2smanship
Take
pride
in
the
quality
of
your
work,
when
available
use
exisCng
soluCons,
and
strive
to
write
elegant
soDware
and
inspire
your
team
to
do
the
same
Pays
aFenCon
in
product
and/or
code
reviews
to:
• Understand
LinkedIn’s
technical
stack
and
seeks
to
understand
the
produc:on
environment.
• Starts
to
write
elegant
code
to
specifica:on
that
meets
LinkedIn’s
high
quality
standards
(i.e.
operable
performance,
secure)
• Starts
to
understand
what
already
exists
in
the
company
and
how
it
can
be
leveraged
to
do
his/her
own
work.
• Learns
how
to
make
assigned
work
easy
for
others
to
reuse.
• Follows
exis:ng
processes
and
norms
to
solve
problems
and
create
a
consistent
customer
experience.
• Has
a
strong
understanding
of
LinkedIn’s
technical
stack
and
produc:on
environment.
• Consistently
generates
elegant
code
and
reviews
other’s
work
to
provide
construc:ve
feedback
and
rigor,
in
order
to
meet
high
quality
standards
(i.e.
operable
performance,
secure).
• Seeks
to
understand
what
already
exists
in
the
company
and
uses
it
appropriately
to
build
products/services
efficiently.
• Designs
and
generates
work
that
can
be
easily
leveraged
in
other’s
work.
• Iden:fies
areas
for
improvement,
makes
recommenda:ons
for
change
and
takes
responsibility
to
solve
for
it.
• Has
a
strong
knowledge
of
LinkedIn’s
technical
stack
and
produc:on
environment
and
employs
this
to
solve
difficult
problems
and
help
others
do
so
too.
• Improves
design
specifica:ons
and
writes
elegant
code
that
meets
high
quality
standards,
and
builds
rigor
into
team
processes
to
ensure
the
team
consistently
meets
a
high
quality
standard.
• Solves
complex
problems
by
itera:ng,
redesigning
and
innova:ng
systems.
• Seeks
to
have
a
strong
understanding
of
what
already
exists
in
the
company
and
is
able
to
reuse
to
build
efficiently.
• Is
skilled
in
designing
output
that
can
easily
be
used
by
others.
• Helps
junior
team
members
find
ways
to
design
and
create
work
that
can
be
used
by
others.
• Seeks
out
ways
to
op:mize
processes,
as
well
as
manage
and
organize
work
to
improve
business
performance.
• Has
a
strong
knowledge
of
LinkedIn’s
technical
stack
and
produc:on
environment
and
uses
this
to
solve
difficult
problems
and
help
others.
• Seeks
opportuni:es
to
improve
the
stack.
• Proac:vely
iden:fies
and
solves
problems
in
unique
and
innova:ve
ways
that
creates
new
ways
of
doing
things.
• Ac:vely
improves
the
level
of
cra[smanship
at
LinkedIn
by
focusing
on
seng
a
high
standard
for
code
quality,
processes
and
standards.
• Constantly
seeks
to
establish
a
culture
where
engineers
rou:nely
reuse
exis:ng
work
(before
crea:ng
their
own).
• Designs
products/services
and
code
so
they
can
be
reused
by
others.
• Helps
team
members
find
ways
to
reuse
what
already
exists,
and
design
work
so
that
it
can
be
u:lized
by
others.
• Seeks
out
ways
to
do
things
beRer
and/or
faster
by
leveraging
metrics
and
insights,
and
develops
best
prac:ces
to
increase
effec:veness
of
the
team.
• Brings
knowledge
and
understanding
of
broader
so[ware
engineering
issues
into
LinkedIn’s
so[ware
design.
• Applies
cross
domain
knowledge
to
solve
complex
problems
with
elegant
technical
solu:ons
that
are
well
integrated
with
the
exis:ng
environment.
• Ac:vely
improves
the
level
of
cra[smanship
at
LinkedIn
by
seng
a
high
standard
for
code
quality,
processes
and
standards.
• Constantly
seeks
to
establish
a
culture
across
teams
where
engineers
rou:nely
u:lize
exis:ng
work
(before
crea:ng
their
own).
• Constantly
designs
products/
services
that
can
be
u:lized
by
others,
and
seeks
out
exis:ng
knowledge
and
best
prac:ces
and
brings
this
back
into
LinkedIn.
• Helps
team
members
find
ways
to
reuse
what
already
exists,
and
design
work
that
can
be
u:lized
by
others.
• Provides
thought
leadership
on
ways
to
improve
organiza:onal
performance,
and
develops
best
prac:ces
to
increase
effec:veness
of
the
organiza:on.