Hiring the right person is only part of the equation — setting clear expectations from the start is just as important. While each new hire brings unique skills and experience, organizations need a consistent way to define roles, job categories, and growth paths. That’s where job levels come in.
These levels make it easier to align responsibilities with experience, ensure fair compensation, and create clear pathways for promotion and internal mobility. When used effectively, job levels support workforce planning and faster transparency and engagement. Here’s a guide to creating these levels and why companies should do so.
What are job levels?
Job levels are part of a structured classification system that groups job roles based on shared characteristics, like levels of experience, responsibility, and scope. Company leaders use these tiers to quickly assess the progression and complexity of different positions. The point of job leveling is to bring order and consistency to diverse company positions by standardizing responsibilities and
compensation across departments.
Job levels aren't the same as job titles. A job title is the specific name given to a role — such as "Marketing Specialist" or "Sales Director" — that describes the function of the position. A job level, however, represents the tier or seniority of that role within the organizational structure. Adding job levels to a business title highlights factors like the skill level and responsibility associated with an employee. For example, "Marketing Specialist I" (entry-level), "Marketing Specialist II" (mid-level), and "Senior Marketing Specialist" (senior-level) all fall under different job levels, despite sharing a "Marketing Specialist" title.
Why are job levels important?
For employers, a well-defined job leveling system brings greater structure and transparency to how roles are defined, evaluated, and
compensated.
A structured job leveling framework is valuable because it helps organizations:
Promote pay equity and fair compensation. Standardizing roles based on complexity and impact allows companies to establish salary bands for each level and make sure employees with similar experience get the same compensation. By reducing pay disparities, employers foster trust across all types of jobs.
Clarify career progression. Job levels show the steps an employee needs to take to grow within an organization, including the increased responsibilities, skills, and experience for promotions. The transparency of these levels can help
motivate employees to set higher career aspirations.
Enable better workforce planning. From a strategic HR perspective, job leveling helps organizations assess their talent pool and forecast future staffing needs. By understanding
talent distribution across different departments, businesses can make informed decisions about recruitment and succession planning.
Improve transparency and role expectations. Clearly defined job levels help employees understand their roles and expectations. This increased transparency enhances accountability and cross-functional collaboration as team members recognize the scope of their colleagues' positions.
Criteria for assigning job levels
Assigning job levels involves evaluating a combination of qualitative and quantitative factors to determine the scope, complexity, and impact of a role. While specific criteria may vary by industry or organization, most companies rely on a consistent set of dimensions to differentiate between levels:
Seniority and experience. The longer employees work in a particular field or organization, the more knowledge and skills they typically accumulate. Job levels with higher seniority standards often correlate with greater independence and expertise.
Competency level. This refers to the depth and breadth of knowledge, skills, and abilities relevant to a role. Levels for technical roles might involve proficiency in specific software or programming languages. By contrast, competency for leadership roles focuses on managerial skills like strategic thinking, decision-making, and conflict resolution.
Autonomy and scope. Autonomy refers to the amount of independence an individual has in performing their duties. For instance, entry-level roles typically have limited autonomy because they work under close supervision, while senior roles have more significant decision-making authority. Scope refers to the reach of a role’s impact across the organization. A lower-level employee’s project might affect one team, but an executive’s decision affects the entire company.
Industry and job function. People who are considered experts in their industry typically have higher job levels. Factors like the technical sophistication, regulatory environment, and market dynamics of an industry all play a role in defining their expertise. For instance, a senior software engineer in a cutting-edge tech firm has very different criteria than a senior operations manager in a warehouse.
6 best practices for creating a job level classification
To ensure that job levels are scalable, equitable, and aligned with real-world responsibilities, HR leaders often rely on the following best practices:
1. Choose relevant job classification criteria
Start by selecting job classification criteria that reflect your company’s strategic priorities and workforce realities. Avoid defaulting to generic templates. Instead, engage stakeholders from across departments to ensure the selected criteria resonate with different functions and accurately capture the range of roles.
2. Balance breadth and depth
An effective job leveling system is comprehensive enough to cover relevant roles without being overly granular. Create enough levels to differentiate meaningfully without creating arbitrary distinctions.
3. Standardize across departments
Job levels should represent a consistent degree of experience, accountability, and impact — regardless of department or function. This standardization helps ensure internal equity, enables fair compensation comparisons, and promotes talent mobility across the organization.
4. Integrate with compensation and performance
Align job levels with clear salary bands and performance metrics. These distinctions help create a cohesive talent management system, supports pay equity, and sets clear employee expectations.
5. Document and communicate clearly
To be effective, a job leveling framework — including its criteria, definitions, and application guidelines — needs to be easily accessible to employees and managers. Additionally, clear and consistent communication about a system's purpose fosters greater understanding and buy-in.
6. Audit the hierarchy system regularly
The business environment is constantly evolving, and so should a company's job leveling qualifications. Conduct annual or biannual audits to assess a job level system's effectiveness and make necessary adjustments. This helps keep the system relevant and aligned with the latest organizational strategy.
Examples of job levels within an organization
The responsibilities and experience for certain job levels can vary between industries and organizations. However, there are a few job levels that are typically consistent across companies:
Job level | Typical responsibilities | Example titles |
Entry-level | Performs routine and supportive tasks under close supervision. Limited decision-making authority. Focus on learning and skill-building. | Junior Analyst, Associate, or Coordinator |
Mid-level | Works independently on defined projects with some leadership and decision-making in a defined scope. Responsible for specific project deliverables and may provide guidance to entry-level staff. | Specialist, Analyst, Consultant, or Team Lead |
Senior | Leads complex projects or initiatives with their technical or functional expertise. Makes significant contributions to departmental goals while developing and implementing new processes. Mentors junior staff and may manage a small team or a specific function. | Senior Specialist, Senior Engineer, or Manager |
Director | Oversees multiple teams or a department. Translates company strategy into departmental goals, manages budgets, and owns performance within their area. | Director, Senior Manager |
Executive | Sets the strategic direction for a department, division, or the entire organization. Most responsible for long-term planning and the financial performance of a company and has the authority to make critical, far-reaching decisions. Has broad authority and an organizational-wide impact. | Vice President (VP), Chief Operating Officer (COO), or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) |
Support financial wellness at every job level with EarnIn
Job levels play an essential role in shaping a fair and structured workplace. By organizing roles into clearly defined tiers, companies can align responsibilities, compensation, and growth opportunities. But while they help ensure fairness and transparency, they don’t shield employees from everyday financial pressures.
Even with a well-designed job leveling framework, employees at any level may still face financial stress that affects their focus and overall well-being. While defining job levels helps set compensation expectations and career paths, it doesn’t address the day-to-day financial challenges many workers experience.
Financial wellness solutions like
EarnIn provide the tools to help employees save, budget, and plan ahead. EarnIn’s
Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution, gives them access to a portion of their earned wages — up to $150/day, with a max of $750 between paydays.
Employees can choose to get paid in minutes starting at $3.99 per transfer
or receive their money in 1-3 business days at no cost. Tips are optional.
In addition to Earned Wage Access, EarnIn offers tools that support better financial habits. Employees also get access to free
Credit Monitoring to stay informed about changes to their credit score and
Tip Yourself, which makes it easy to automatically save with every paycheck, helping employees establish better habits over time.
Learn more about how
EarnIn can support your workforce today.
Please note, the material collected in this post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as or construed as advice regarding any specific circumstances. Nor is it an endorsement of any organization or services.
This Blog was sponsored by EarnIn. While the author received compensation, the information shared is grounded in independent research and intended to provide helpful and accurate guidance to readers.
EarnIn is a financial technology company not a bank. Banking Services are provided by Evolve Bank & Trust or Lead Bank, both member FDIC. The FDIC provides deposit insurance to protect your money in the event of a bank failure. More details about deposit insurance here. A pay period is the time between your paychecks, such as weekly, biweekly, or monthly. EarnIn determines your daily and pay period limits (“Daily Max” and “Pay Period Max”) based on your income and financial risk factors as outlined in the Cash Out Maxes section of our Cash Out User Agreement. EarnIn reserves the right to adjust the Daily Max and Pay Period Max at its discretion. Your actual Daily Max will be displayed in your EarnIn account before each Cash Out.
EarnIn does not charge interest on Cash Outs or mandatory fees for standard transfers, which usually take 1–2 business days. For faster transfers, you can choose the Lightning Speed option and pay a fee to receive funds within 30 minutes. Lightning Speed may not be available at all times and/or to all customers. Restrictions and terms apply; see the
Lightning Speed Fee Table and
Cash Out User Agreement for details and eligibility requirements. Tips are optional and do not affect the quality or availability of services.
Lightning Speed is an optional service that allows you to expedite the transfer of funds for a fee. Depending on the product, the fee may be charged by EarnIn or its banking partner. Lightning Speed may not be available in all states and/or to all customers. Restrictions and terms apply. See the
Lightning Speed Fee Table and
Cash Out User Agreement for details.
Tips go to EarnIn and help us provide tools such as Credit Monitoring for free and keep Lightning Speed fees low. Your service quality and availability aren’t affected by whether you tip or not.
Your VantageScore 3.0 from Experian® indicates your credit risk level and is not used by all lenders, so don't be surprised if your lender uses a score that's different from your VantageScore 3.0.
Learn more.
Tip Yourself Account funds and Tip Jars are held with Evolve Bank & Trust, member FDIC and FDIC insured up to $250,000. Tip Yourself is a 0% Annual Percentage Yield and $0 monthly fee service deposit account. For more information/details visit
Evolve Bank & Trust Customer Account Terms. The FDIC provides deposit insurance to protect your money in the event of a bank failure. More details about deposit insurance
here.
