Seniority is the second-most load-bearing field on the role form, after the free-text brief. It drives the assessment item set, the interview question depth, and the rubric weighting.
The five levels, in our terms.
- Associate. 0 to 2 years in role family. Assessment items are scenario-pattern based. Interview probes for reasoning rather than experience.
- Mid. 2 to 5 years. Assessment items mix scenarios with tradeoff calls. Interview probes for ownership of a finished body of work.
- Senior. 5 to 9 years. Assessment items are tradeoff-heavy. Interview probes for a hard call made and a quantified outcome.
- Staff. 9 plus years, cross-team scope. Assessment items add system-level scenarios. Interview probes for cross-team influence and a written artefact (RFC, post-mortem, design doc).
- Principal. 12 plus years, organisation-level scope. Assessment items add organisation-level scenarios. Interview probes for a multi-year bet and the evidence behind it.
What to do when the title and the level disagree.
A title like "Engineering manager" can map to mid, senior, or staff depending on the team size. Pick the seniority that matches what the person will own at six months, not the title on the org chart. The rubric will track that.
If you change seniority on a live role, the rubric regenerates for new applicants only. Already-vetted candidates keep their original scores; the comparison stays apples-to-apples within the role.
What to do next: open the rubric preview before publishing and check the top three competency weights match the brief.