The Big Idea

At Level 7, speed doesn’t come from sprints—it comes from incentives. You’ve scaled beyond what direct oversight can solve. Now, your people move faster when their motivations are aligned, their growth is visible, and their rewards match what you want to reinforce.

The levers aren’t tools or process anymore—they’re compensation, recognition, autonomy, and trust.

If your teams are delivering inconsistently, look at how they’re rewarded—not how they’re scheduled.

You Know You’re Struggling When

• You’re surprised by who’s unhappy or who’s leaving.
• Promotions feel arbitrary or get delayed because “they’re not ready.”
• ICs are chasing visibility instead of impact.
• Managers are inconsistent about what “good” looks like.
• ESOP grants are treated as admin, not a strategic retention tool.

If people are optimizing for the wrong things, it’s usually because you’re rewarding the wrong things.

Ideal State

You’ve designed a rewards system that matches what you value. Your team structure supports growth, and your incentives reinforce collaboration, learning, and delivery.

Your managers know how to promote without politics, your engineers know how to grow without guesswork, and your best people don’t leave because they feel seen, trusted, and fairly rewarded.

Speed at this level comes from clarity, not pressure.

Closing the Gap

1. Write down your promotion principles. What gets someone promoted here? If it’s not written, it’s inconsistent.
2. Audit your reward structure. Do your comp, equity, and praise systems reinforce the behavior you want—or contradict it?
3. Create a technical growth framework. Not for HR. For your team. Map out how seniority works in your context.
4. Decentralize recognition. Let managers and leads have budget or rituals to celebrate wins without top-down control.