☰
×
Dropbox Engineering Career Framework
Overview
What is Impact?
M4 Engineering Manager
I employ a robust managerial toolbox to independently lead a team of engineers delivering direct business impact
Scope
Area of ownership and level of autonomy / ambiguity
Collaborative Reach
Organizational reach and extent of influence
Impact Levers
Organizational levers typically exercised to achieve business impact
  • I independently lead my team to deliver business impact through successfully driving results on projects in support of semi-annual/annual goals.
  • I am increasingly able to independently identify and tackle projects that solve open-ended, ambiguous problems that are often beyond the scope of my immediate team.
  • I am effective at influencing outcomes across multiple teams and with cross-functional partners, often requiring conflict resolution and managing ambiguity.
  • I autonomously guide my team to the sustainable delivery of business impact through my mastery of execution and people management.
  • I am increasingly able to achieve impact through influence, planning strategically, problem solving and effective decision making.
  • I cultivate a healthy environment of growth and support that empowers my teams to consistently deliver at a high level of impact.

trophy Results

Responsibility
Key Behaviors
Impact
  • I identify new opportunities for my team to execute that have org/company-wide impact 
  • I refocus my team's efforts when results aren’t moving the needle for our business/team goals or serving the needs of customers in a meaningful way
  • I know which levers to pull to drive meaningful results and understand the wider, cross-functional implications of my team's work
  • I am responsible for ensuring that results do not come at the expense of long term growth, retention, or psychological safety
  • My team is delivering results across multiple impactful projects while demonstrating a very high standard of execution
Ownership
  • I have a sense of responsibility and obligation to act on opportunities I see across my org
  • I create an environment where my teams can learn from failures to drive better business outcomes
  • I unblock myself and my team by assessing and eliminating the root cause
Decision Making
  • I make informed decisions by consulting the right stakeholders and balancing details with the big picture
  • I'm able to reach the right decision despite conflicting perspectives and act thoughtfully and decisively
Operational Excellence
  • I set goals and objectives at the right altitude and hold my team accountable to them
  • I run efficient processes, while minimizing unnecessary work about work. I ensure that appropriate information is disseminated within the team.
  • I drive operational cadences that get to the right outcomes
  • I build healthy partnerships with stakeholders and teams with whom my teams have long-lived relationships

glowing star Direction

Responsibility
Key Behaviors
Agility
  • I am a calming influence on my team in times of change and uncertainty 
  • I coach my team to navigate complexity and ambiguity
  • When necessary, I am able to introduce change into the organization and guide my team accordingly.
Innovation
  • I champion bold, creative, and productive approaches for my team and lead them to generate solutions that aim to deliver better results
  • I set audacious goals for my team, encourage them to take risks, and share lessons learned
  • I create psychological safety for my team to promote experimentation and learning
Strategy
  • I am increasingly thinking about how my team fits within the broader engineering organization and I make tradeoffs that optimize for the overall organization rather than locally for my team
  • I define the vision for my teams in alignment with company-wide priorities and inspire my team and cross-discipline stakeholders to work toward that vision
  • I resolve misalignments with stakeholder teams and cross-discipline partners with differing goals
  • I am independently planning for and articulating goals over increasingly longer time horizons, even in the face of material ambiguity

deciduous tree Talent

Responsibility
Key Behaviors
Personal Growth
  • I proactively ask for feedback from those I work with and have self-awareness about my strengths and areas for development
  • I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow
  • I invest time in being a better manager and leader
Hiring
  • I attract and hire a diverse and talented team with a broad range of experiences and strengths
  • I am actively involved in interviewing and assessing candidates to help us build a diverse and talented team. In addition, I ensure my team is calibrated and conducting interviews.
  • I build strong relationships with candidates and can represent Dropbox's mission, strategy, and culture throughout the interview process  
  • I have a strong pulse on my team's engagement and a proactive retention strategy
Talent Development
  • I foster the career growth of my team members by taking into account their career goals and looking for ways to provide meaningful development experiences based on their skills and interest. I give opportunities to work on next-level assignments that demonstrate readiness for promotion when appropriate
  • I hold my team accountable for performance expectations and take different approaches to motivating high performers and turning around low performers  
  • I can guide and grow senior ICs, helping them advance their careers by finding highly-leveraged roles for them within the organization, not just my team
Organizational planning
  • I structure my team so the right people are in the right roles with clearly defined responsibilities. I independently ensure projects are staffed appropriately to set them up for success, placing my strongest technical leaders where they are the most needed and impactful.
  • I can independently plan for the headcount and recruiting needs of my team

rainbow Culture

Responsibility
Key Behaviors
Collaboration
  • I help break down silos within and across functions and influence others to reach the best outcome for Dropbox
  • I build deep cross-functional relationships, facilitate the right conversations, and settle disagreements by managing different viewpoints
  • I avoid blame and solve the right problems, disagreeing and committing when necessary to move critical priorities forward
Organizational Health
  • I motivate others to bring their authentic selves everyday and contribute to building community at Dropbox
  • I remove barriers to inclusion for my team and ensure diverse perspectives are considered and included
  • When I become aware of any lapse in my team’s culture, I communicate and follow through on plans to correct and prevent recurrence of the lapse.
  • I am aware of my public presence and actions and their influence on the people around me and Dropbox’s culture
Communication
  • I write and speak with clarity, tailor my message to my audience, and listen to understand others
  • I proactively share information so the right people are informed and aligned
  • I champion my team and team members with others at Dropbox, including leadership