Job architecture, grading and career frameworks
Job Architecture Consultancy
Create a clear organisational framework connecting roles, job families, career levels, grades and pay.
Reward Associates helps organisations design practical job architectures that reflect their strategy, workforce and operating context. We define consistent ways to describe, group and level roles so managers and employees can understand how work is organised, how careers can develop and how roles connect to grades and pay.
Role Profiling & Levelling
We support organisations in describing roles consistently, establishing clear work levels and mapping positions into a coherent architecture. The approach is tailored to the client and delivered within a practical job architecture framework.
Role profiling and mapping
- Role profiles and role-purpose statements
- Role mapping across functions and locations
- Benchmark-role selection
- Consistency and calibration reviews
Role levelling and governance
- Client-specific work-level criteria
- Level descriptors and decision guidance
- Moderation and decision records
- Controls for new or changed roles
Client-Specific Work-Level Frameworks
We create work-level frameworks around each organisation’s unique context, accountabilities, career paths and operating model.
The result is a practical and transparent basis for role alignment, with governance designed around the client’s organisation and intended use.
Global Job Architecture
We develop job architectures that provide a common language for roles across functions, businesses and countries while allowing appropriate local flexibility.
- Job families and sub-families
- Disciplines and career streams
- Career levels and level descriptors
- Job codes and title conventions
- Generic role profiles
- Global consistency and local flexibility
- Role mapping and implementation
- Architecture governance
Career Frameworks & Career Levels
Career frameworks make progression visible across professional, management, specialist and technical pathways. They clarify what distinguishes one level from another and support both upward and lateral careers.
Framework design
Professional and management pathways, specialist and technical careers, level descriptors, progression criteria, lateral moves and career pathways.
Connected people systems
A coherent architecture can support reward, talent, succession, learning, performance, workforce planning and employee career visibility.
Grade Architecture & Pay Structures
We connect role levels and career architecture to grade and salary structures that reflect market position, affordability and internal consistency.
- Grade structures and broad bands
- Salary bands and salary ranges
- Reference salaries and market positioning
- Grade mapping and legacy structures
- Pay progression and range controls
- Governance and maintenance
How the framework connects
Questions we answer
What is job architecture?
Job architecture is the framework that organises roles into job families, career streams and levels. It provides a consistent foundation for grades, careers, workforce planning and pay.
How are roles levelled?
Roles are levelled using clear, client-specific criteria that reflect the scale, scope, accountability and contribution expected at each level. Benchmark roles and calibration help improve consistency.
Do global and local structures work together?
Yes. A global architecture can define the common language—families, levels and governance—while allowing local pay ranges, titles or implementation choices where labour markets and regulation differ.
Related expertise
Job architecture consultancy support
Job architecture works best when decisions are based on clear principles, reliable evidence and practical governance. We help organisations diagnose the current position, design families and levels, test the framework with benchmark roles, map the workforce and prepare stakeholders for consistent implementation. The work is tailored to the organisation’s strategy, workforce, risk profile and available budget, with clear outputs that can be maintained after the engagement.
Develop the building blocks of job architecture
- Global Grading — create comparable levels across countries and business units.
- Job Families & Levelling — define work families and increasing levels of contribution.
- Career Frameworks — connect role levels to visible career paths and progression.
Explore job architecture services
Discuss job architecture, grading or career frameworks
We can support a focused diagnostic or lead the design and implementation of a global framework.