CAREER PERFORMANCE PROFILE

A career performance profile is LinkedIn’s blueprint for performance excellence. CPPs work in conjunction with
values and cultural tenets to guide performance management – providing tangible evidence of what excellence
looks like for a role, and in doing so helps managers and employees identify areas of talent development and
coaching to realize their desired career path.

Core Responsibilities (Skills and Behaviors for Job Family Success)

Profession Engineering

Job Family Software Engineering

Job Family Definition Software engineers build products and services by designing, coding and testing software. They also
drive related work like software security, relevance and analytics. At more senior levels, software
engineers also help define and balance business and technology strategy.
Individual
Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
Contributor
•  Understands  LinkedIn’s   •  Embodies  LinkedIn’s  culture   •  Acts  as  a  role  model  of   •  Coaches  others  on  the   •  Embodies  LinkedIn’s  culture  
Leadership   culture  and  values  and   and  values,  incorpora:ng  it   LinkedIn’s  culture  and   LinkedIn’s  culture  and  values   and  values  and  champions  
Be  a  role  model,   how  this  maps  to  one’s   into  the  way  one  works.   values  and  encourages   and  encourages  others  to   the  LinkedIn  way  both  
a  great  team   work.   •  Organizes  and/or   other  team  members  to   model  these  values.   internally  and  externally  to  
member  and   •  Ac:vely  par:cipates  in   par:cipates  in  team   also  live  the  values  at  work.   •  Leads,  organizes  and/or   the  tech  community.  
transform  your   team  discussions  by   discussions,  invi:ng  diverse   •  Leads,  organizes  and/or   par:cipates  in  cross   •  Leads,  organizes  and/or  
career  (and  the   being  open  to  diverse   ideas  and  engaging  in   par:cipates  in  cross  team   organiza:on  discussions,   par:cipates  in  global,  cross  
careers  of   ideas,  asking  ques:ons   healthy  conflict  when   discussions,  deliberately   bringing  in  diverse   organiza:on  discussions,  
to  learn  more,  while   needed.   bringing  in  diverse   perspec:ves  and  tes:ng   bringing  in  diverse  
others  around  
•  Supports  environment  where   perspec:ves  and  ensuring   ideas  through  a  ‘member’s   perspec:ves  and  tes:ng  
you)   respec:ng  different  
failure  is  viewed  as  an   ideas  are  challenged   first’  lens   ideas  through  a  ‘member’s  
work  styles  and  
opportunity  to  learn  and   respecKully.   •  Creates  an  environment   first’  lens  
approaches.   improve  work.   •  Learns  from  own  failures,   where  intelligent  risks  are   •  Creates  a  culture  where  
•  Learns  from  own   •  Works  independently  to  find   and  acts  as  a  role  model  for   encouraged  in  the  interest  of   failure  is  viewed  as  an  
Core Responsibilities

failures,  and  improves   facts  and  effec:vely   others  to  do  the  same,  by   learning  from  both  failures   important  learning  
own  and  other’s  work   communicates  ideas  that   openly  and  respecKully   and  successes.   opportunity,  by  publicly  
as  a  result.   influences  products/services.   discussing  failures  and   •  Proac:vely  iden:fies  product   discussing  own  failures  and  
•  Strives  to  act  as  an   •  Supports  team  members  by   learnings.   or  technology  opportuni:es,   learnings.  
owner  by  finding  facts   onboarding  new  engineers,   •  Leads  team  projects,   as  well  as  process   •  Acts  as  a  primary  driver  of  
and  presen:ng  ideas  to   delivering  construc:ve   defines  technical   improvements  across   the  vision  for  product,  
the  team  that  improves   feedback  and  mentors   specifica:ons  and   engineering,  and  influences   technology  and/or  process  
products/services.   others.   influences  the  direc:on  of   leaders  to  execute  on  those   across  LinkedIn  and  
•  Drives  their  own  self   •  Engages  in  resolving  conflict   product/services  strategy   opportuni:es  to  create   champions  ini:a:ves  in  
development  by   in  a  healthy  way.   with  impact  across  the   impact  across  the   support  of  that  vision.  
accep:ng  construc:ve   organiza:on.   organiza:on.   •  Demonstrates  thought  
feedback  and   •  Shares  learnings  and   •  Shares  knowledge  by   leadership  by  providing  
proac:vely  seeks  career   mentors  other  engineers  in   providing  on  the  job   guidance  and  mentorship  to  
guidance.   the  team  to  improve   mentorship  and  guidance   engineers  which  enhances  
•  Engages  in  resolving   others’  skills.   across  the  organiza:on  in   LinkedIn’s  industry  
conflict  in  a  healthy   •  Engages  in  resolving   order  to  up-­‐level  the   reputa:on  and  aRracts  
way.     conflict  in  a  healthy  way.   engineering  org.   external  talent.  
•  Engages  in  resolving  conflict   •  Engages  in  resolving  conflict  
in  a  healthy  way  by  u:lizing   in  a  healthy  way  by  u:lizing  
the  clean  escala:on  process   the  clean  escala:on  process  
as  needed.   as  needed.  
Individual Senior Software
Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
Contributor Engineer

Execu.on   •  Becomes  familiar  with   •  Engages  and  influences   •  Defines  and  manages  a   •  Defines  and  manages  a   •  Defines,  manages  and  influences  
his/hers  own  team’s   individuals  from  other   shared  global  strategy  and/ shared  global  strategy  and/ cross-­‐func:onal  stakeholders  to  get  
Collaborate,  
goals,  strategy  and   teams  to  understand   or  roadmap,  iterates  plan   or  roadmap  with  key  cross-­‐ buy-­‐in  on  a  shared  global  vision  and/
Balance,   tac:cs  and  how  these   and  align  goals,   as  required  and  alerts   func:onal  stakeholders  and   or  product/technology  roadmap,  
Commit  &   align  to  key   strategy  and  tac:cs.   stakeholders  of  any   engages  global  teams  to   which  enables  a  seamless  end-­‐to-­‐end  
Get  Results   stakeholders.   •  Communicates  with   changes  in  plan.   execute  on  these  plans,   customer  experience,  and  leads  
•  Engages  in  team   individuals  from  other   •  Designs  and  develops  to   iterates  plan  as  needed  and   others  to  execute  on  the  shared  plan,  
mee:ngs  to  develop  a   teams  and  listens   serve  the  business  and   no:fies  stakeholders  of   itera:ng  as  needed  and  aler:ng  other  
beRer  understanding   carefully  to  understand   technology  objec:ves.   changes.   teams  of  any  changes.  
of  business  and   their  business  and   •  Works  with  other  teams   •  Designs  and  develops  to   •  Designs  and  develops  to  serve  the  
technology  objec:ves.   technology  objec:ves.   and  listens  carefully  to   serve  the  business  and   business  and  technology  objec:ves.  
•  Understands  systems   •  Iden:fies  areas  to   create  efficiencies  across   technology  objec:ves.   •  Designs  work  around  shared  goals  or  
and  processes  and   partner  on  cross-­‐group   the  organiza:on  locally   •  Designs  work  around  shared   customer  benefits,  and  removes  
begins  to  iden:fy   ini:a:ves  to  achieve   and  globally.   goals  or  customer  benefits,   barriers  that  inhibit  healthy  
joint  or  complementary   Partners  on  cross-­‐group   and  removes  barriers  that   collabora:on  across  the  global  team.  
Core Responsibilities

ways  to  improve   • 

opera:ons  and   goals.   ini:a:ves  to  achieve  local   inhibit  healthy  collabora:on   •  Takes  a  broad  perspec:ve  over  the  
•  Has  a  track  record  of   and  global  business  goals   across  the  global  team.   business  to  iden:fy  cross-­‐group  
sustainability.  
delivering  high  quality   where  appropriate,  and   •  Aligns  different  POVs  across   collabora:on  opportuni:es  
•  Demonstrates  an  
products/services,   respecKully  holds  other   teams  and  makes  smart   worldwide  and  drives  teams  to  
ability  to  consistently   meets  agreed   accountable  to  shared   trade-­‐offs  between  own  and   operate  collabora:vely.  
deliver  assigned  work   commitments,  and   goals.   other  team’s  goals  to  realize   •  Understands  implica:ons  of  own  
on  :me  and  meet   supports  other  to   •  Has  a  track  record  of   LinkedIn’s  broader  goals   decisions  and  ac:ons  on  others  
agreed  commitments.   achieve  their   delivering  high  quality   faster  and/or  more   internally  as  well  external  impact  on  
•  Builds  to   commitments.   products/services  for  large   efficiently.   members.  
requirements.   •  Builds  to  requirements.   or  complex  projects,   •  Has  a  track  record  of  making   •  Has  a  track  record  of  guiding  large  
mee:ng  their  own  and   a  big  impact  by  delivering   teams  of  engineers  to  deliver  high  
assis:ng  the  team  achieve   high  quality,  products/ impact,  high  quality,  products/
commitments.   services  that  solve  large  and   services  that  solve  large  and  complex  
•  Starts  to  define  project   complex  problems  to  meet   problems  that  meet  own  and  team’s  
stretch  goals  and  measures   own  and  team   commitments,  and  can  also  be  
success,  holding  the   commitments  that  can  also   leveraged  by  others.  
broader  team  accountable   be  leveraged  by  others.   •  Creates  a  culture  that  intelligently  
for  mee:ng  them.   •  Defines  project  stretch  goals   challenges  work  objec:ves  and  
and  measures  success,   success  measures,  and  asks  the  right  
holding  the  broader  team   ques:ons  to  raise  the  quality  bar  and  
accountable  for  mee:ng   drive  the  best  outcomes.  
them.  
Individual Senior Software
Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Staff Engineer
Contributor Engineer

Cra2smanship   Pays  aFenCon  in  product   •  Has  a  strong   •  Has  a  strong  knowledge  of   •  Has  a  strong  knowledge  of   •  Brings  knowledge  and  
and/or  code  reviews  to:   understanding  of   LinkedIn’s  technical  stack   LinkedIn’s  technical  stack   understanding  of  broader  
Take  pride  in  
•  Understand  LinkedIn’s   LinkedIn’s  technical  stack   and  produc:on  environment   and  produc:on   so[ware  engineering  issues  
the  quality  of   technical  stack  and  seeks   and  produc:on   and  employs  this  to  solve   environment  and  uses  this   into  LinkedIn’s  so[ware  
your  work,   to  understand  the   environment.   difficult  problems  and  help   to  solve  difficult  problems   design.  
when  available   produc:on  environment.     •  Consistently  generates   others  do  so  too.   and  help  others.     •  Applies  cross  domain  
use  exisCng   •  Starts  to  write  elegant   elegant  code  and  reviews   •  Improves  design   •  Seeks  opportuni:es  to   knowledge  to  solve  complex  
soluCons,  and   code  to  specifica:on  that   other’s  work  to  provide   specifica:ons  and  writes   improve  the  stack.   problems  with  elegant  
meets  LinkedIn’s  high   construc:ve  feedback   elegant  code  that  meets  high   •  Proac:vely  iden:fies  and   technical  solu:ons  that  are  
strive  to  write  
quality  standards  (i.e.   and  rigor,  in  order  to   quality  standards,  and  builds   solves  problems  in  unique   well  integrated  with  the  
elegant   operable  performance,   meet  high  quality   rigor  into  team  processes  to   and  innova:ve  ways  that   exis:ng  environment.    
soDware  and   secure)   standards  (i.e.  operable   ensure  the  team  consistently   creates  new  ways  of  doing   •  Ac:vely  improves  the  level  of  
inspire  your   •  Starts  to  understand   performance,  secure).   meets  a  high  quality   things.   cra[smanship  at  LinkedIn  by  
team  to  do  the   what  already  exists  in   •  Seeks  to  understand   standard.   •  Ac:vely  improves  the  level   se\ng  a  high  standard  for  
the  company  and  how  it   what  already  exists  in  the   Solves  complex  problems  by   of  cra[smanship  at  LinkedIn   code  quality,  processes  and  
Core Responsibilities

same     • 
can  be  leveraged  to  do   company  and  uses  it   itera:ng,  redesigning  and   by  focusing  on  se\ng  a  high   standards.  
his/her  own  work.   appropriately  to  build   innova:ng  systems.   standard  for  code  quality,   •  Constantly  seeks  to  establish  
•  Learns  how  to  make   products/services   •  Seeks  to  have  a  strong   processes  and  standards.   a  culture  across  teams  where  
assigned  work  easy  for   efficiently.   understanding  of  what   •  Constantly  seeks  to   engineers  rou:nely  u:lize  
others  to  reuse.   •  Designs  and  generates   already  exists  in  the   establish  a  culture  where   exis:ng  work  (before  
•  Follows  exis:ng   work  that  can  be  easily   company  and  is  able  to  reuse   engineers  rou:nely  reuse   crea:ng  their  own).  
processes  and  norms  to   leveraged  in  other’s   to  build  efficiently.   exis:ng  work  (before   •  Constantly  designs  products/
solve  problems  and   work.   •  Is  skilled  in  designing  output   crea:ng  their  own).   services  that  can  be  u:lized  
create  a  consistent   •  Iden:fies  areas  for   that  can  easily  be  used  by   •  Designs  products/services   by  others,  and  seeks  out  
customer  experience.   improvement,  makes   others.   and  code  so  they  can  be   exis:ng  knowledge  and  best  
recommenda:ons  for   •  Helps  junior  team  members   reused  by  others.   prac:ces  and  brings  this  back  
change  and  takes   find  ways  to  design  and   •  Helps  team  members  find   into  LinkedIn.  
responsibility  to  solve  for   create  work  that  can  be  used   ways  to  reuse  what  already   •  Helps  team  members  find  
it.       by  others.   exists,  and  design  work  so   ways  to  reuse  what  already  
•  Seeks  out  ways  to  op:mize   that  it  can  be  u:lized  by   exists,  and  design  work  that  
processes,  as  well  as  manage   others.   can  be  u:lized  by  others.  
and  organize  work  to   •  Seeks  out  ways  to  do  things   •  Provides  thought  leadership  
improve  business   beRer  and/or  faster  by   on  ways  to  improve  
performance.   leveraging  metrics  and   organiza:onal  performance,  
insights,  and  develops  best   and  develops  best  prac:ces  
prac:ces  to  increase   to  increase  effec:veness  of  
effec:veness  of  the  team.   the  organiza:on.