For startups
Startups
For founders of 10–60-person startups setting up levels, their first managers and fair promotions.
Build careers, not just headcount
Clear career paths for growing teams
LadderKit helps startups, tech companies and small businesses define career levels, run meaningful check-ins and make fair promotion decisions — in one simple tool.
Free plan · No credit card required
Sound familiar?
Why career development stalls in growing companies
Most teams outgrow their first way of handling careers long before anyone notices.
Career growth lives in spreadsheets
Levels sit in a document nobody opens, and every manager keeps their own idea of what “senior” means.
Promotions come down to gut feeling
Without a shared bar, decisions depend on who asks, who is visible and who happens to be in the room — and people notice.
1:1s drift without structure
Status updates crowd out career conversations, and what was agreed last quarter is forgotten by the next one.
Built for
Built for teams that are still growing
Startups, tech companies and small businesses run careers differently. See how LadderKit fits yours.
For tech companies
Tech companies
For CTOs and department heads at 50–200-person tech and SaaS companies who need levels that mean the same thing in every team.
For small businesses
Small businesses
For owner-run businesses where sales, support and operations need a career path as much as anyone — set up by the people who run the team.
How it works
From career framework to promotion in four steps
One loop for every team: write the bar down, see the work, talk about it, act on it.
Define the framework
Describe the levels, roles and skills for each department, so everyone can see what the next level requires.
Collect evidence
Tie real work to the skills a role requires: self-assessments, manager comments, colleagues’ feedback and progress on growth actions.
Run check-ins
Hold structured performance conversations anchored to the framework, with a clear stage, both sides’ ratings and a PDF summary.
Decide promotions
A manager proposes, someone above them decides, and the org chart updates on the effective date — with the reasoning on record.
Career frameworks
A career framework for every department
Engineering, sales, design or support — each department gets its own framework with tracks, levels and roles. Keep it in draft while you shape it, then publish it for the whole team.
See how career frameworks workSkills matrix
A skills matrix that shows what the next level needs
Describe each skill once, with what it looks like at every level, then set the level each role expects. Add salary ranges and export any role as a PDF.
Explore the skills matrixCheck-ins
Structured check-ins for better performance conversations
Every check-in follows the same path: self-assessment, manager review, shared, completed. It comes pre-filled with the skills the person’s role requires and ends with a summary you can export.
See how check-ins work1:1 Meetings
One-on-one meetings with notes and follow-ups
The manager takes notes during the 1:1 and publishes the record once the meeting is over. Open follow-ups carry into the next record, the employee replies in comments, and the skills discussed tie it to their role.
See how 1:1 records workFeedback
Peer feedback from the people who see the work
Ask a colleague for feedback about yourself or someone below you, with a deadline, or give it unprompted. Two simple questions — strengths and where to grow — and a reminder before the due date.
Explore feedback requestsGrowth actions
Development plans made of concrete actions
Turn a check-in into commitments: what to do and by when, linked to a skill. Progress updates keep both sides in the loop, and reminders arrive before a deadline slips.
Explore growth actionsPromotions
A fair promotion process with a clear decision trail
A manager writes the case, someone above them approves, rejects or asks for more, and the new role takes effect on the agreed date. The person is told when it takes effect.
See the promotion workflow
Templates
Start from a career ladder template
Ready-made levels and competency matrices for common roles. Use one as a starting point, adapt it to your team, and set it up in LadderKit.
Engineering
DevOps Engineer
Four levels from Junior to Staff DevOps Engineer, across six competencies from infrastructure to developer enablement.
- 4 levels
- 6 competencies
Engineering
Engineering Manager
Four levels from Engineering Manager to VP of Engineering, across six management competencies.
- 4 levels
- 6 competencies
Engineering
QA Engineer
Four levels from Junior QA to Lead QA Engineer, across six competencies from test design to quality practices.
- 4 levels
- 6 competencies
Engineering
Software Engineer
Five levels from Junior to Principal, across six competencies from shipping code to growing the team.
- 5 levels
- 6 competencies
Product
Product Manager
Five levels from Associate PM to Head of Product, across six competencies from discovery to product strategy.
- 5 levels
- 6 competencies
Design
Product Designer
Five levels from Junior Designer to Head of Design, across six competencies from research to design systems.
- 5 levels
- 6 competencies
Live demo
Look around a company that already runs on LadderKit
Northwind Labs is a fictional B2B SaaS company with a year of LadderKit behind it. Open the demo and you are its COO — no signup, nothing to set up.
65 people in 5 departments
Each department has its own career framework, and Marketing is still drafting theirs.
A year of history
Quarterly check-ins, feedback all year round, growth actions and promotions — each with the story behind it.
Work waiting for you
A promotion to decide, your department heads’ check-ins to review, colleagues asking for your feedback.
Read-only, fresh every day
Click anything: nothing you do changes the data. It is rebuilt every day, so the dates are always current.
Pricing
Priced per organisation, not per seat
One monthly price for the whole team. Start free and upgrade when you are ready.
Free
€0/month
For small teams putting career levels in writing for the first time.
- Up to 10 people
- 1 career framework
- Every core feature
Starter
€149/month
For growing teams ready to formalise their career paths.
- Up to 35 people
- Up to 5 career frameworks
- Every core feature
- Slack notifications
- Option to require Google or Microsoft sign-in
Most popular
Growth
€299/month
For scaling companies with several teams and departments.
- Up to 80 people
- Up to 10 career frameworks
- Every core feature
- Slack notifications
- Option to require Google or Microsoft sign-in
Scale
€499/month
For larger organisations that need room to grow.
- Unlimited people
- Unlimited career frameworks
- Every core feature
- Slack notifications
- Option to require Google or Microsoft sign-in
Every core feature is on every plan. Paid plans add Slack notifications and the option to require Google or Microsoft sign-in; otherwise you pay for plan size — people and career frameworks.
FAQ
Questions teams ask before they start
Do we need an HR team to use LadderKit?
No. LadderKit is built for companies that don’t have an HR department yet. A founder, CTO or team lead can set up career frameworks, invite the team and run check-ins without any HR background.
How long does it take to set up?
Creating an organisation and inviting your team takes minutes. Writing your first career framework takes longer — deciding what each level means is the real work — so you can keep it in draft and publish it when it’s ready.
Can non-engineering teams use it?
Yes. Each department gets its own career framework, so sales, design, support, operations and engineering can each describe their own levels and skills in the same tool.
Can we take documents out of LadderKit?
Yes. Any role exports as a PDF with its description, required skill levels and salary ranges, and every completed check-in has a PDF summary you can share or file.
Which languages does LadderKit support?
The app is available in 28 languages. Each person picks their own language, and their emails and notifications follow that choice.
How do people sign in?
With an email and password, or with Sign in with Google or Sign in with Microsoft. Colleagues join through an email invitation, and on paid plans an admin can require Google or Microsoft sign-in for everyone.
Give your team a clear path to grow
Start free, invite your team and publish your first career framework this week.
Free plan · No credit card required