Data and analytics
Data Analyst
Five levels from Junior to Principal Analyst, across seven competencies from framing questions to changing decisions.
- 5 levels
- 7 competencies
Skills matrix
Skills matrix software that shows what every role requires
Write down what each skill looks like at every level, set the level each role needs, and give everyone a clear view of their role.
Free plan · No credit card required
How it works
How a skills matrix comes together
Describe a skill once
Write a skill with a description of every level and examples of what that level looks like in practice. Start from scratch, from a built-in skill, or by duplicating one that is close.
Arrange it for a department
Pull skills into a department's framework, sort them into groups such as Craft or Leadership, and set the level each role needs. Leave a cell empty when a role doesn't need the skill.
Give every role a card
A role card brings it together: the role's description, the skills it requires with their levels, and its salary ranges — exportable as a PDF.
Assess against it
The matrix is what people are reviewed against: a check-in pulls in exactly the cells of the person's own role, so nobody is rated on a skill their role does not need.
Permissions
Who does what
- Admins
- Manage the organisation's skill library, edit any department's matrix, and set salary ranges on any role.
- Department editors
- Build their department's matrix — groups, skills, required levels — and edit role descriptions and salary ranges. They can create and duplicate skills, and change a library skill when its settings allow editors.
- Employees
- Read the matrix of every published framework, open any role card — with its salary ranges, if they are set — and download it as a PDF.
Good to know
The details
- Built-in skills to start from
- Every organisation gets a library of over a hundred ready-made skills across engineering, product, design and leadership. They cannot be edited, but any of them can be duplicated and adapted.
- Pay ranges are optional, and open once set
- Ranges are optional. Once set, anyone who can open a role sees them — in the app, next to who holds the role, and in the role's PDF. Only admins and the department's editors can change them.
- More than one range per role
- A role can carry several ranges, per currency and per location — for example one for an office in EUR and one for remote work in USD.
- Groups keep it readable
- Group skills into whatever categories suit the department, and reorder groups and skills as the framework grows.
Keep exploring
Related
Templates to start from
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
Design
Product Designer
Five levels from Junior Designer to Head of Design, across six competencies from research to design systems.
- 5 levels
- 6 competencies
Who it is for
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.
Further reading
- Career ladders
How to build a career ladder: a step-by-step guide
A practical, seven-step method for companies of 20 to 200 people: tracks, levels, competencies, expectations, calibration and rollout — with a worked example and the mistakes to avoid.
Updated 1 October 2026
- Career ladders
How many levels should a career ladder have?
Four to six levels per track covers most companies of 20 to 200 people. How to pick the number for yours, the signs you have too few or too many, and how to add a level later.
Updated 1 October 2026
FAQ
Common questions
Is a skills matrix the same as a competency matrix?
For practical purposes, yes. LadderKit calls the rows skills; each has a description per level, and the matrix sets which level every role expects.
Does every role need every skill?
No. Leave a cell empty and the skill is simply not required for that role, so it won't appear in that role's check-ins.
Can two departments use the same skill?
Yes. A skill lives in the organisation's library and can be added to several departments' frameworks, each setting its own required levels.
What does a role's PDF contain?
The role's name, level and description, every required skill with its level description and examples, and its salary ranges. Section headings are in English.
Can we change the built-in skills?
Not directly, because the built-in skills are shared by every organisation. Duplicate one and the copy is yours to edit.
Show every role what the next level requires
Start free and build your first skills matrix from the built-in skills.
Free plan · No credit card required