A career framework for any department
Describe the roles and levels for sales, support, operations or the office in your own words. Nothing in LadderKit assumes the team writes code.
For small businesses
Career paths and development plans for small business teams
Give every role — sales, support, operations, the office — a visible path and a development plan, written in plain language by the owner or a team lead.
Free plan · No credit card required
Sounds familiar?
Why good people leave small businesses
People see no next step
In a team of fifteen there may be no promotion to aim for, and nobody has written down what getting better at the job looks like — so people assume that growing means leaving.
Nobody owns careers
The owner runs the business and managers run the work. Career conversations happen when someone hands in their notice.
The tools assume a software team
Sales, support, operations and office roles need career paths too — described in their own terms, not in engineering jargon.
HR software is built for HR departments
Enterprise performance tools assume someone whose job is to configure and run them. In an owner-run business, the person setting it up also runs a team.
How LadderKit helps
A path for every role, in plain language
Simple enough to keep current, structured enough to be fair.
Role descriptions people actually read
Each role has a description, the skills it needs and, if you want, a salary range. Once set, everyone in the company sees it in the app, next to who holds the role. Export the role as a PDF for a job offer or a review.
Development plans made of real actions
Agree a few growth actions with each person — what to do and by when — and track them until they are done. Reminders arrive before a deadline slips.
Feedback from colleagues, not only the boss
Ask colleagues for feedback on yourself or anyone on your team. They answer two simple questions — what the person does well and where they could grow — before the deadline, with a reminder if they forget.
Nothing depends on someone remembering
Each person's dashboard shows what is waiting for them — a self-assessment to finish, feedback to give, a check-in to review.
In practice
How a small business uses it
A career path for the sales team
- Step 1The owner describes three sales roles — say, sales representative, account executive and senior account executive — with the skills each one needs.
- Step 2Each rep rates themselves on prospecting, demos and negotiation; the manager adds their view and both see which skill is holding the next role back.
- Step 3They pick that one skill for the quarter and turn it into dated actions — shadow a colleague's demo, run a renewal on their own, lead a pipeline review — and look at the results together at the end of the quarter.
Keeping a good support team
- DefineThe support lead describes two levels and the skills that separate them: product knowledge, clear written replies, handling escalations.
- AskBefore each quarterly check-in, the lead requests feedback from the colleagues who work most closely with each person.
- PromoteWhen someone consistently works at the next level, the lead proposes a promotion with the reasoning, and the owner makes the decision.
Templates
Templates for roles beyond software
Ready-made ladders for the roles small businesses hire most. Rename the levels to match your own titles.
Sales
Account Executive
Four levels from Associate to Principal AE, across six competencies from building pipeline to closing complex deals.
- 4 levels
- 6 competencies
Customer support
Customer Support Specialist
Five levels from Support Associate to Head of Support, across seven competencies from solving tickets to running the function.
- 5 levels
- 7 competencies
Marketing
Marketing Manager
Five levels from Marketing Associate to VP of Marketing, across six competencies from shipping campaigns to owning growth.
- 5 levels
- 6 competencies
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
Pricing
Pricing a small business can plan for
One team can run on the Free plan — up to 10 people and 1 career framework. The moment you want a second team on its own path, say sales and support, Starter gives you up to 5 career frameworks for up to 35 people at €149 a month.
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
Common questions
Does it work for roles outside software?
Yes. A career framework is simply the roles, levels and skills you describe in your own words. Sales, support, operations and office roles work exactly like engineering ones.
What is an employee development plan in LadderKit?
It is the set of growth actions a person agrees with their manager: concrete things to do by a date, optionally linked to a skill, with progress updates and reminders until it is done or no longer relevant.
We are too small to promote people often. Is a career path still useful?
Yes. A path shows what growing in a role means — new responsibilities, harder customers, owning a process — even when the title rarely changes. That is often what keeps people from looking elsewhere.
Who in a small business should own career paths?
Usually the owner sets up the first framework, and each team's manager keeps it alive: running check-ins, agreeing growth actions and proposing promotions. It fits into the work they already do.
Where should a small business start?
With one team. Describe its roles, invite its people and run one round of check-ins. Add the next department once the first one is working. The Free plan covers one department; the second one needs Starter.
Further reading
- Development
How to write an individual development plan (with examples)
A short, practical IDP: start from one or two skill gaps, write concrete actions with dates and a clear finish line, and review them at every check-in. With a template and examples for four roles.
Updated 1 October 2026
- Check-ins
How to run performance check-ins: cadence, structure and questions
How often to hold career check-ins, how to prepare, a 45-minute structure for the conversation and a list of questions to use — with an example and the mistakes to avoid.
Updated 1 October 2026
Give every employee a reason to stay
Start free, describe your first team's roles, and agree development plans in your next check-ins.
Free plan · No credit card required