Competency Framework

<aside> 💡 A competency framework outlines the key skills, behaviours, and attributes required for success in a role, providing a long-term guide for professional development.

Meanwhile, personal goals are required to set specific, short-term objectives set for individuals to achieve within a certain period, aligning with immediate business needs and performance expectations.

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Core Competency	Associate (020)	Mid (030)	Senior (040)	Staff (051)	Head of (100)
Expertise
Design Principles Mastery	You demonstrate good understanding of design principles and apply them into day-to-day design deliverables.	You demonstrate mastery of design principles and applies them into day-to-day design deliverables. You start to form tenets as you design and fall back on them to help make decisions.	You demonstrate mastery of design principles and applies them into design deliverables, and contribute in product shaping conversations.
You promote design principles to the org to advocate for user experience.		You demonstrate mastery of design principles and applies them into design deliverables, and contribute in product shaping conversations. You promote design principles to the org to advocate for user experience which overlaps with business value.	You are the owner of design principles and applies them not only in design but also in leadership conversations to shape business strategies and product direction across different functions.
Design Excellence	You follow Material Design and HCI guidelines.
You explore multiple solutions for problems, leveraging our design system for components and styles. Your designs strive for consistency with patterns throughout the product.
You ensure high standards of design quality, in terms of fulfilling product/design requirements, clear engineer hands-off as well as user satisfaction.	You demonstrate mastery of Material Design and HCI guidelines.
You understand the problem clearly, and explore multiple solutions. You are able to leverage on existing components, and strive for consistency with patterns throughout the product.
You proficiently deliver user flow diagram, UI design and prototypes. You possess good sense of information hierarchy and compositions.
You always stay up to date on design trend, and reflect them in your work.	You are a master of Material Design and HCI guidelines.
You can identify the problem clearly, and explore multiple solutions. You breathe the design system and know when to use existing components and when to create a new one. You design is consistent with patterns throughout the product.
You proficiently deliver user flow diagram, UI design and prototypes effectively. You master information hierarchy and compositions.
You are highly alert on design trends, and reflect them in your work and lead the team to stay up to date.		You proficiently deliver user flow diagram, UI design and prototypes effectively. You are well-versed in common industry interaction patterns and their nuances across platforms.
You are able to identify user and business problems across the product, and bring solutions to address problems. You master information hierarchy and compositions.
You elevate the design system constantly in terms of accessibility and scalability.
You constantly lead the team to adapt new design trends and tools to stay relevant in the market and bring the best experience for users.	You have great eyes for design quality and raise the bar of the design team. That includes compositions, scalability, aesthetics, interactions and design proposition.
You lead the team to adapt new design trends and tools to stay relevant in the market.
You drive the team to carry on experience improvements of existing and new products.
You challenge both the design team and other functions (Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Support etc.) to push for better user experience.
Craftsmanship	You proficiently deliver user flow diagrams, UI design and prototypes, and ensure your deliverables are accurate and scalable.
You demonstrate a good sense of information hierarchy in your design.
You explore a wide breadth of design options and articulate trade-offs with each. You posses deep understanding on where our system can flex to accommodate certain needs. You are familiar with common industry interaction patterns and reference them in your work.
Your deliverables include clear and comprehensive design documentation, including user flow, scenarios and states, UI annotations, SSOT and design rationale.	You ensure high standards of design quality, in terms of fulfilling product/design requirements, clear engineer hands-off as well as user satisfaction.
Your work is thorough and complete when it comes to all interaction details (like hover/focus and shortcuts).		You oversee design execution across multiple projects. You actively design features according to the requirements of future projects, and look to find efficiency through shared components and patterns.	N/A
Impact
Business Metrics	You are building an understanding of the business and its 4 key metrics, including New User Deposit Rate, Net Deposit, Subscription Monthly Recurring Revenue and Net Promotor Score. You ask good questions to understand who you’re building for and why.	Your work aims to solve key user problems, with the ability to connect your work to the 4 key business metrics, including New User Deposit Rate, Net Deposit, Subscription Monthly Recurring Revenue and Net Promotor Score.
You participate in prioritisation and planning conversations.	You identify opportunities to move the 4 key business metrics, including New User Deposit Rate, Net Deposit, Subscription Monthly Recurring Revenue and Net Promotor Score.
You challenge your team on what to build, why, and for whom. You are able to identify measurable KPIs to evaluate your work’s effectiveness.		You lead strategic design initiatives effectively. You proactively conduct product discovery to identify opportunities to drive the 4 key business metrics, including New User Deposit Rate, Net Deposit, Subscription Monthly Recurring Revenue and Net Promotor Score.
You push to make the highest impact possible with your teams, and you can make a successful business case for it.
You drive your team towards clarity on what to build, why, and for whom. You are able to identify measurable KPIs to evaluate your work’s effectiveness, and follow through impact post-launch.	You possess a deep understanding of the fintech domain, including competitors, regional financial products and user behaviours in various markets.
Your comprehensive industry knowledge leads strategic design initiatives effectively.
You lead the design team and the wider product and engineering teams to identify opportunities to drive the 4 key business metrics, including New User Deposit Rate, Net Deposit, Subscription Monthly Recurring Revenue and Net Promotor Score.
Research & Validation	You have a basic understanding of when and how to validate your work through research.
You conduct user and competitor research with guidance on research and synthesis tactics from more senior designers.
You are able to quote your research findings to support your design decisions.	You conduct competitor and user research and produce in-depth synthesis to validate product and design with high level of autonomy.
You’re able to interpret metrics and make data-informed decisions.
You are building your knowledge of the competitive landscape by spending time using other fintech or out-industry products, and possess a sense of industry benchmarks and market trend.	You can lead product discovery and conduct research to validate your own design.
You use Looker dashboards, Mixpanel and/or other analytic tools so that data guides your work.
You are able to suggest and question how to measure your work’s success.
You establish research standards to the org to advocate for user-centricity across departments.		You know when data and research are missing, and garner them where appropriate to inform your work and the work of others.
You can lead product discovery and conduct research to shape product strategy with PMs and validate design decisions.
You use Looker dashboards, Mixpanel and/or other analytic tools so that data guides your work.
You establish research standards to the org to advocate for user-centricity across departments.	You know when data and research are missing, and lead the team to inform your work and the work of others.
You can lead product discovery and conduct research to shape product strategy with PMs and validate design decisions.
You use Looker dashboards, Mixpanel and/or other analytic tools so that data guides your work.
You establish research standards to the org to advocate for user-centricity across departments.
User Delight	You deliver designs that contribute to user delight, considering emotional design, aesthetics, micro-interactions etc.
You care about building trust and long-term relationship with users, to be reflected by NPS, new user deposit, net deposit and retention rates.	You deliver designs that contribute to user delight, considering emotional design, aesthetics, micro-interactions etc.
You deliver designs to build trust and long-term relationship with users, which contribute to NPS, new user deposit, net deposit and retention rates.	You deliver designs that contribute to user delight, with exceptional details on emotional design, aesthetics, micro-interactions etc.
You identify improvement opportunities to prioritise quality, which drive NPS, new user deposit, net deposit and retention rates.		You ensure designs contribute to user delight at an organisational level.
You deliver designs that contribute to user delight, with exceptional details on emotional design, aesthetics, micro-interactions etc.
You identify improvement opportunities not only for your team but for other teams as well to prioritise quality to drive impact on NPS, new user deposit, net deposit and retention rates.	You advocate company roadmapping for quality improvement across functions to drive long-term impact on NPS, new user deposit, net deposit and retention rates.
You drive initiatives, by yourself or through the team, to improve user experience and create user delight across the product.
Execution
Project Management	You take part in grooming and sprint planning sessions led by product function.
You communicate your progress with stakeholders throughout the 2-week sprint.
You complete all design tasks timely and meet project deadlines consistently.	You take part in grooming and sprint planning sessions led by product function. You ask questions when scope of tasks and impact of the product being designed are not clearly stated.
You communicate your progress with stakeholders throughout the 2-week sprint.
You deliver work timely and of high standards.	You are proactive in grooming and sprint planning sessions to clarify scope of tasks and impact of the product being designed in the conversations with the product function.
Your process is adaptable and efficient. You generate and maintain momentum, and can manage multiple projects effectively. You work with appropriate urgency, consistently pushing projects forward.		You are proactive in grooming and sprint planning sessions to clarify scope of tasks and impact of the product being designed in the conversations with the product function.
Your process is adaptable and efficient. You generate and maintain momentum, and can manage multiple projects effectively. You work with appropriate urgency, consistently pushing projects forward.
You are able to identify dependencies across product and take initiatives to communicate with stakeholders.	You identify improvement areas in ways of working across departments and proactively organise sprints or other processes if it’s otherwise lacking.
You support your team members when needed to ensure timely and quality design and research deliveries.
Domain Knowledge	You’re building your knowledge of how the product works within your team to enable effective design delivery that is technically feasible and compliant.
You are growing your understanding of users in your domain through research and data.	You are growing your knowledge on the technical and regulatory boundaries of the product when delivering design to your teams.
You understand the impact and dependency across products.
You conduct user research and assess data analytics to understand users in your domain.	You possess adequate knowledge on the technical and regulatory boundaries of the product to expedite working with your teams.
You understand the impact and dependency across products. You work with your PM to communicate with stakeholders to mitigate risks and speed up the design process.
You suggest ways to improve your product with good understanding of users and data of your domain.		You possess adequate knowledge on the technical and regulatory boundaries of the product to expedite working with your teams.
You understand the impact and dependency across products. You work with your PM to communicate with stakeholders to mitigate risks and speed up the design process.
You drive your team to improve your product with good understanding of users and data of your domain.	You possess deep understanding of the product inside out, and are familiar with the technical and regulatory boundaries.
You are able to flag product dependencies and lead designers to plan out deliveries across teams.
With deep understanding of users and data across the product, you know when to push boundaries and when to keep design to stay on course.
Scalability	Your designs are scalable and reusable for consistency and speedy build.
You utilise our design system, know when and how to build upon it and tweak existing components or build completely new ones.
You consider localisation to ensure your design applies to various markets.	Your designs are scalable and reusable for consistency and speedy build.
You utilise our design system, know when and how to build upon it and tweak existing components or build completely new ones.
You consider localisation to ensure your design applies to various markets.
You consider edge cases when designing for complex systems.	Your designs are holistic and consider complex cases of existing systems, product, compliant and technical constraints, and localisation needs.
You are able to collate system requirements effectively across squads and departments, and translate them into design standards.
You are the owner for the design system and effectively co-create and maintain it with other designers and engineers.		You work is a model of accuracy and precision.
You consider how your work and patterns can be utilised by others. You aim to simplify and unify systems when appropriate to tame complexity—you can justify exceptions to the system and understand/explain their consequences.
You are the owner for the design system and effectively co-create and maintain it with other designers and engineers.	You ensure design outcomes are scalable, including both design system and individual product designs.
Interpersonal skills
Collaboration	You collaborate effectively with cross-disciplinary team members by feedback sessions, async communications etc.
You’re starting to flag dependencies and edge cases and question requirements when you’re unsure how they support real user needs.	You collaborate effectively with cross-disciplinary team members by design workshops, feedback sessions, async communications etc.
You are a trusted partner both in your squad and the design team.
You are able to flag dependencies and edge cases and question requirements in case of inadequate clarity to perform your design tasks.	You proactively collaborate with your team by design workshops, feedback sessions, async communications etc. and become a trusted partner in both your squad and the design team.
You proactively address and resolve dependencies across team boundaries.
People seek to work with you. You build strong working relationships with PED partners and other stakeholders.		You proactively collaborate with your team by design workshops, feedback sessions, async communications etc. You are a trusted leader in both your squad and the design team.
You communicate candidly and kindly, and build rapport with all kinds of work partners—even difficult stakeholders. You collaborate effectively with stakeholders from various departments.
People seek to work with you and look for your advice. You build strong working relationships with PED partners and other stakeholders.	You collaborate with product and engineer leaders effectively on business strategies and long-term planning. You establish and improve ways of working amongst PED as well as other stakeholders.
You act fast in case of crisis with different departments to mitigate risks.
Feedback Exchange	You share work regularly. You have an open mindset and seek feedback from your squad and design team to enhance your craft.
You are able to provide actionable feedback to your squad and other designers.	You actively seek for feedback, and maintain an open mindset toward changes and challenges, looking for how you can help and grow.
You set the scene effectively prior to sharing designs to help stakeholders provide useful feedback with context, and reach consensus more easily.
You proactively provide actionable feedback to your squad and other designers.	You collect feedback from squad and design team to improve your design in various reviews. You handle feedback thoroughly and gracefully, and know when to change direction vs. staying the course.
You share your feedback with your squad on product blueprint and implementation quality. You proactively provide constructive feedback to fellow designers to raise the bar for the whole team.		You handle high volumes of feedback on your own work effectively. You act on feedback thoroughly and gracefully, and know when to change direction vs. staying the course.
You articulate your feedback with your squad on product blueprint and implementation quality in an organised and actionable manner. You proactively provide constructive feedback to fellow designers to raise the bar for the whole team.	You share your feedback to the design team not only to raise the bar of design standards, but also support team member to grow professionally in their craftsmanship and product thinking.
You seek constructive feedback from cross-functional stakeholders and handle them effectively.
You uphold the performance standard of the design team with appropriate and timely feedback.
You action immediate praise to reinforce desired behaviours and drive timely constructive criticism within the team to avert future problems before they arise.
Communication & Articulation	You are responsive, pleasant, and proactive in your communication across all channels.
You communicate design deliverables to squads and other designers clearly.
You are able to explain the reason for certain design decisions, and discuss effectively with stakeholders to obtain consensus.	You are growing your storytelling abilities; your presentations have a clear narrative, good context setting, and you’re building your skills at leading meetings confidently and effectively.
You seek to understand other’s expertise, ideas and reservations.	You articulates research findings, design rationale and design deliveries clearly.
You lead meetings, jams and workshops effectively.
You understand other’s expertise, ideas and reservations to enable alignment with other functions.		You’re a strong storyteller and able to influence and persuade at any level and any department of the organisation.
You are able to reach consensus by both resonating with other’s expertise, ideas and reservations, as well as articulating your pov effectively.	You’re a master of story telling, and able to influence organisational operations, business strategy and product roadmapping to ensure constant enhancement of design and overall app quality.
You are able to reach consensus and lead cross-functional teams by articulating design pov and advocating user-centricity approach.
Leadership
Culture & Growth	You volunteer to help out with team programs, like hosting warm-up.
You perform according to our company values: Be authentic, Own it, Spend smart, Break new ground and Have their back.	You routinely help other designers grow, through your feedback or through skill shares. You suggest and implement team culture improvements.
You perform according to our company values: Be authentic, Own it, Spend smart, Break new ground and Have their back.	You lead with resiliency in the face of challenges, and routinely help manage change for other team members.
You’re a model for growth and resiliency on the team. You’re starting to up-level other teammates’ skills through more formal coaching and mentorship. Others actively seek your feedback, and listen to your guidance.
You are a role model in our company values: Be authentic, Own it, Spend smart, Break new ground and Have their back.		You become someone other teammates learn from and seek to emulate.
You provide mentorship and guidance to designers at lower levels. You coach other designers on design craftsmanship and interpersonal skills. You encourage others to maintain a healthy open mindset.
You are a role model in our company values: Be authentic, Own it, Spend smart, Break new ground and Have their back.	You ensure all team members have the training and resources to do their jobs and lead the way for learning culture within the Design team. You encourage others to maintain a healthy open mindset.
You hold yourself accountable first and foremost, for decisions and actions made in your team. You coach your reports to continually raise the bar for quality in the team.
You constantly improve the team’s outcome by appropriate performance management.
You lead by example and live in our company values: Be authentic, Own it, Spend smart, Break new ground and Have their back.
Strategic Influence	N/A	N/A	You conduct product discovery and user research to bring insights for product strategy and planning.
You’re starting to develop your own POV. You are trusted to own parts of larger strategic visions, working independently or partnering with others to bring the vision to life.
You help your pillar with overall improvements to its quality control to be sure work is high quality and reliable.		You handle very complex and ambiguous projects, defining requirements and prioritising the most impactful work streams even in the face of multiple competing demands.
You bring influence to product direction, strategy and prioritisation through design leadership, supported by research conviction. You help drive roadmapping and planning conversations and have a deep understanding of how your work connects to business goals.	You’re consistently solutions-oriented, and are acutely aware of your impact as a leader on the team.
You lead designers to drive design strategy, and know when to delegate versus stay in details to steer the wheel.
You are able to bring insights to the wider product org to work towards the right product direction to drive the 4 key business metrics.
Organisational Impact	N/A	N/A	N/A	You bring stakeholders along on initiatives to improve ways of working and research practices across the organisation, in order to enhance delivery quality and speed as well as to drive business metrics agnostic to your team domain.	You’ve built a fantastic rapport with the Exec team, and your direction and input is invaluable to the company.
You establish the ways of working between design and other functions to make operational improvements.
You lead prioritisation conversations across pillars and teams to achieve common business goals and enhance product quality continuously.