What Is A Job Architecture And Why Do You Need One? 

Every HR leader has faced these questions:  

• How do we organize our roles consistently across the company?  

• How do we show employees their growth paths?  

• What skills do we need, and where do we have gaps? 

These aren’t just separate HR challenges – they’re all symptoms of a more fundamental need: a job architecture. 

In this blog post, you’ll learn what a job architecture is, why you need it, and how to create one. 

What is a job architecture? 

A job architecture is the foundational framework that defines how work is organized and talent is managed within an organization. Think of it as your company’s organizational DNA: a systematic way to classify, align, and structure all positions, from entry-level roles to executive leadership.

At its simplest, job architecture is how you organize, structure, and understand all the work that happens in your organization. It defines the relationship between different roles, maps out career paths, and creates a common language for skills and competencies across your company.

At its core, a job architecture consists of several key elements:

• Job families and subfamilies that group similar roles together

• Career levels that define the progression path within each family

• Skills and competencies required at each level

• Clear relationships between different roles and functions

• Compensation structures aligned to each level

But what makes a modern job architecture different from traditional organizational charts is its focus on skills and capabilities rather than just hierarchical reporting relationships.

For instance, when Unilever redesigned their job architecture in 2020, they moved away from rigid job descriptions to “skills clusters“ that could flex as business needs changed.

This shift reflects a fundamental truth about today’s business environment: Organizations need frameworks that can evolve as rapidly as the skills that drive their success. A well-designed job architecture provides this flexibility while maintaining the structure needed for effective talent management.

Think of it as the difference between a static blueprint and a dynamic modeling system. While traditional job frameworks were like architectural blueprints—fixed and difficult to modify—modern job architectures are more like digital modeling systems that can be updated and adapted as your organization evolves.

What are the benefits of having a job architecture within an organization? 

Here are some benefits of a job architecture among others: 

Better talent mobility and career development 

When employees can clearly see potential career paths within your organization, they’re more likely to stay and grow internally rather than seek opportunities elsewhere. A well-structured job architecture, including a defined career track that outlines the necessary requirements for promotions and transfers, makes these pathways visible and attainable.

At KeyBank, implementing a clear job architecture led to a 60% increase in internal mobility, as employees could finally visualize and pursue cross-functional career moves they never knew existed.

More strategic workforce planning 

A job architecture enables HR leaders to move from reactive hiring to proactive workforce planning within the organization. By understanding the complete landscape of roles, skills, and potential gaps, organizations can better prepare for future needs.

For instance, when AT&T foresaw the shift towards digital skills, their job architecture helped them identify which roles needed reskilling and how to create new positions for emerging technologies.

Equitable compensation management 

Without a structured job architecture, compensation decisions often become arbitrary or based on individual negotiation skills rather than true value and impact. A comprehensive job architecture creates a foundation for fair pay by clearly defining levels, roles, and their corresponding compensation bands.

This not only ensures internal equity but also helps organizations stay competitive in the market.

Enhanced organizational agility 

Organizations of the future need to quickly reorganize teams and reallocate resources. A well-designed job architecture, makes this possible by providing a clear framework for how roles can be adjusted and repurposed.

When Unilever needed to rapidly shift resources during the pandemic, their skills-based job architecture allowed them to quickly identify and redeploy talent where it was needed most.

Improved succession planning 

A robust job architecture helps organizations identify and prepare their next generation of leaders. By clearly mapping the competencies and experiences needed for senior roles, companies can better develop internal talent pipelines.

This reduces the risk and cost of external executive hires while preserving organizational knowledge and culture.

10 steps to creating a working job architecture 

Now that you know the benefits of having proper job architecture within your organization, here are some steps to follow to create one internally. 

1. Audit your current organizational structure 

Before building something new, understand what exists. This means conducting a thorough inventory of:

• All current job titles and roles across your organization

• Existing career paths and promotion criteria

• Informal organizational structures that may not appear on paper

• Current compensation bands and how they align with roles

• Skill sets required for different positions

This audit often reveals inconsistencies like similar roles with different titles or varying compensation for equivalent work—exactly the issues your new architecture will solve.

2. Define your job families and sub-families 

Job families are the backbone of your architecture. Start by grouping roles that share similar core functions, skills, or purposes. For example:

• Technology might include sub-families like Software Development, Infrastructure, and Data Science

• Marketing might break down into Digital Marketing, Brand Management, and Market Research

• Finance could separate into Financial Planning, Accounting, and Treasury

A common mistake here is creating too many families. Aim for broad enough categories that allow for mobility while maintaining logical groupings.

3. Establish career levels and progression criteria 

This step involves creating clear distinctions between levels of work. Most organizations typically use 5-8 levels, from entry-level to executive. For each level, define: 

• Scope of responsibility 

• Required experience and expertise 

• Decision-making authority 

• Leadership expectations 

• Impact on business outcomes 

Remember that levels should be consistent across job families. A Level 4 in Marketing should represent similar organizational value as a Level 4 in Finance. 

4. Create skills and competency frameworks 

Modern job architectures are built on skills rather than just responsibilities. For each role and level, define: 

• Technical skills required 

• Behavioral competencies needed 

• Core organizational capabilities 

• Leadership competencies (for management tracks) 

This framework should be specific enough to guide development but flexible enough to evolve with your organization. For instance, rather than listing specific programming languages for a developer role, focus on broader technical competencies. 

5. Design career paths and mobility options 

Map out how people can move both vertically and horizontally within your architecture. This includes: 

• Traditional upward progression within a job family 

• Cross-functional moves between families 

• Specialist versus management tracks 

• Skill-based progression paths 

The key is creating multiple viable paths for growth, not just upward promotion. 

6. Align compensation structures 

With levels and roles defined, create corresponding compensation frameworks:

• Salary bands for each level

• Bonus and incentive structures

• Pay differentials for specialized skills or markets

• Progression criteria for moving through pay ranges

Ensure your compensation structure supports both retention and mobility—you don’t want financial barriers preventing logical career moves.

7. Build implementation tools and processes 

Create the practical tools needed to make your architecture operational: 

• Job description templates 

• Career planning guides 

• Assessment frameworks for level placement 

• Manager toolkits for career discussions 

• HRIS configuration requirements 

8. Develop a change management strategy 

The best architecture will fail without proper implementation. Plan for: 

• Communication strategies for different stakeholders 

• Training for HR teams and managers 

• Transition timelines and milestones 

• Employee engagement and feedback mechanisms 

• Success metrics and monitoring systems 

9. Test and refine 

Before full rollout: 

• Pilot the new architecture with select departments 

• Gather feedback from managers and employees 

• Test your tools and processes 

• Identify potential issues or gaps 

• Make necessary adjustments 

10. Monitor and evolve 

A job architecture isn’t static. Plan for regular reviews and updates:

• Annual audits of roles and levels

• Quarterly checks on market compensation alignment

• Regular updates to skill requirements

• Feedback collection from users

• Adaptation to new business needs or organizational changes

• Regular updates to the career path framework

This living approach ensures your architecture remains relevant and valuable over time.

How to create job architectures and instill a culture of talent mobility using Fuel50 

While Fuel50 isn’t primarily a job architecture tool, its capabilities can significantly enhance how organizations design, implement, and evolve their job architectures for the modern workforce. 

Map skills to roles using AI-driven skills architecture 

Fuel50’s skills architecture tool transforms how organizations structure their workforce.  

Rather than manually mapping skills to roles, the tool analyzes job descriptions and automatically suggests relevant skills and competencies.  

For example, when UCI implemented Fuel50, they were able to quickly transform their traditional career framework into a skills-based architecture, gaining deeper insights into employee capabilities and critical skills gaps. 

Create dynamic career pathways with career DNA 

Unlike static job architectures, Fuel50 creates personalized “Career DNA” profiles for each employee based on their skills, interests, and aspirations. This dynamic approach helps organizations move beyond rigid career ladders to more flexible career lattices.  

 At KeyBank, this capability enabled employees to discover cross-functional career moves they never knew existed, increasing internal mobility by 67%. 

Surface hidden skills through advanced skills ontology 

Fuel50’s proprietary skills ontology, containing over 5,000 skills and competencies, helps organizations discover hidden talents within their workforce. The platform goes beyond traditional skill mapping by providing detailed proficiency levels and behavioral indicators for each skill.  

CarTrawler used this capability to identify previously unknown skill sets across their organization, enabling them to better align talent with opportunities. 

Enable data-driven workforce planning 

Through its Insights module, Fuel50 provides real-time visibility into your organization’s skills landscape. This helps identify gaps between current capabilities and future needs, informing both job architecture design and talent development strategies.  

 For instance, Allied Irish Banks used these insights to better understand their workforce capabilities and make more strategic decisions about role design and skill development. 

Foster internal mobility through AI-powered matching 

Fuel50’s marketplace functionality automatically matches employees to opportunities based on their skills and career aspirations, making your job architecture actionable.  

When Relayr implemented this feature, they saw significant improvements in internal mobility as employees could easily discover and pursue roles that aligned with their capabilities and interests. 

Support skill development through personalized learning paths 

The platform helps organizations operationalize their job architectures by creating tailored development paths for employees. These paths show exactly what skills are needed to move between roles, making career progression more transparent and achievable.  

Texas Health Resources used this feature to transform their tuition reimbursement program, making it easier for employees to align their development with career opportunities. 

Build succession planning into your architecture 

Fuel50’s capabilities extend to succession planning, helping organizations identify and prepare internal candidates for future roles. The platform analyzes skills profiles and career aspirations to surface potential successors for key positions, making your job architecture a powerful tool for talent pipeline development.  

This combination of AI-driven insights, personalized career pathing, and dynamic skills mapping helps organizations create more agile and effective job architectures that truly drive internal mobility.