Context

You manage a 10-person Data Science team operating across multiple locations and time zones. Three senior individual contributors (ICs) are actively vying for Staff-level promotion. You need to set up promotion philosophy, portfolio strategy, and operating mechanisms that maximize business impact while creating equitable Staff-scope opportunities.

Tasks

(a) Define your promotion philosophy for Staff-level ICs and the evidence thresholds you will require.

(b) Decide which projects to pursue, pause, or kill next quarter to maximize impact and create Staff-scope opportunities. Show how you will staff them.

(c) Handle a case where a high-visibility project should be declined due to low expected value. Explain how you would communicate this to executives, propose alternatives, and protect the team.

(d) Address potential bias and ensure equitable access to high-scope opportunities across locations and time zones. Include concrete mechanisms.

Requirements

Include concrete mechanisms such as: rubrics, calibration, sponsorship rotation, and PRDs with SDRs (Success Definition Requirements). Provide formulas or lightweight scoring where appropriate, and specify artifacts, cadences, and decision guardrails.