The evolution of job architecture in the tech industry 

As organizations continue to adapt to a rapidly changing business environment, job architecture is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Once seen primarily as a framework for managing compensation, today’s job architecture is becoming a critical foundation for broader HR and business strategies — from workforce planning to talent development and pay transparency.

Traditionally, jobs were defined by fixed responsibilities and tasks. Now we’re seeing a shift toward more fluid models of work, especially within the tech sector. Employees still have core roles, but they’re increasingly deployed across projects and functions based on their skills. This approach enables greater agility and responsiveness to business needs, and in turn, challenges the traditional view of job architecture.

Our recent global job architecture survey (late 2024–early 2025) highlights this evolution:

While compensation and benefits remain the top use case, job architectures are now underpinning areas like talent acquisition, workforce planning and career development. This broader relevance is being driven, in part, by external factors such as the upcoming EU Pay Transparency Directive, which requires companies to justify pay decisions based on clearly defined, consistently applied job structures.

To keep pace, organizations are integrating skills frameworks into their job architecture. This includes:

• A shared skills taxonomy across the business
• Defined skill types (e.g., leadership, technical, enterprise)
• Proficiency models to assess levels of capability

By linking skills to each job profile, businesses can assess gaps, inform workforce planning, personalize learning and development pathways and even align pay progression with skill development.

Despite the investment in job architecture, over half of organizations are dissatisfied with their current frameworks, often due to poor governance. Common issues include:

• Outdated job content
• Inconsistent application by HR managers
• Risk of bias in mapping of employees to the architecture

To avoid these pitfalls, governance must shift from a reward team responsibility to a cross-functional effort. Involving talent leaders, HRBPs, analytics teams and business sponsors ensures the architecture is relevant, fair and sustainable.

Job architecture is no longer a backend HR tool. It’s the backbone of a future-fit people strategy, especially in the tech industry. Organizations that get this right can drive greater transparency, agility and engagement, while those that don’t risk falling behind in an increasingly skills-focused and regulated world.