Updated: October 26, 2022
Introduction to the role of digital transformer
As a digital transformer, you guide organizations in implementing the systems and technologies they need to succeed in a digital world. You understand modern practices and enable others to adopt them at scale. You’re knowledgeable about change management, as well as a range of technology and design disciplines.
Below you’ll find the full list of skills for becoming a digital transformer at Skylight and a description of the skills required for each level. These descriptions offer insight into the scope of work someone at each level should be capable of doing on a consistent basis. We use these role descriptions both as a guide during the hiring process and as a springboard for discussing career progression at Skylight.
Required skills
Digital delivery
You understand how modern practices and technologies need to work together across a variety of disciplines (e.g., product management, user research, software engineering) in order to deliver great user experiences and enduring system architectures.
Digital strategy
You analyze an organization’s digital capability, maturity, and performance across multiple focus areas (e.g., digital talent management, experience design, data & analytics) using a mix of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. You translate your insights into a strategic plan for transforming organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
You put all the management pieces (e.g., policies, structures, operations, infrastructure, teams) in place that are necessary for an organization to execute and iterate on its digital strategy successfully.
Culture and change
You create the conditions necessary to change how an organization thinks and works at scale in today’s digital world.
Digital transformer career pathway
Associate digital transformer
-
Associate -
I not completed -
II not completed
-
Senior not completed
-
Staff not completed
-
Principal not completed
As an entry-level digital transformer, you work under the direction of more senior practitioners. You have some experience in one digital discipline and improving an organization in that area. You have a basic understanding of the disciplines and cultural shifts needed to improve digital capacity and user experience.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You have a conceptual understanding of the role and value that each digital delivery discipline brings to an organization or team. You leverage your foundational experience in at least one area to help improve their capabilities (e.g., DevOps) and performance (e.g., increase deployment frequency by 100%).
Digital strategy
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you support the analysis of an organization’s digital capability, maturity, and performance in at least one focus area. Within this focus area, you recommend strategies and tactics for improving organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you guide senior leaders through the process of establishing and improving their organization’s digital management capacity.
Culture and change
You recognize that new tools, technologies, and processes require organizational shifts and new ways of working in order to be successful. You model empathy, collaboration, and inclusion in your own behaviors. You demonstrate knowledge of systems thinking and lean-agile principles. You lead by example.
Digital transformer I
-
Associate completed -
I
-
II not completed
-
Senior not completed
-
Staff not completed
-
Principal not completed
With guidance from more senior digital transformers, you analyze and create a plan for an organization to improve in at least three digital disciplines. You build trust with individuals at an organization and work with them to change processes and mindsets.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You improve organizational performance in multiple areas beyond your foundational experience. You model modern best practices yourself and therefore enable others in the organization to improve their capabilities and performance.
Digital strategy
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you analyze an organization’s digital capability maturity and performance in at least three different focus areas. Within these focus areas, you recommend strategies and tactics for improving organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you implement at least three digital management capacity pieces within an organization. You collect feedback and iterate on what has been implemented in order to achieve the organizational outcomes.
Culture and change
You work with individuals to shift mindset and modernize behaviors. Resistance to change makes you curious. You seek understanding of current practices and build trust by demonstrating respect for how these practices came to be. You’re well-acquainted with common team ceremonies (e.g., standups, retrospectives) and artifacts (e.g., kanban boards, outcome-oriented roadmaps); you help improve them when requested.
Digital transformer II
-
Associate completed
-
I completed
-
II
-
Senior not completed
-
Staff not completed
-
Principal not completed
With guidance from more senior digital transformers, you analyze and create a plan for an organization to improve in at least five digital disciplines. You create policies, systems, and processes to improve outcomes and work with teams to facilitate their adoption.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You help implement new digital practices in more than one delivery discipline. You assist in creating training materials that are used to deliver great user experiences and enduring system architectures. You help measure the effectiveness of new delivery practices.
Digital strategy
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you analyze an organization’s digital capability maturity and performance in at least five different focus areas. Within these focus areas, you recommend strategies and tactics for improving organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
Under the direction of more senior digital transformers, you draft plans for policies, new structures, and new operational processes. You collaborate with senior leaders to introduce documentation and assets that support organizational change across multiple facets. You measure the success of the digital organizational improvements within your focus areas.
Culture and change
You work with teams to shift mindset and modernize behaviors and practices. You employ guardrails like timeboxed experimentation to manage real and perceived risk. You identify internal change agents and partner with them to guide and amplify their influence. You employ systems thinking, looking to organizational structures and incentives that impede change. You’re well-acquainted with common team ceremonies and artifacts; you proactively diagnose problems with them and recommend solutions. You effectively use existing instruments to monitor and address team health.
Senior digital transformer
-
Associate completed
-
I completed
-
II completed
-
Senior
-
Staff not completed
-
Principal not completed
As a senior digital transformer, you help lead change in multiple disciplines. You build trust and influence strategy across multiple teams, at all levels of an organization. You have a say in decisions around hiring, training, and which practices to adopt.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You assist in leading modern delivery efforts in areas related and not related to your foundational experience. You help individuals at all levels to understand the importance of a multi-faceted delivery team, and you use data to show the value each team is bringing to the organization’s efforts.
Digital strategy
You partially lead the analysis of an organization’s digital capability maturity and performance across all focus areas. You partially lead the formulation of a strategic plan for transforming organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
You assist in guiding senior leaders to improve digital management change across multiple facets of an organization. You collaborate with senior leadership to make sure that the proper skillsets have been identified to support new digital disciplines and practices. You assist with hiring and onboarding specific role types to ensure that new and existing talent have the education and tools needed to be successful within the new digital capabilities.
Culture and change
You work across teams, removing impediments to collaboration and breaking down organizational silos. You quickly build trust and influence people at all organizational levels. You seek out information about the organization well beyond your span of influence, building a more complete understanding of the context for transformation. You’re acquainted with advanced practices (e.g., portfolio management, improvement kata, OKRs) and recommend them where appropriate.
Staff digital transformer
-
Associate completed
-
I completed
-
II completed
-
Senior completed
-
Staff
-
Principal not completed
Staff digital transformers advise organizations in all aspects of digital delivery. At this level, you lead efforts to improve performance and capacity in moderately complex environments. You make long-term plans for organizations to achieve outcomes and sustain healthy practices.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You lead key digital delivery efforts across all disciplines at scale. You create the structure necessary to measure delivery capabilities and performance. You show progress against organizational outcomes through the implementation of modern practices.
Digital strategy
You lead the analysis of an organization’s digital capability maturity and performance within a moderately complex environment, across all focus areas. You lead the formulation of a strategic plan for transforming organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
You guide senior leaders through the process of establishing and improving its digital management capacity within a moderately complex organizational environment. You recruit and/or train a diverse set of talent to fill essential roles at multiple levels of the organization (e.g., delivery teams, leadership ranks).
Culture and change
Teams and leaders view you as a trusted advisor and actively solicit your advice. You model transparency and grace in recovering and learning from failure. You use feedback loops and data to create conditions for self-organization, moving organizations beyond the need for top-down frameworks. You have expertise in some advanced practices (e.g., portfolio management, improvement kata, OKRs) and lead their implementation. You develop effective instruments for measuring team health; you establish baselines and create long-term strategies to improve health organization-wide.
Principal digital transformer
-
Associate completed
-
I completed
-
II completed
-
Senior completed
-
Staff completed
-
Principal
As a principal digital transformer, you drive change across all disciplines in a highly complex environment. You’re an expert in many advanced digital practices and are sought after to solve hard problems. You’re a leader in the industry.
Skills needed for this level
Digital delivery
You implement modern ways of working at multiple levels of an organization (e.g., delivery teams, leadership ranks) within a highly complex environment. You rapidly spread knowledge of modern practices at scale by training others to be trainers.
Digital strategy
You lead the analysis of an organization’s digital capability maturity and performance, within a highly complex environment, across all focus areas. You lead the formulation of a strategic plan for transforming organizational outcomes through the adoption of digital practices and technologies.
Digital management
You guide senior leaders through the process of establishing and improving its digital management capacity within a highly complex organizational environment. You recruit and/or train a diverse set of talent to fill essential roles at multiple levels of the organization (e.g., delivery teams, leadership ranks).
Culture and change
You’re a thought leader in the industry, continuously redefining team and organizational health. Executives seek you out for your insight on their thorniest transformation challenges. You have expertise in several advanced practices (e.g., portfolio management, improvement kata, OKRs, beyond budgeting) and lead their implementation.
See all roles