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Job families (also referred to as occupation families) group together roles with similar tasks, skills and professional backgrounds — regardless of where they sit in the organisational chart.
They support:
Structured personnel development through dedicated competency models
Workforce planning and personnel marketing
Reporting, analytics and HR controlling
Consistent benchmarking across roles and functions
Because similar professions can exist across different organisational units, job families cannot be derived from the organisational chart alone.
Depending on company strategy, job families can also influence remuneration policy.
Common use cases include:
Different pay mixes for specific functions (e.g. sales roles with higher variable pay)
Separate pay bands for high-demand or scarce occupations
Whether differentiated pay structures are appropriate should always be assessed case by case.
Job families can be defined at varying levels of detail. The more heterogeneous a job family is, the more useful it becomes to further divide it into sub-families.
gradar’s 550 global job families are based on an analysis of the most widely used benchmark jobs across:
General industry
High-tech
Retail
The framework is continuously expanded to cover industry-specific needs (e.g. insurance, retail banking).
Below is an overview of the main job family clusters and representative sub-families.
Office Clerks
Reception / Switchboard
Secretarial & Business Assistance
Other Business Administration Disciplines
Internal Communications
Investor Relations
Public Relations
Government & Regulatory Affairs
Corporate Social Responsibility
Technical Customer Service
Non-Technical Customer Service
Call Centre
Complaints Management
Field Service
Includes discipline-specific and specialist engineering roles:
Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical, Environmental, Aerospace
Electronics, Automotive, Industrial Engineering
Testing, Simulation, Verification, Prototype Engineering
Architecture and Structural Engineering
Accounting & Bookkeeping
Controlling / Financial Analysis
Audit & Tax
Treasury
Mergers & Acquisitions
Recruitment
Compensation & Benefits
Learning & Development
Payroll
HR Systems
HR Business Partner
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
IT Administration & Helpdesk
IT Architecture & Security
Software & Systems Support
DevOps
IT Project Management
Legal Support
Specialist Legal Functions
Market Research
Product & Brand Marketing
Pricing
Trade Marketing
E-Commerce
Advertising & Promotions
Maintenance
Quality & Testing
Production Planning
Product Development
Technical Writing
Project Management (internal & external)
Agile / Scrum Master
Product Owner
Process Management & Continuous Improvement
Real Estate Management
Facility Management
Site Selection & Construction
Cleaning & On-Site Security
Key Account Management
Sales Support & Training
Channel, Media, Pharma Sales
Sales Engineering
Software Architecture
Requirements Engineering
Database Development
Software Testing
Website & UI/UX Development
Purchasing & Procurement
Materials Management
Logistics & Warehousing
Vehicle Operations
Store Operations & Management
Visual Merchandising
Buying & Merchandise Planning
Loss Prevention
Business Consulting
Technology & IT Consulting
Tax Consulting
Actuarial (Life & Non-Life)
Claims
Underwriting
Insurance Product Development
Nursing & Physicians
Mental Health
Rehabilitation
Healthcare Administration & Quality
Medical Technology Support
Public Administration
Courts & Public Safety
Education & Universities
Social Services
Humanitarian Aid
Policy & Advocacy
Data Science & Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Research & Development
Life & Physical Sciences
Laboratory & Safety Services
Retail Banking – Product Development
Retail Banking – Sales & Service
Retail Banking – Consulting
Job families form a critical foundation for:
Job architecture and career paths
Market benchmarking
Pay transparency and equal value analysis
Workforce analytics and strategic HR decision-making
By combining job families with analytical job evaluation, organisations gain a scalable and defensible structure for managing roles across functions, industries and regions.
Job titles, job families, career paths & competency profiles - the building blocks of a clear job architecture
Define grades, career paths & job families for a fair, transparent organization.
