Compensation Management Human Resources

In the UCareer framework, “tracks” are a way to organize and define career paths at the University of Utah. These tracks— Executive, Management, Professional, and Support—are designed to represent varying levels of responsibility, expertise, and career focus. Each track provides a clear structure to help employees understand how their roles fit within the organization and how they can grow professionally based on their aspirations, skill development, and department needs. These tracks are built on a proven compensation model developed by Radford, which provides a reliable and equitable foundation for aligning roles with market standards. Let’s explore what each track offers and how they contribute to career development at the University.

UCareer Tracks FAQ Video

Career progression is a structured pathway that allows employees to advance within their career field by progressively gaining more skills, taking on greater responsibilities, and increasing their impact on the University. For example, a career progression might include levels such as Accountant I, Accountant II, Accountant III, and Accountant IV. Each level represents a step forward in expertise, scope of work, responsibility, organizational impact, and compensation. A career progression within the Management or Professional tracks can include up to seven levels, whereas the Support track can have up to four levels. Education and work experience requirements are standardized across all levels of career progressions.

It’s important to note that upward movement within a career progression is not automatic. Advancing to the next level depends on several factors, including the department’s business needs, available budget, and the individual employee’s qualifications.

As part of the UCareer project, we’re introducing a new 6-digit job code system to replace the current 4-digit system. The current 4-digit job codes are generated sequentially and don’t convey specific information about the job. The new 6-digit job codes are designed to provide a meaningful classification for every position.

Here's how the system works:

• 1st digit indicates the job track
  • M = Management
  • P = General Professional
  • L = Life Sciences (Scientists)
  • S = Support
• 2nd digit represents the job category, such as Healthcare, Engineering, Operations, IT, etc.
• 3rd through 5th digits identify the specific career progression, such as Accountants or Project Managers
• 6th digit denotes the level within the career progression, such as Accountant I, Accountant II, etc.

Each job code is accompanied by an industry-standard job brief (new version of a job description). This structured approach helps align job codes with career tracks, categories, and levels, providing clarity and consistency for employees and departments alike.

UCareer is a five-year (2023–2028) campus-wide classification reindexing initiative for staff. It introduces updated compensation structures, career tracks, and progressions designed to create clear career pathways for current and future employees. UCareer aligns staff roles with external labor market standards, resulting in job re-indexing and more diverse, accurate job descriptions. Ultimately, all campus staff will transition to new job codes. 

UCareer applies to main campus staff, including University of Utah Health Academics. Please note that the project does not apply to faculty or employees of University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics. 

The UCareer Job Library was shared with the UCareer Alliance (a group of about 400 department leaders and key administrators) in November 2023. Since then, they have worked closely with central HR to ensure the job library meets the needs of our workforce. The UCareer project will launch to the broader campus community in 2025, starting with a UCareer Job Library public preview on January 15th. 

For a timeline draft, please refer to the downloadable graphic. 

Departments will have a four-month window, from January to April 2025, to assign employees to their new job codes. Effective dates for these placements will range between February and May 2025.  

No. UCareer is a re-indexing project, meaning it focuses on aligning job codes and descriptions without adding new duties or responsibilities. As a result, pay rates will remain unchanged. However, the new compensation structure will introduce updated grades and pay ranges, which departments can use for future budget planning. 

All UCareer resources will be available at the project launch in early 2025. We appreciate your patience as central HR and UCareer Alliance members finalize the project details. No additional preparation is needed from staff at this time. However, a UCareer Alliance member or your supervisor may contact you to clarify your current duties and responsibilities as part of the process.