Job Classification and Career Pathway Project

Summary
FAQs

Summer 2026


The Job Classification and Career Pathway (JCCP) project team is currently meeting with departments across the University to refine how positions map into the new and improved job architecture. Work is underway to reconfigure GMS to accommodate these changes.

OVERVIEW

Georgetown University is committed to fostering an inclusive and engaging community where staff feel valued, supported and motivated to excel in their roles. We continue to focus on improving career opportunities, providing support and making strategic investments in our employees. We have launched a new job classification and career pathway project, which will be a critical element of the next phase of this important work. 

The goals of this project are to create a more consistent job structure across the University that provides better clarity on career development opportunities and to review our total rewards structure to ensure we are competing effectively for top talent.

We have engaged Mercer, a national expert in job architecture development, classification evaluation, and total rewards benchmarking in higher education, to support this project. We are working with Mercer to examine our current staff job architecture, benchmark against peer and competing organizations and evaluate benefits as part of the total rewards structure for employees. 

Scope of Work

  • Review Georgetown’s current staff and AAP job structure
  • Conduct an analysis of Georgetown’s total rewards package for employees  
  • Benchmark with similar organizations to determine where we stand in the marketplace
  • Provide recommendations to help improve job structure and to allow for better clarity on career development opportunities for staff and AAP employees 

 What is a Job Architecture?

A Job Architecture is a framework that organizes and defines positions and career paths for Georgetown University. It helps standardize job responsibilities and provides a consistent staff and AAP position framework. By design, job architecture is a tool to define positions and align jobs based on the type of work performed.

Current Job GU Architecture
Job Families + Grades

Current Job GU Architecture Job Families + Grades

Future Job GU Architecture
Job Family Group + Job Family + Career Stream + Job Level = Job

Georgetown is moving from a two-dimensional structure with 14 job family groups and 13 pay grades, to a more comprehensive structure. The new structure consists of expanded job family groups and new job families that further define the nature and specialty of the jobs at Georgetown. It includes career streams (referred to as management level in GMS) and job levels to further clarify and define our staff and AAP positions. Collectively these components create a career path that employees can use to navigate their career aspirations at Georgetown.

Job Architecture Components

Job Family Group

A Job Family Group is a grouping of jobs that have a similar nature of work and skill set. Examples include Academic Affairs, Research, Student Services and Finance.

Job Family

A Job Family is a series of jobs within a Job Family Group that further define the role and share a common set of competencies and functions. Within the Student Services job family group, examples of job families include: Residential Life, Campus Recreation and Careers Services.

Career Stream

A Career Stream – or Management Level in GMS – is a career type characterized by unique responsibilities. This new dimension at Georgetown will give staff and AAPs the opportunity to develop a career as an individual contributor or as a manager.

Career Streams include:

  • Operational Contributor (OC)
  • Professional (P)
  • Manager/Leader (M/L)
  • Executive (E)

Job Level

A Job Level is the position the job holds within the career stream. Exact levels within a career stream are determined by factors required by the position, such as unique competencies, skill set and knowledge.

Job levels are:

  • OC1 – OC4
  • P1 – P7
  • M/L1 – M/L6
  • E1 – E4

Together these attributes create a career pathway structure that is consistent and clear with standardized position language and information. It provides a practical tool employees can use to navigate and explore the many ways they can grow at the university based on their interests, skills and qualifications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nationally, the challenges of recruiting and retaining a high-quality workforce continue to increase. To recruit and retain top talent, we must implement a modern classification and total rewards system.

The project will look at all administrative staff and AAP positions, except those covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Mercer has met with stakeholders from across the university, including the Staff/AAP Advisory Council’s Executive Committee, to discuss the current and future state of staff and AAP careers at Georgetown.

  • Job architecture provides a consistent and transparent framework for roles and career paths for employees in an organization.
  • By design, job architecture is a tool to understand roles and align jobs based on the type of work performed. It makes for a uniform way of defining roles within the university.

Total rewards are the monetary and other rewards provided by Georgetown University to attract, motivate, and retain employees. This includes pay, health benefits, tuition assistance, holidays, paid time off, access to campus events, wellness offerings, flexible work options, career opportunities and more.  As part of the recent Workday release in September, Georgetown University launched the new Benefits & Pay Hub in GMS, a one-stop shop for managing all benefit- and pay-related tasks and information. It features a new personalized Total Rewards snapshot and links to the new Total Reward Guide.

This new job architecture provides clear and consistent career pathways, offering better career development opportunities to move and grow within the institution.

This project will review university staff and AAP positions to ensure positions are classified consistently across the university. New job family groups, job families, and job levels will better align work, and clearly identify the significant differences in duties, responsibilities and job requirements. Our modernized job classification and career framework will inform our ongoing efforts to understand how our compensation compares to similar positions in the market.

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