Career Prospects at Cochlear

I can see from other company announcements that people can move across from a role in one department to a new department easily. Promotion opportunities depend on the department itself, but most departments have junior, senior and then principal. I have yet to have a conversation where I can understand how moving up those ranks work though.

With only two real 'levels' of engineer (engineer and Senior Engineer), it feels as though there is limited options for promotion until you've reached technical expertise, which would take quite a number of years.

As a graduate engineer, I'm not too sure what the promotion opportunities are like at this stage but it seems to take a few stages. First as an engineer, to senior engineer. From here employees can either branch into management or become a technical specialist. However, going into management will require further studies and obtaining an MBA. Cochlear seems willing to promote excellent individuals.

Highly specialised field requires a lot of expertise and hard work to be promoted.

Good long term intra-company career growth, I don't know much about it but it seems slow paced. Lateral movement seems very good in the company, not sure how hard it is to really move 'up'.

I am unsure of what it takes to move up ranks. In some teams it seems like a mostly flat structure.

I don't know too much about it but I hear it depends a lot on positions becoming available i.e. someone leaving

It's looking likely that I'll be able to transition into a role where I'll leverage my background even better than my current role. Once you're in, Cochlear prioritises employee retention. It's very common for employees to move horizontally from engineering to marketing etc.

I'm still working this out myself, but I see there is room and opportunities to grow which excites me!

People respect competence and hard work and will reward it with promotions

Promotions seem to be limited.

It seems there is reasonable career progression from graduate engineer to engineer, to senior engineer and then it can be difficult to get another promotion.

External applicants seem to be preferred rather than internal employees for promotions. However, lateral movement is common and viewed as good for career development.