Career Pathways
MEMO
Career Pathways are about clarifying opportunities
- Clarifying growth and development opportunities for Scientists and Managers
- Providing greater transparency around roles, expectations, and advancement opportunities—while recognizing the many ways research staff contribute and lead
- Recognizing diverse roles: many lead complex science and mentor others without direct reports; others lead people along with their research responsibilities
- Aligning titles and advancement expectations consistently across PSOM
Career Pathways are part of a broader Career Framework initiative
Research jobs across PSOM are being placed within a cohesive Career Framework to:
• Define clear job expectations by role and step
• Define clear pathways for growth and advancement
• Align roles and expectations across functions
• Promote fair growth and advancement opportunities
• Enable opportunity across PSOM and the broader University and Health System
The new BTR Career Pathways fit within the broader PSOM career framework and specifically address advancement opportunities for Scientists and Managers. They clarify expectations for both growth and development—both highly valued and requested by our Scientist community.
What is a Career Pathway?
A Career Pathway is a structured way of organizing jobs that defines a series of career ladders and steps described by specific criteria. These criteria define the expectations of jobs at each step in terms of things like required knowledge and expertise, decision-making, collaboration, etc. These steps show how jobs progress, and outline different paths to career advancement.
Benefits for Scientists & Managers
Benefits for Scientists:
- Clarifies career pathways and makes growth visible across roles
- Increases transparency and understanding of how work supports PSOM’s mission
- Empowers scientists to proactively plan and navigate their careers with confidence
Benefits for Managers:
- Aligns roles within the broader PSOM organization and creates a shared language for expectations and growth
- Strengthens hiring, development, and career conversations through clear distinctions in scope and progression
- Reduces uncertainty around role changes, reclassifications, and career navigation
What does this mean for you?
| What's Changing | What's Not Changing |
|---|---|
|
Easier goal setting and growth planning aligned to your current role and career aspirations |
No changes to compensation, responsibilities, or reporting structure |
|
Titles updated to reflect alignment with your PSOM career pathway |
Manager relationships remain the same |
| More to come! |
Advancement remains based on experience and contributions, with no automatic reclassification or tenure guarantees |
Many Paths to Success
- Growth in role: Stay in current step and role, considering the addition of new experiences and/or responsibilities to continue adding value in different ways
- Lateral move: Take on a new role in the same step
- Upward promotion: Move up to the next step
- Managerial vs. Individual Contributor roles: Explore your interest in managerial responsibilities
FAQs
Microsoft Copilot Chat/M365 Copilot are the only Penn approved generative AI-based chatbot tools that can be broadly used for PHI, learner data, research data and Penn proprietary content when signed in with a Penn account/credentials.
Grammarly and ChatGPT Edu require paid subscriptions through PSOM for use with protected data.
Only Grammarly subscriptions purchased through Penn are approved for PHI, Learner (FERPA), Research, and proprietary data. Private Grammarly accounts, even if you used your Penn Medicine email to purchase, are NOT compliant. For information about how to request access or for help getting started with Grammarly or ChatGPT, please visit the PMACS AI website. UPHS employees are not eligible for Grammarly or ChatGPT Edu licenses.
DO NOT USE any public AI tools (ex: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Open Evidence, etc.) or any tool claiming “HIPAA compliance” but has not institutionally vetted for any proprietary, research, FERPA, or HIPAA protected data. For example:
- Uploading or pasting student records, assignments, assessments, grades, comments, remediation notes, CVs or identifiable student work into any external/unapproved tool is expressly PROHIBITED in public AI tools.
- Uploading or pasting PSOM course materials (slides, cases, assessments, OSCE checklists, exam items, facilitator guides) into any external/unapproved tool is expressly PROHIBITED.
Only if you use approved tools and follow institutional guidelines.
Please view the Copilot single sign-on guide here. You must log in with your Penn email.
Further instructions from PMACS:
Microsoft Copilot Chat (available via Penn Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania) is a secure, large language model-powered chatbot which replaces Penn AI Chat. It's a violation of HIPAA and Penn Medicine policy to share patient or proprietary Penn Medicine data on public AI tools—those offered to members of the public and not protected by Penn Medicine. Instead, use Copilot Chat to ensure enterprise data protection for AI tasks and inquiries. Sign into copilot.cloud.microsoft with your Penn Medicine or University of Pennsylvania credentials or download the M365 Copilot application.
There is no additional charge over existing Microsoft 365 agreements*. Copilot Chat is self-service. You can learn more about accessing Microsoft Copilot Chat here.
Microsoft Copilot Chat is approved for use with Low, Moderate, and most High Risk Data. Do not input data such as SSNs and credit card data. Please see the additional guidance document for more information.
Our Role‑Based Prompt Library gives you ready‑to‑use examples tailored to common PSOM administrative tasks. Just choose your role, copy a prompt, fill in any blanks (______ ) with your specific details, and paste it into Copilot Chat. The prompts are written using a CRAFT‑style structure, so Copilot receives all the context it needs to generate high‑quality results.
For questions about AI resources or training opportunities:
PSOM Office of Organizational Effectiveness
Phone: 215-573-0682
E-mail: psom-oe@pobox.upenn.edu