Engineer change. Engineer at UBS.

As part of our purpose, we aim to create an ecosystem that gives the world a strong push toward a brighter future. But while our purpose may be relatively new, in many ways, it’s only possible because of years of hard work and foresight of teams across the bank – including the work we’ve done in the technology space.

We introduced the Distinguished Engineers framework in 2018 to further build a world-class engineering culture and to recognize the talent and contributions of outstanding engineers, empowering them to drive meaningful and impactful change across the firm.

These days, Distinguished Engineers are among the most skilled, accomplished, and influential engineers across the firm. They’re valued for their technical expertise, history of delivery, and impact on our engineering culture. They also help UBS fulfill the four core elements of the framework’s mission:

1. to foster an engineering culture that encourages learning and self-development, where selected technical experts are equipped with freedom and time so that they can solve challenges;
2. to offer different career options for our highly skilled engineers and developers, some of whom prefer to progress up the ranks while remaining technical, without being burdened with the managerial tasks of the more traditional career ladder;
3. to master the engineering challenges of a global firm operating in an increasingly digitalized world and a complex, densely regulated industry; and
4. to serve as trusted advisors to senior leaders in the bank, and ambassadors of engineering inside and outside the firm.

Each year, only a few selected engineers become Distinguished Engineers, and an even smaller group makes it to be Technology Fellows. Both of these levels require nominations and an extensive vetting process. But all of our engineers have the opportunity to become a Certified Engineer.

How can you become a Certified Engineer?

With over 100 badges available through the Certified Engineers program, our engineers can progress toward their certification along the path that best suits their individual goals. As technology is always evolving, so are the badges our developers and engineers can obtain. Some badges are relevant to all engineers, such as Agile and Cloud, and some are specialist badges relevant to specific roles, such as Web Development and Network Protocols.

Here are a few examples:

Once our engineers collect the required number and combination of badges, they achieve the Certified Engineer title and complete their certification. As part of their journey, they choose topics relevant to them but are also challenged to expand their horizons and go outside of their comfort zone. Though we have surpassed the milestone of having over a thousand Certified Engineers across the firm, many of our participants continue collecting badges to earn upgrades – Silver CE and Gold CE – or simply because they enjoy the learning journeys so much!

Some of our engineers and developers collect a few badges, some get their certificate, and some carve out their career to become Distinguished Engineers or even Technology Fellows. Whatever they aspire to do, we offer them the right next steps.

Beyond recognizing achievements, the DE framework provides our engineers with opportunities to develop their skills, expand their network, share knowledge, contribute to strategic projects, and more. However, with learning being so critical for engineers and technologists, the possibilities don’t end there.

Our engineers not only get access to top-end technology learning platforms, they're also involved in internal events, such as hackathons, digital summits, and tech conferences where they get to do hands-on experimentation and hear from internal and external expert technologists. They also benefit from access to our communities of practice and special interest groups, as learning is part of our DNA.

Learning is part of our DNA and boosts all our digital evolution initiatives, such as the fintech initiative UBS Next, our accelerating transition to agile ways of working, UBS Future of Finance Challenges, and our innovation labs and centers of excellence. Thus, the Distinguished Engineers framework and our learning culture are just two of the many ways in which we are turning technology from an enabler into a differentiator at UBS.

Another objective of the framework has always been to foster a sense of pride in the firm’s technology capabilities and camaraderie among the engineering community. The Distinguished Engineers framework provides continuously evolving engagement activities, such as competitions among peers, monthly SME-led sessions on topics of interest, regular newsletters, and more!

Then, at the center of fully realizing the goal of the program – "to build an inclusive community that celebrates our engineering and promotes a culture of continuous learning" – are the organically formed study/ mentoring/ support/ coaching/ clinic groups appearing across the globe.

And we’d be remiss not to mention that one of the key factors contributing to the program’s success is that the framework was built by engineers for engineers, which continues to evolve with the help of each participant who has contributed to the program in any shape or form, big or small.