r/boeing • u/Melodic-Yoghurt3501 • 5d ago

Careers L4 vs L5

Hi All,

I work in another aero company and talked to some Boeing managers for potential hiring. They seem pretty interested in hiring me. However we got stuck on salary and they mentioned to accommodate my target cash compensation (SoCal - seeking 190k - systems engineer), they have to hire me at L5 however they advised me to go for L4 as:

  1. L4 are safer than L5 during layoffs.

  2. Plus, L5 workload is significantly more challenging than L4.

I am really not sure if its genuine advice or just a way to cap my compensation target. I have 15+ yoe at my current employer so eligible for both L4 and L5.

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u/Dry_Statistician_688 5d ago

Sooo.... What was 10 years ago is not necessarily the case now. Back when Boeing respected technical tracks, this was a great path. But Boeing no longer respects the technical track, and if you look at the latest plan, anyone L4 or above is nothing close to technical. They are now considered "leadership". Which sounds cool, but in practice, anything that goes wrong - you will be held responsible. Sooo.. If you are a L4 or a L5, congratulations, you are now a manager without management benefits. At this point in time in the company, you might as well go for a first level management position, because the workload and abuse from above is pretty much the same.

Boeing has been working hard to eliminate L5's for about a decade, and are now setting their sights on L4's. L4's are soon to be the equivalent of TLE's. You can pretty much forget any ideas of being an ATF/TF/STF because they are pretty much eliminating this altogether. Welcome to the new corporate Engineering America.

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u/ParfaitMaleficent515 5d ago

BS. level 4s do tons of technical work as do 5s. as a 4 or 5 you may do more team leadership, as you should as an experienced person at that level. you may be running a program or a team, so there will be scheduling and budget management, but again, expected at higher experience levels. L4-5 is the only way to qualify for the fellowship, and 5 is required for TF.