People, Culture and Belonging has announced the upcoming launch of the university’s new skills-based job architecture, a framework that brings clarity and visibility to all career paths and expands opportunities for staff at Vanderbilt. This initiative is the culmination of years of staff expressing the need for clearer career growth and mobility within the university.
The architecture is called Project Polaris to reinforce that career growth is the “north star” mission of all professional development at Vanderbilt.
PCB announced the start of this architecture last year, and over the past five months has collaborated with more than 100 stakeholders across campus to thoughtfully design and validate this architecture. To date, all 829 staff roles have been mapped into the new structure.
Launch event
On Monday, June 16, staff can experience a first look at what is coming and how to leverage it for their own careers. Drop in between 12 and 1 p.m. at the E. Bronson Ingram Dining Hall to:
- Explore interactive stations.
- Connect with PCB experts.
- Understand the big picture of how Project Polaris fits into a larger network of resources for staff career growth.
How it works
Jobs are grouped into categories such as families, sub-families, growth streams, and growth levels, which makes a career journey easier to navigate. The architecture provides a consistent foundation for career development that helps staff to better understand where their roles fit and how they can grow within the university. Whether you’re exploring future possibilities or deepening expertise in your current role, this system makes pathways clearer and more accessible.
What’s not changing
- Your core responsibilities, compensation, working title and reporting relationship will remain the same.
- This is not an organizational restructure. It is about supporting long-term growth and clarity, not reducing or eliminating roles.
What’s changing
- You’ll see your role assigned to a job family, growth stream and growth level.
- Your Oracle job title and job description may be updated to reflect this new structure.
- These updates are designed to improve consistency and visibility for jobs across the university.
Pilot begins in June, full rollout in July
A pilot rollout involving nine business units begins in June, followed by a full university-wide rollout in July. Both phases will include training for people leaders, time for managers to review role mappings, staff training, and the delivery of personalized placement statements to employees by their managers.
Until the full rollout in July, more information can be found on the Project Polaris website.
Introducing Talent Marketplace
Complementing this rollout is the beta launch of the Talent Marketplace (utilizing Oracle Grow), a new tool that empowers staff to assess their proficiency in key skills and explore learning opportunities directly connected to their roles.
The Talent Marketplace is built on the foundation of the job architecture, which defines the core and technical skills associated with each role and outlines clear growth paths across the university. Together, they create a powerful system for staff to take charge of their development, discover opportunities, and align their growth with the evolving needs of the university.
Project Polaris and the Talent Marketplace represent a transformative investment in the Vanderbilt staff community—one that supports growth, mobility and a thriving, future-ready workforce.
The Full Picture: How to Grow Your Career at Vanderbilt
Phase 1 (launching with the job architecture):
- The new Talent Marketplace (powered by Oracle Grow) is where staff can select skills to develop or designate skills in which they are already proficient.
- With the new skills-based architecture in place, staff will be able to see what skills their current job requires and what skills are required should they want to grow their career or change career paths.
- Staff members who want to grow their career can select skills they are interested in developing further through the Talent Marketplace, and suggested courses will be provided for those skills in the Digital Learning Marketplace to allow staff to grow their skills and prepare for their career growth.
Phase 2:
- Internal candidates can view internal job postings and the skills needed, determine if they are a match, and either apply right there for the job or see what skills they need to gain in order to apply.