Netflix performance review process for software engineers
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You joined Netflix six months ago. You negotiated a strong offer, you're shipping good work, and your manager seems happy. Then the 360-degree feedback (360) cycle opens in March, and a colleague writes, in their own name with their company badge attached, that you need to stop talking over people in architecture discussions.
At most tech companies, that kind of feedback would surface in a private 1:1 at best. At Netflix, it sits in a document that your manager, your HR business partner, and your skip-level can all read.
That's the first thing engineers new to Netflix need to understand: the performance review process here is not a traditional performance evaluation. There are no composite scores, no formal ratings, no calibration meeting where managers horse-trade over percentages. What exists instead is a signed feedback cycle built around candor, and a culture where your manager is continuously asking a question you might never hear out loud: would I fight to keep this person?
This guide covers how Netflix's performance review cycle actually works, what the keeper test means in practice, how the engineering level structure operates, and what separates engineers who build strong cases from those who stall.
Netflix performance review structure at a glance
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Formal annual review | None. Eliminated; replaced by 360 feedback cycle |
| 360 feedback timing | March and April each year |
| Feedback format | Stop/Start/Continue (suggested template, freeform text) |
| Feedback anonymity | Signed; your name is attached to all feedback you give |
| Who sees feedback | Direct manager, HR business partners, and full chain of command above your manager |
| Keeper test | Continuous manager assessment; not tied to the 360 cycle |
| Compensation reviews | Separate from 360; tied to "personal top of market" philosophy |
| Promotion process | No formal nomination cycle; tied to demonstrated scope expansion |
Netflix's engineering levels
Netflix introduced formal individual contributor (IC) levels in 2022, replacing a flat structure where most engineers held the title of Senior Software Engineer with no differentiation. The current ladder:
| Level | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| E3 | Software Engineer | Entry level |
| E4 | Software Engineer II | Mid-level |
| E5 | Senior Software Engineer | Where the majority of Netflix engineers land |
| E6 | Staff Software Engineer | Org-level influence required; genuinely selective |
| E7 | Principal Software Engineer | Company-level technical vision; very few engineers reach this |
When Netflix introduced levels in 2022, most engineers were mapped to E5. That matters for understanding the culture: E5 at Netflix is not a junior milestone or a brief stop before E6. For many strong engineers, it's where they spend the bulk of their career at the company.
How the Netflix performance review actually works
The annual 360 feedback cycle
Each spring, Netflix runs a company-wide 360 cycle. This is the closest thing Netflix has to a formal performance review, and the structure differs meaningfully from what most engineers expect.
In Netflix's own accounts of how the process works, most employees give feedback to at least 10 colleagues; many give to 30 or 40. Some engineers receive feedback from more than 70 reviewers. This is not a quiet process with a handful of peers submitting brief notes.
You can also give feedback to anyone in the company, from interns to the CEO. The feedback flows in every direction, not just upward.
The feedback is signed. Netflix moved away from anonymous 360 feedback years ago. Your name is attached to what you write. If you tell a colleague they need to stop dominating design reviews, they see your name on that sentence.
The Stop/Start/Continue format
Netflix suggests organizing 360 feedback around three questions:
- What should this person stop doing?
- What should they start doing?
- What should they continue doing?
The feedback tool provides a freeform text field. Stop/Start/Continue is the suggested structure, not a locked form. Some reviewers use it precisely. Others write longer narrative feedback that addresses all three themes without the headers. The expectation is that feedback should be clear, behavioral, and given in good faith: specific enough to act on, not vague praise or blanket criticism.
Engineers who give genuinely useful 360 feedback tend to build credibility over multiple cycles. Being known as someone whose feedback is worth reading is part of how strong performers establish their reputation beyond their immediate team. At Netflix specifically, this kind of deliberate visibility is necessary rather than optional. Self-promotion at work is not bragging addresses the discomfort many engineers feel about making their contributions visible. The principles behind writing peer feedback that's specific enough to matter apply directly to Netflix's signed 360 format: behavioral observations and concrete impact rather than general praise.
Who sees your feedback
This is the part that catches engineers off-guard.
Your feedback is not anonymous to management. Your direct manager sees everything you receive. So do HR business partners. So does the full chain of command above your manager. If you receive 40 pieces of feedback in your 360, everyone from your manager to the VP over your org has access.
Netflix built this visibility into the system deliberately. Leadership's view is that good decisions about people require an accurate picture, not a filtered one. The 360 is not a private peer feedback exchange, and treating it as one is a mistake engineers in their first cycle at Netflix sometimes make.
The keeper test
Netflix's keeper test is not a formal event on a calendar. It is a management philosophy that runs continuously, separate from the 360 cycle.
The question managers are expected to keep asking: "If this person got a better offer at another company, would I fight to keep them?" If the answer is no, the expectation at Netflix is that the manager surfaces that conversation with the employee well before any decision is made.
Engineers who thrive at Netflix tend to have direct conversations with their managers about where they stand. On Blind, verified Netflix engineers describe managers proactively affirming an employee's value once or twice a year outside of formal review cycles. The engineers who get blindsided by exits are usually the ones who interpreted silence as safety.
Two things follow from this:
First, there is no Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) equivalent at Netflix. If a manager concludes they wouldn't fight to retain someone, exits happen quickly. The severance is generous, but the process is fast, without the extended warning cycle that a traditional PIP provides. Uber operates with a similar expectation that engineers show progression. Uber's performance review process describes how that implicit clock works in practice.
Second, the keeper test is bidirectional. Employees also assess whether their manager and Netflix are worth staying for. High performers who stop being challenged leave. The dynamic is not one-directional.
Compensation reviews: separate from the 360
Compensation reviews at Netflix are not tied to the 360 cycle. They happen separately, later in the year. Netflix's "personal top of market" philosophy means compensation should reflect the market value of what you do, not which band you were mapped into at hire.
In practice, engineers who are clearly operating above their current level tend to see their comp adjust before their title changes. Engineers who have hit the ceiling of their current level's compensation range without expanding their scope may see their pay flatten. The comp system is designed to reward impact. When impact stalls, so does the paycheck.
What the official framing vs. engineer reports look like
| Official framing | What Netflix engineers describe in practice |
|---|---|
| 360 feedback is for growth and self-reflection | Patterns in 360 feedback can affect trajectory if not addressed across cycles |
| Keeper test is for clear low performers | Strong performers describe background ambient pressure; the awareness is real even for those performing well |
| Compensation reflects personal top of market | Multiple engineers on Blind report comp is "no longer top of market," especially past E5 |
| Level structure provides career clarity | Leveling was introduced in 2022 and formal promotion paths are still less defined than at Google or Meta |
| Exits happen without PIP process | Confirmed: fast exits with generous severance, but no structured warning period |
Common mistakes Netflix engineers make
Treating signed feedback as if it were anonymous. Engineers arriving from companies with anonymous 360 processes sometimes write or respond to feedback as if management isn't watching. At Netflix, the full chain of command sees everything. Feedback that would read as petty in front of a VP looks very different in a private system. Write 360 feedback with that visibility in mind.
Waiting for the keeper test conversation to come to them. The engineers who navigate Netflix's culture most effectively are the ones who bring the question to their manager directly: how am I tracking? Where do you see gaps in my work? Would you fight to keep me if I had another offer? That conversation is expected at Netflix. Waiting for it to be initiated by your manager creates uncertainty that isn't necessary.
Assuming E5 is a stepping stone to E6. When Netflix introduced levels in 2022, most of the engineering org was mapped to E5. For the majority of engineers, E5 is not a brief milestone on the way to something else. It's where strong engineers stay. The engineers who stall are the ones who expect E6 to follow naturally from executing E5 work at a high standard. It doesn't. E6 requires a fundamentally different scope of impact.
Giving vague 360 feedback. Generic feedback ("great collaborator, always helpful, very knowledgeable") doesn't help the person receiving it, and it doesn't reflect well on the person giving it. Over multiple cycles, engineers who give specific, behavioral, honest feedback build a reputation. Vague feedback signals either that you don't know the person's work well enough to comment meaningfully, or that you're avoiding the honest assessment.
Not having explicit level conversations. Because Netflix's leveling system is relatively new, the criteria for E5 versus E6 are less formalized than at companies with decades of promotion infrastructure like Google or Apple's ICT ladder. Engineers building a case for E6 need direct conversations with their manager about what org-level impact would actually look like on their specific team. Hoping the right work will surface on its own is not a plan.
What engineers who advanced at Netflix actually did
They operated at the next level before asking for the title
Every account of successful E5 to E6 progressions at Netflix describes the same pattern: the promotion recognized scope that already existed, not future potential. Engineers who moved up had cross-team or org-level technical leadership behind them for at least 12 to 18 months before any formal discussion happened. By the time the conversation with their manager started, the evidence was already there. The software engineer self-review guide covers how to track and structure that kind of evidence throughout the year.
They treated 360 cycles as a feedback loop, not a one-time event
Strong performers at Netflix don't wait until March to understand where they stand. They run informal Stop/Start/Continue conversations with their managers in regular 1:1s throughout the year. By the time the formal 360 opens, they already know what the feedback is likely to say, and have had months to act on it.
They asked directly about keeper test status
Experienced Netflix engineers on Blind consistently give the same advice to people new to the company: ask your manager directly, early, where you stand. Not a vague "how am I doing?" but something direct: would you fight to keep me if I had another offer? That conversation removes ambiguity that would otherwise persist for months.
They gave 360 feedback worth reading
Engineers who build strong reputations at Netflix tend to be the ones whose 360 feedback is specific and useful. Behavioral observations, concrete examples, actionable suggestions. Not five lines of generic praise to avoid friction. Being known as someone whose feedback is worth reading is part of how engineers build credibility beyond their immediate team.
Timeline expectations for Netflix engineers
The following reflects patterns described by current and former Netflix software engineers. Individual timelines vary significantly by team, manager, org, and the maturity of the leveling system at the time.
| Level jump | Typical range | What usually precedes it |
|---|---|---|
| E3 to E4 | 1–2 years | Consistent delivery, growing independence |
| E4 to E5 | 2–3 years | Ownership of significant features, technical depth, team-level impact |
| E5 to E6 | Highly variable; many engineers stay at E5 long-term | Demonstrated org-level influence, cross-team technical leadership, director-level buy-in |
| E6 to E7 | 4+ years, if ever | Company-level technical vision and strategy |
The E5 to E6 jump is where Netflix's ladder diverges most sharply from other big tech companies. Because the leveling system is still relatively new, the formal promotion infrastructure for this jump is less mature than at Google or Meta. Engineers building a case for E6 are often working with less-defined criteria than their peers at companies with longer promotion history.
When Netflix introduced levels in 2022, the re-leveling process itself was disruptive. A number of tenured engineers who had joined from companies where they held Staff or Principal titles were mapped to E5, and some left. The current level distribution reflects those decisions. E5 is not a weak level at Netflix, but it is where the majority of the org sits.
Netflix runs its 360 feedback cycle once a year in March and April. That's one window each year to put documented evidence of your impact in front of the people who influence your trajectory. CareerClimb helps you track your wins and document cross-team contributions throughout the year, so you're not reconstructing six months of work from memory when feedback season starts. Download CareerClimb
