Best examples of performance review template examples for technical positions in 2024–2025

Examples of performance review template examples for technical positions by role

Instead of one generic form, the best examples of performance review template examples for technical positions are tailored by role. The core structure can stay consistent across the company, but the behaviors and metrics need to reflect the work.

Below are role-specific sections you can plug into a standard company review form that already covers values, overall rating, and compensation decisions.

Software engineer performance review template example

For software engineers, a strong example of a performance review template balances technical depth with team impact.

Core categories to include in the template

• Technical execution and code quality
• Delivery and reliability
• System design and architecture
• Collaboration and communication
• Learning and technical leadership

Sample template language

1. Technical execution and code quality
Rating scale: 1–5 with behavior-based anchors

Sample prompts:

• “Produces code that is readable, maintainable, and aligned with team standards.”
• “Uses tests (unit, integration, or end-to-end) appropriately to validate changes.”
• “Effectively uses AI-assisted tools (e.g., code completion, refactoring suggestions) while maintaining accountability for correctness.”

Example feedback snippet:

In H1 2025, consistently delivered production-ready features with minimal rework. Pull requests were typically under 300 lines, well-documented, and passed review with only minor comments. Demonstrated strong judgment when using AI-assisted coding tools, validating outputs with tests and manual review.

2. Delivery and reliability

Sample prompts:

• “Delivers work within agreed timelines or renegotiates scope early when needed.”
• “Participates in on-call rotation and follows incident management procedures.”

Example feedback snippet:

Met or exceeded sprint commitments in 9 of 10 sprints. When blocked by external dependencies, proactively communicated tradeoffs to the product manager and proposed alternative implementations.

This is one of the best examples of performance review template examples for technical positions because it keeps ratings tied to observable behaviors, not personality traits.

DevOps / SRE performance review template example

DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering roles need examples of performance review template examples for technical positions that emphasize system health, automation, and incident management.

Core categories to include

• Reliability and uptime
• Automation and tooling
• Incident response and post-incident learning
• Security and compliance
• Cross-team enablement

Sample template language

1. Reliability and uptime

• “Contributes to meeting or exceeding SLOs for key services.”
• “Identifies and addresses reliability risks before they cause incidents.”

2. Incident response and learning

• “Responds to incidents following documented runbooks and escalation paths.”
• “Leads or contributes to blameless post-incident reviews and converts findings into improvements.”

Example feedback snippet:

Led response to three P1 incidents this year, restoring service within SLO targets each time. Facilitated post-incident reviews that resulted in two new runbooks, improved logging, and a 25% reduction in repeat alerts for the same failure mode.

To keep these examples of performance review template examples for technical positions aligned with current reliability thinking, many teams look to guidance from Google’s SRE practices and similar industry standards. While not a template source, the general philosophy documented in SRE materials from Google and academic programs like those at MIT OpenCourseWare can help you define realistic expectations for reliability-focused roles.

Data scientist / ML engineer performance review template example

Data and ML roles require examples of performance review template examples for technical positions that balance model quality, business impact, and ethical considerations.

Core categories to include

• Problem framing and stakeholder alignment
• Data quality and methodology
• Model performance and monitoring
• Communication of insights
• Responsible AI and ethical considerations

Sample template language

1. Problem framing and alignment

• “Clarifies problem statements, success metrics, and constraints with stakeholders before building models.”
• “Translates ambiguous business questions into testable hypotheses.”

2. Responsible AI

• “Identifies potential bias, fairness, or privacy concerns in data and models.”
• “Documents limitations, risks, and appropriate use of models.”

Example feedback snippet:

For the churn prediction project, collaborated with product and support to define churn clearly and select meaningful KPIs. Implemented model monitoring to track performance drift and added fairness checks across key customer segments, aligning with emerging guidance on responsible AI from organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

As AI adoption accelerates in 2024–2025, these examples of performance review template examples for technical positions help anchor expectations in measurable behaviors: not just “builds models,” but builds models that are explainable, monitored, and aligned with organizational values.

Cybersecurity engineer performance review template example

Cyber roles are under more scrutiny than ever, with rising regulatory expectations and constant threat evolution. A strong example of a performance review template for cybersecurity engineers highlights risk reduction, incident readiness, and collaboration with non-security teams.

Core categories to include

• Threat detection and response
• Preventive controls and hardening
• Policy, compliance, and documentation
• Security advocacy and training
• Collaboration with engineering and business teams

Sample template language

1. Threat detection and response

• “Effectively uses security tools to detect, triage, and respond to threats.”
• “Maintains accurate runbooks and playbooks for common incident types.”

2. Policy and compliance

• “Supports audits and compliance activities with accurate, timely documentation.”
• “Aligns security practices with relevant standards (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001).”

Example feedback snippet:

Implemented an updated vulnerability management process that reduced average time-to-remediation for critical issues from 30 days to 10 days. Partnered with engineering teams to integrate security scanning into CI/CD, significantly lowering the number of high-risk findings in production.

If you need to calibrate expectations, resources from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and NIST provide useful context on modern security practices that can inform your own examples of performance review template examples for technical positions.

Product-adjacent technical roles (e.g., technical product manager)

Technical product managers, solutions architects, and similar hybrid roles sit between engineering, business, and customers. They need examples of performance review template examples for technical positions that reflect both technical fluency and product outcomes.

Core categories to include

• Technical product strategy and roadmap
• Requirements clarity and prioritization
• Cross-functional alignment
• Customer and stakeholder engagement
• Technical decision-making and tradeoffs

Sample template language

1. Technical product strategy

• “Defines and maintains a clear roadmap aligned with business goals and technical constraints.”
• “Makes informed tradeoffs between scope, quality, and timelines in collaboration with engineering.”

2. Cross-functional alignment

• “Keeps engineering, design, and go-to-market teams aligned on priorities and release plans.”
• “Communicates technical constraints and risks using language appropriate for non-technical stakeholders.”

Example feedback snippet:

Successfully led the migration roadmap from a monolith to a service-oriented architecture without major customer disruption. Communicated risks and milestones clearly to executives and engineering, resulting in predictable delivery and minimal rework.

These hybrid-role examples of performance review template examples for technical positions help avoid the common trap of reviewing them only on soft skills while ignoring the depth of technical judgment they exercise daily.

Building a reusable performance review template for all technical positions

Once you have role-specific sections, you can standardize the overall structure. The best examples of performance review template examples for technical positions typically share a few design patterns.

Shared structure across technical roles

Most high-performing organizations use a consistent skeleton across roles, then plug in role-specific behaviors. A common pattern:

• Core responsibilities (role-specific behaviors and expectations)
• Company values and behaviors (how work is done)
• Impact and outcomes (what changed because of the person’s work)
• Growth and development (skills, career trajectory, next-level expectations)
• Summary and rating (if your organization uses ratings)

Within each section, prompts should encourage specific, time-bound examples. Research from HR and organizational psychology programs at universities like Harvard emphasizes that behavior-based, example-driven feedback improves fairness and clarity compared to vague character judgments.

Example of a cross-role template block

You can reuse this block for any technical position, adjusting the examples:

Impact and outcomes

• Describe 2–3 specific projects or initiatives where this person had measurable impact.
• For each, note their role (owner, contributor, reviewer), the outcome (e.g., performance improvement, risk reduction, revenue impact), and how you know it made a difference (metrics, stakeholder feedback, incident data, etc.).

Manager comment example (software engineer):
“Led performance optimization of the checkout service, reducing p95 latency by 40% and improving conversion rate by 3%. Collaborated with SRE to validate impact in production and updated runbooks accordingly.”

Manager comment example (data scientist):
“Designed and implemented an uplift model for the retention campaign, increasing campaign ROI by 18% compared to the previous targeting strategy. Documented methodology and limitations for marketing partners.”

These shared patterns keep your examples of performance review template examples for technical positions coherent across teams while still respecting the differences between roles.

2024–2025 trends to reflect in your technical review templates

If your performance review forms still look like they did in 2018, they’re probably missing several realities of technical work today. Updating your examples of performance review template examples for technical positions should include:

Remote and hybrid collaboration

Most technical teams now work in distributed or hybrid setups. Templates should prompt reviewers to consider:

• Asynchronous communication (docs, tickets, design reviews)
• Use of collaboration tools (issue trackers, shared docs, chat)
• Reliability in remote contexts (responsiveness, clarity, documentation)

Sample prompt:
“Effectively collaborates in a remote/hybrid environment, using documentation and async communication to keep stakeholders aligned.”

AI-assisted development and tooling

From GitHub Copilot to internal AI tools, technical work increasingly involves AI assistance. Good examples of performance review template examples for technical positions now explicitly distinguish between tool use and judgment.

Sample prompts:

• “Uses AI-assisted tools to improve productivity while maintaining responsibility for correctness and security.”
• “Evaluates AI-generated outputs critically and integrates them only when appropriate.”

Security, privacy, and ethics as shared responsibilities

Security and privacy are no longer “just security’s job.” Templates for software engineers, data scientists, and product managers should all include prompts around:

• Secure coding and data handling practices
• Awareness of privacy requirements and data minimization
• Consideration of ethical impacts of technical decisions

For background on evolving expectations, you can reference public materials from NIST’s AI and cybersecurity frameworks at NIST.gov.

Practical tips for using these examples of performance review template examples for technical positions

Having good forms is only half the battle. The way you use them matters just as much.

Anchor feedback in observable behavior

When you adapt any example of a performance review template, make it behavior-based:

• Replace “is a strong engineer” with “debugged and resolved five high-priority incidents this quarter, reducing average incident duration by 30 minutes.”
• Replace “poor communicator” with “often merges significant changes without prior design review or notifying affected teams.”

This approach reduces bias and helps employees understand exactly what to repeat or change.

Use self-reviews and peer input

Most of the best examples of performance review template examples for technical positions include:

• A self-review section with the same prompts
• Optional peer feedback focused on collaboration and reliability

Self-reviews let technical staff surface invisible work (mentoring, refactors, quiet reliability improvements) that managers might miss.

Calibrate across teams

To avoid wildly different standards, HR and engineering leadership should periodically:

• Review a sample of completed reviews across teams
• Compare ratings and written comments for similar roles and levels
• Adjust prompts or guidance where expectations are unclear

Academic and practitioner research on performance management (for example, work cited in HR resources at Cornell University) consistently finds that calibration sessions improve fairness and employee trust in the process.

FAQ: examples of performance review template examples for technical positions

Q1. Can you share a short example of a performance review summary for a senior software engineer?
Yes. Here is a concise example of a performance review summary:

“Over the past year, Alex has consistently delivered high-impact features while improving the reliability of our payments platform. They led the redesign of the settlement pipeline, reducing failures by 60% and simplifying on-call runbooks. Alex regularly mentors junior engineers through code reviews and pairing sessions, and is a go-to partner for product on complex tradeoff decisions. Opportunities for growth include delegating more implementation details to mid-level engineers and documenting architectural decisions more proactively.”

You can plug this style of summary into any of the examples of performance review template examples for technical positions described above.

Q2. How many categories should a technical performance review template include?
Most organizations find that four to six focused categories work well. Too many, and reviews become checkbox exercises; too few, and you miss key aspects like collaboration or reliability. The examples in this article show how to keep a consistent set of categories while tailoring behaviors to each technical role.

Q3. Are there real examples of performance review template examples I can download?
Many companies keep their exact templates internal, but you can assemble your own by combining the category structures and sample prompts here with guidance from HR resources at universities and government sites. For instance, general performance management frameworks from Harvard or Cornell can be adapted into the more technical, role-specific forms you’ve seen in these examples.

Q4. How often should we update templates for technical roles?
For technical teams, reviewing templates every 12–18 months is reasonable. New tools, architectures, and regulatory requirements show up quickly. Updating your examples of performance review template examples for technical positions ensures you’re measuring engineers and other specialists on what actually matters today, not on outdated practices.

Q5. Should junior and senior technical staff share the same template?
They can share the same categories, but the expectations and example behaviors should differ. For instance, both junior and senior engineers can be rated on “system design,” but examples for juniors might focus on contributing to designs, while senior examples include leading cross-team architecture decisions. The structure of the example of a performance review template can stay the same; the level-specific descriptions should change.

By combining these role-based sections, shared structures, and updated 2024–2025 expectations, you can build your own best-in-class examples of performance review template examples for technical positions that actually help people grow—and help your organization understand who’s really moving the needle.