Promotion, but taking someone else's job

It's a difficult decision, you have to decide whether taking the position is good for you and the team, and take into account the management and the current team lead.

Do you know why the management wants to replace the team lead?

• It could be the lead cannot grow their career in the company and there is only way for them is to go. The company may have no higher position to offer the lead and the lead is not happy with the lack of the advancement. Please talk to the lead and try to see if this is the case. If it is, the decision is clear.
• The management just tries to save a few bob by replacing the current team lead with you. In that case, if you take the position, it may be difficult to prove your value to the team.
• You are significantly better (in the eyes of the management) than the current lead. Maybe you are more receptive to the management's ideas, or you generate ideas that the management likes. Think what you want to achieve with the team -- is you being in charge gets the job done better?

I have my doubts about the last sentence, below, if you have to think about this when you boss offers you a slam dunk promotion, based on one years service in your current role.

We're all in relatively senior roles so I would hope by now they know enough of the corporate world to understand how these things work.

What are your person management skills like?

As for this

If you want the role, why not have an informal chat with the current team lead about it?

no such thing as informal chats at work

this, either they want you for the job and the salary that goes with it or they dont, dont fall for that line.

You've no choice and after a year no loyalty. But what management do to the TL they will do you, eventually. Sounds like cost cutting. Which is why a future increase seems unlikely to match the TL. It maybe the TL wants to step back.

take the promotion but on the basis of the correct salary, maybe today it doesnt matter so much to you but it will in 6 months, especially if the newly demoted TL is earning more and enjoying the lack of responsibility he or she now has.

What are your career aspirations and why? Make sure you asked yourself this question before making your decision. Very easy to get caught up in the hamster wheel of corporate life if you're not careful to reflect on why you're doing what you're doing.

Look at the existing TL. To me, he's asked himself that question and has made the decision to step aside. Is he much worse off? You've alluded to the fact that he isn't from a financial perspective at least. He probably won't progress further in this company but maybe the work/life trade off of being the team lead was too much and he decided that taking a step back was better for his wellbeing.

If you're taking this promotion for your career what are you using it as a stepping stone towards? The promotion isn't coming with much financial gain. So what's the upside for you? Is there a logical next step in 5 years time if you do well at the TL role? Do you want to make that next step? Does it fit in with your plans for life?

if the ex TL is being demoted, but not taking a pay cut then i'd find it very hard to not be getting paid the going rate. Otherwise you find yourself in the position where the junior on the team earns more, knows more and has less responsibility than the TL. in my experience that never ends up well. backseat driving and all that. They could be setting somebody up for a fall here. be a bit careful

You state that you're being lead towards people management. Is that a long term career aspiration for you? If it is then it may be worth overlooking the financial shortcomings of the team lead role, for the 1st year anyway, and use this as an opportunity to test drive being a people leader. If that is the case then I would ask the question of your management as to what your options are in two scenarios.

1. The test drive goes well and you want to pursue a career path in people management. This may mean a few more years at TL level first in which case I would insist on the appropriate pay rise after the test drive period.

2. You don't like the TL role and realise the people management path isn't for you. What's your exit path? Can you do what the current TL has done?

Try to make this situation a win-win for yourself. Your employer needs someone to step into the TL role, so you can dictate the terms to an extent. Make it work for you! Could be a good opportunity to work out your long term career aspirations without taking on much personal risk.

Talk to the current team leader first. If they are pissed off, it'll likely make your life very difficult, a poisoned chalice. But if they are genuinely amenable and that's known by others, that'd be easier ground. But are you also jumping over other peoples heads who might have expected promotion??

thats 20k you are leaving on the table, put it all in your pension if you want but make sure you get it, the reason you go to work is to get paid, it’s important to enjoy it too but don’t lose sight of why you are there.

There is a difference between roles and seniority. I don't know if this is a tech role but in tech it's not uncommon for a team lead not to be the more senior or even highest paid person on the team. Folks are suggesting you're getting screwed over by no being on the same pay grade as a person whose been leading a fairly large team for quiet some time.

Also it's not that odd for people to step back from leadership roles, especially if they can continue to contribute on an individual contributor track. In general once someone is earning X they cannot be forced to accept a lesser salary due to demotion, so my default would be to assume this person will continue with their existing salary.

Tbh it sounds like they might have hired you with this change in mind. In a couple weeks time you may be the lead for this person and you'll also have to manage the communication around the change to all other people. Sooner or later you're going to need to have a conversation with them around it.

The ‘prove yourself’ line is a load of hokey bôllocks in fairness.

the manager has essentially asked you to do the job by requesting you to apply for it. They see you as a preferred and valid candidate…

any pay rise should be commensurate with the responsibilities and expectations of that position from the get go.

Disagree completely.

Your manager is not doing you a favour. They're to promote on the cheap and it is a promotion.

Yes, they are correct that you'll have to learn new skills, but you'll have way more responsibilities as well as your old job.

You will not get a decent wage increase in 12 months. There'll be some excuse. Cv though...

OP do you have any people management experience? If not, I can understand the lower pay in the first year. Your first year (and more) in people management is pure development, despite what you might think about being able to handle it and knowing how to work well and collaborate successfully with people - driving performance and accountability, and leading people is very different. The company is open to giving you a 12 month sandbox with less performance pressure, and to absorb all the mistakes you will make while learning

If you already have a few years of people mgmt experience under your belt it is a different story, and I would be asking for more.

Very strange that they are offering it to you after a year's service, without competition, despite being in a team of ten. Surely there are others in the team with longer service who would have at least liked an opportunity to interview for the role?

Are you sure you are being offered the role, or are you just being encouraged to apply as well other team members?

OP laid is all out . The cost differential for him taking this role is 40k on the current TL. They then try to defer any further bump for at least 1 year. No big pay rises coming.

'Refused budget'

Seems to me to be a cost savings exercise, and I would bet they are hoping the ex TL leaves. Then they save up to 80k or maybe 160k over a few years on team costs.

Senior mgmt told to save money so they are looking for savings.

Two birds with one stone, get fresh blood into the role that can be moulded too.

This doesn't mean its not an opportunity for OP, but its mostly about bigger picture cost savings I bet.

Tech also has to catch up with regular business cutbacks too..

It could be more than that, but these days mgmt often wants the cost savings more and NOW.

I was a bit confused by this until I saw the comment on the profit and loss management. I don't think that will be part of the role the OP described. While some companies such as Amazon AWS have more localized responsibilities for things like P/L it would be extremely unusual in tech for a team lead to own the P/L. A team lead is closer to a scrum master than a general manager. Again it just goes to show the differences between different industries and a lack of harmonized terminology, and why all advice should be taken in context. Even within companies within departments this stuff isn't always super well defined. TLs are typically a junior management track role, in some companies they are even called associate Managers. I think you're approaching this from the perspective of a more senior role.

Also, the business about the pay never coming through I would disagree with. I've been both burnt and rewarded for trusting in these promises. The issue is if the person making the promise move on, often new managers see no reason to be beholden to previous promises. As an insight, back in 2021 we where looking to hire a couple Team Leads and 3 Software Engineers and put signed a contract with a recruiting agency for 100K to provide candidates to them. On average it was costing 25-30K for to recruit mid senior candidates. That said I've seen some frankly bizarre practices in terms of retention policies in tech that made little business sense.

That might be happening or it might not. ~7 years ago I went into a role in tech for a particular company, I reported into a Head who inturn reported into the VP/Exec. The role had a title and responsibilities where basically whatever you could name. Progressively overtime through organizational changes the line between me an the exec got further away and as new people joined the company I went from being the main person for an entire area to being one of many doing my Job. When I started to see people with 2-3 years experience being hired in to nominally do the same job I was I realized that overtime the seniority of the role had degraded. My title didn't change, nor did my pay it just became a more Junior role especially as we started filling in Director level, Head level, Senior Principle level roles. All this is to say that company needs change rapidly, and it sounds like the person doing the Job now is fairly senior in the company and probably knows if you're pulling down 120K but the company only thinks the role you're doing is worth 80K, you best explore options for having higher impact because you're in danger of being cut.

Having re-read the thread i am still unclear on two very important points

1, Why does the manager want to get rid of the current TL?

2, Why did he/she offer this role to you a year ago, when you were only in the door, rather than another more experienced team member?

You have stated that " our team lead has been in the company 10+ years and is by far the most senior and most knowledgeable, is incredibly helpful and has a ton of knowledge.". That would suggest to me that you don't just the TL to be failing in any obvious way. There is no obvious reason to replace him.

And, if you were offered this role within weeks of joining the company (and you are not too clear when you were offered the role other than last year and you are working there for one year ) is it clear to you that other teams members would lack the skills for the role of TL?