Career tracks in quality management systems of high-tech organizations

The article presents the results of an audit of Russian career management practices based on a comprehensive analysis of 2024–2025 studies, taking into account the specifics of high-tech and knowledge-intensive organizations. The study identifies critical dysfunctions of existing career systems: non-transparent promotion criteria (60% of organizations have "dead" career tracks), blocked internal mobility (70% of declared internal hiring priorities are not implemented in practice), ineffective talent pools (70% do not meet actual organizational needs), and the absence of alternative development trajectories. In knowledge-intensive industries, these problems are exacerbated by a long competence development cycle (7–15 years), the critical role of tacit knowledge, and an institutional gap between HR departments and quality units. Drawing on the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 10018:2020 and ISO 30414:2018, the article proposes an architecture of combined career tracks comprising three equivalent trajectories: managerial, professional expert and project. Special attention is paid to the design of the professional expert career with clearly defined levels, promotion criteria, mechanisms of recognition and integration into the quality management system. The findings and the proposed architecture can be used by high-tech and knowledge-intensive organizations to move from formal career models to genuinely functioning systems of personnel development.