Career advancement no longer follows a straight line up the corporate ladder. Today’s professionals face a critical decision: pursue traditional promotions or embrace lateral moves that expand skills and open unexpected pathways. Internal mobility was nearly 25% higher in 2023 than in 2019, signaling a fundamental shift in how successful careers unfold. The choice between a lateral move and promotion isn’t simply about immediate rewards. It’s about positioning yourself for sustainable growth in an economy that increasingly values adaptability over hierarchy. Research reveals that about 11% of employees move laterally each year, a rate that slightly exceeds traditional promotions, suggesting lateral career moves have become a mainstream strategy for professional development.
Understanding lateral moves: A strategic career approach for 2026
What is a lateral move
A lateral move represents a strategic transition to a new role at similar levels of responsibility, status, and compensation. Unlike promotions that elevate rank and pay, lateral moves focus on expanding expertise, gaining different experiences, or aligning work more closely with evolving career goals. These transitions can occur within your current organization or externally with another company.
The lateral move meaning has evolved significantly beyond simple departmental transfers. Modern lateral career moves encompass strategic shifts into new functions, industries, or geographical locations that support long-term adaptability and growth. They serve as deliberate investments in skill diversification rather than sideways detours from upward mobility.
Professional services firms particularly embrace this concept. Senior solicitors moving laterally from larger to mid-tier Top 200 firms gained greater practice autonomy, client exposure, and influence on strategy, creating capabilities that accelerate partnership trajectories. This demonstrates how lateral job moves can strategically position professionals for future advancement while providing immediate value through expanded responsibilities.
Internal vs external lateral moves: Key differences
Lateral moves within your current company offer distinct advantages over external transitions. Internal lateral moves leverage existing organizational knowledge, established relationships, and proven cultural fit. You already understand company processes, politics, and performance expectations, which accelerates integration and reduces transition risk.
DevSkiller’s approach to internal mobility exemplifies best practices in this area. Their TalentBoost platform uses skills mapping across over 3,000 digital and IT skills to identify internal lateral opportunities that align with both employee aspirations and business needs. This data-driven approach transforms potentially random lateral transfers into strategic career development moves.
External lateral moves provide different benefits, including exposure to new organizational cultures, expanded industry perspectives, and potentially improved working conditions. Total lateral hiring rose 13.9% in 2024 across large U.S. law firms, with associates seeing a 24.7% increase, indicating robust external opportunities for qualified candidates.
The key distinction lies in adjustment requirements and support structures. Internal moves typically offer smoother transitions with existing support networks, while external moves demand greater adaptability but can provide broader perspective and skill development opportunities.
Why lateral moves are gaining popularity in 2025
Several converging factors drive increasing adoption of lateral career mobility strategies. Organizations recognize the retention value, with employees at companies with strong internal mobility staying about 2x longer: approximately 5.4 years versus 2.9 years at companies with low internal mobility. This dramatic difference highlights why companies are investing in lateral movement programs as core retention strategies.
Current workforce dynamics also favor lateral mobility. Nearly 75% of companies expect their overall mobility activity in 2025 to be back to or above pre-pandemic volumes, indicating a cyclical rebound and renewed investment in mobility programs. The modern workforce increasingly values continuous learning and diverse experiences over strictly linear advancement.
Talent acquisition constraints push organizations toward skills-based internal mobility. While 56% of organizations expect hiring to increase over the next two years, only 30% expect TA budgets to grow, driving greater emphasis on redeployment and internal career paths as cost-effective alternatives to external hiring.
Real-world success stories: Lateral moves that worked
Understanding lateral moves becomes clearer through concrete examples of professionals who successfully navigated these transitions. Here are four recent cases that illustrate both the challenges and measurable outcomes of strategic lateral moves.
From product to revenue operations in tech
A mid-career product manager at a SaaS company moved laterally to RevOps in 2024 to broaden commercial impact. The transition came with significant challenges: closing knowledge gaps in Salesforce architecture, quota planning, and compensation design while establishing credibility with sales leadership.
The approach was methodical. They completed admin certifications, ran a 90-day pipeline hygiene initiative, and reworked territory design. Results came within 12 months: forecast accuracy improved 8-12% and win rates increased 5-7% due to cleaner pipeline stages and better coverage ratios. The employee received promotion consideration in the next cycle, consistent with research showing that lateral moves precede advancement.
Breaking into investment banking through lateral hiring
An operator with engineering background and big-tech operations experience pivoted into IB as an experienced lateral in 2023-2024, leveraging the industry’s structured lateral hiring channel for non-traditional entrants. The biggest challenges were overcoming the lack of traditional deal sheet, region constraints, and technical interview gaps.
The strategy focused on targeting lateral processes at boutiques and middle-market banks, building deal-relevant skill samples, and repositioning achievements to transaction analogs. Successful laterals typically achieve entry at comparable title levels with compensation reset to street levels, establishing pathways to promotions once deal reps accrue.
Consulting delivery to internal strategy
A senior consultant moved laterally in 2024 from client delivery to their firm’s internal strategy office to diversify skills without changing seniority. The transition meant shifting from billable utilization targets to enterprise OKRs and proving impact without client revenue while learning firm-wide financial drivers.
Key actions included leading an internal cost-to-serve analysis and creating an engagement-margin dashboard, plus facilitating cross-practice operating reviews. Within 2-3 quarters, they improved project margin visibility and reduced bench time variance. Most importantly, they earned leading performance ratings and became a prime candidate for the next manager slot, consistent with evidence that lateral mobility often precedes stepping up.
Engineering to blockchain development
A software engineer in payments made a lateral move in 2025 into a blockchain developer role at the same seniority level to position for emerging product lines. Strong demand for blockchain developers with protocols like Solidity makes lateral retooling attractive for engineers seeking future upside without an immediate title jump.
The challenges were substantial: mastering protocol-specific stacks, security reviews, and smart-contract audit standards while earning trust on risk-heavy code paths. After obtaining Solidity and smart-contract audit training and shipping an internal prototype for tokenized settlement, they achieved recognition as a go-to for decentralized ledger integrations within the first year, expanding scope that sets up later leadership opportunities.
The strategic benefits of making a lateral move
These success stories highlight why lateral moves have become such powerful career tools. The benefits extend far beyond immediate role changes to create lasting professional advantages.
Accelerated skill development and future positioning
Lateral moves serve as intensive skill-building experiences that compress learning timelines. By stepping into unfamiliar roles or departments, professionals build adaptability, resilience, and holistic understanding of organizational operations faster than traditional career paths allow.
Research confirms this acceleration effect. Employees who made lateral moves had higher probability of promotion 3-4 years later versus matched peers who remained in their original positions, with the strongest effects occurring when moves spanned different subfunctions requiring materially different tasks.
Breaking through career plateaus
Lateral moves offer proven solutions when upward progression appears limited or unavailable. Rather than remaining stagnant, professionals can revitalize their careers by taking on new challenges that rekindle motivation and provide fresh learning opportunities inaccessible in current roles.
The plateau-breaking effect works because lateral moves reset performance expectations and provide opportunities to demonstrate capabilities in new contexts. Fresh challenges naturally engage different competencies and can reveal hidden strengths that weren’t apparent or valued in previous roles.
Enhanced market value and network expansion
Accumulating diverse experiences through strategic lateral moves significantly increases professional marketability and appeal to current and future employers. Transitioning laterally introduces professionals to new colleagues, teams, and stakeholders, significantly expanding professional networks both internally and externally.
This enhanced market value stems from proven versatility rather than theoretical potential. The networking benefits compound over time, with Williams Racing team members sharing how cross-department lateral moves improved communication, broadened networks, and opened paths into management, with multiple employees progressing into leadership roles following department changes.
Financial considerations: Navigating salary and compensation
Understanding lateral pay realities
Many professionals hesitate to pursue lateral moves due to compensation concerns, but understanding lateral pay meaning requires recognizing that these moves typically maintain similar compensation levels since roles exist at equivalent organizational tiers. Many employers treat lateral job changes as developmental moves with no automatic salary increase, distinguishing them from promotions that come with pay adjustments tied to higher job levels or grades.
However, the immediate financial picture often misses the broader compensation story. Lateral movers see higher pay growth even when not promoted, driven by earning more than job means after moves and increased likelihood of subsequent promotions. This suggests that lateral moves create value through positioning and skill development rather than immediate monetary rewards.
Proven negotiation strategies for 2024-2025
The most effective approaches for lateral move compensation combine multi-issue bargaining, data-backed anchors, and conditional trades that exchange salary for targeted non-cash value when salary bands are tight.
Lead with multi-issue negotiation
Harvard’s Program on Negotiation explicitly recommends moving beyond single-issue salary haggling to unlock comparable financial value via benefits if salary is bounded. Discuss salary alongside title/level, bonus, equity, location/remote terms, vacation, training/tuition, and travel expectations to create tradeoffs and expand total value.
Use data and fairness framing
Present market benchmarks and role comparators and couple counteroffers with persuasive logic that feels fair, including competing offers or unique skills that justify being placed higher in band.
Conditional “If-then” trades
If base is capped, trade for performance bonus, sign-on, extra PTO, or education budget. This approach is repeatedly recommended in current negotiation playbooks and staffing advisories.
Concrete examples and typical outcomes
Internal lateral moves
Base salary increases of 0-5% are typical unless re-leveled or market/peer alignment is warranted. However, add-ons become negotiable: 3-5 additional PTO days, defined development budget, clarified bonus target, or mid-year market adjustment windows.
External lateral moves
When candidates negotiate effectively with benchmarks and multiple levers, coaching data indicates $10k-$50k total compensation improvements are commonly achieved for mid-senior roles, often via sign-on, bonus, or equity rather than base alone.
Real negotiation scripts that work
Data-backed counter with tradeoffs: “Based on market benchmarks for this level, similar roles are in the X-Y range. If base is capped at X, could we make the package work with a $Z sign-on and an annual bonus target of A%, plus 4 additional PTO days?”
If-then when salary is capped: “If meeting $X base isn’t feasible, would you be open to a structured performance bonus and funding for certification/training this year?”
Non-monetary benefits successfully negotiated
Additional paid time off has proven to be a successful trade, with professionals moving from 20 to 24 days in final packages while accepting capped base salaries. Professional development budgets, reduced travel requirements, performance-based structures, location/remote flexibility, and sign-on bonuses serve as common tools to bridge base constraints at the same level.
Strategic planning: When and how to make your move
Identifying optimal timing
Optimal timing for lateral career moves often coincides with specific career inflection points and organizational circumstances. The most effective timing occurs when professionals have spent sufficient time in current roles to develop expertise but lack immediate promotion opportunities or feel constrained by limited growth prospects.
Research suggests using career stall triggers to time lateral moves strategically. When employees have been in-role longer but lack key promotion attributes or openings, lateral moves become the right lever, providing alternative pathways for continued development and future advancement.
Personal readiness indicators include feeling underutilized in current roles, desiring new challenges, experiencing decreased engagement, or recognizing skill development needs that current positions cannot address. The key lies in ensuring lateral moves represent strategic choices rather than reactive escapes from unsatisfactory situations.
Building your business case
Conducting skills gap analysis
DevSkiller’s approach to skills-based career planning provides a framework for rigorous lateral move preparation. Their recommendation involves identifying, measuring, and comparing current digital skills against target role requirements to confirm transferable strengths and surface development needs.
Create detailed competency maps that align your existing capabilities with target role requirements while honestly identifying gaps requiring attention. This analysis should encompass technical skills, soft skills, industry knowledge, and functional expertise needed for success in prospective positions.
Creating your personal brand for the new role
Tailor your personal brand to reflect competencies, mindset, and values relevant to target positions. Highlight transferable skills, adaptability, and proactive learning approaches in professional materials and conversations. Position yourself as an asset to prospective teams or departments by showcasing relevant achievements and potential contributions.
Execution strategies: Making your lateral move successful
Resume and interview optimization
Highlighting transferable skills effectively
Effective resume optimization for lateral moves requires strategic emphasis on skills and experiences most relevant to target roles. Customize content using language and keywords from job descriptions while showcasing achievements that demonstrate adaptability, problem-solving capabilities, and successful transitions.
DevSkiller’s assessment philosophy provides guidance for presenting capabilities effectively. Their emphasis on real-world, simulation-based work samples suggests showcasing repositories, pull requests, and task simulations that reflect actual role scenarios rather than theoretical knowledge.
Explaining your career strategy
Prepare structured responses that articulate clear narratives about how lateral moves fit into long-term career goals. Use concrete examples to illustrate how background equips you for success in target roles, focusing on adaptability, learning agility, and cross-functional collaboration capabilities.
Present lateral moves as evidence of growth mindset, adaptability, and strategic career management rather than lack of upward mobility. Demonstrate how accumulated experiences create valuable problem-solving approaches and stakeholder management capabilities.
Managing transition successfully
Working with current management
Successful lateral transitions require transparent communication with current supervisors and human resources teams to ensure smooth organizational movement. Develop comprehensive plans for transferring responsibilities and ensuring continuity in current roles while maintaining professionalism throughout the process.
Building credibility in your new department
Approach onboarding proactively by seeking information, training, and feedback to accelerate acclimation in new environments. Establish early wins that showcase value and commitment to new teams without overstepping boundaries or disrupting established workflows.
Invest significant time in building relationships with new colleagues, leaders, and cross-functional partners through active listening and collaborative problem-solving approaches. Use structured relationship-building approaches such as one-on-one meetings and collaborative project participation to accelerate integration.
Overcoming common challenges
Lateral moves may face misunderstanding as lack of ambition from colleagues or future employers. Address these perceptions proactively with clear narratives that communicate strategic intent and alignment with long-term growth objectives. Prepare compelling explanations that position lateral moves as deliberate investments in skill development and career resilience.
Some lateral moves may not immediately lead to advancement opportunities, creating potential for continued stagnation. Counteract this risk by setting explicit learning goals, seeking growth opportunities, and maintaining proactive development approaches throughout transitions. Monitor progress regularly against defined objectives and adjust strategies when transitions fail to provide expected development.
Learning new roles and adapting to organizational changes can prove demanding, requiring careful attention to workload management. Balance learning intensity with sustainable work practices that prevent exhaustion while maintaining performance standards that build credibility in new roles.
2026 trends: The future of lateral career mobility
Technology and remote work impact
Remote and hybrid work normalization has fundamentally expanded access to lateral opportunities beyond traditional geographic boundaries. Mobility leaders report 2025 activity at or above 2019 levels, with organizations enabling movement “virtually and physically,” indicating expanded remote and distributed options for lateral role changes.
Digital platforms and internal talent marketplaces streamline processes for identifying and applying for lateral roles while providing greater transparency and accessibility. DevSkiller’s TalentBoost platform exemplifies this technological evolution by mapping digital skills across comprehensive libraries and providing analytics-driven insights for career development.
Industry-specific developments
Different sectors increasingly emphasize cross-functional skills and lateral mobility as competitive advantages for talent development and organizational agility. Market dynamics show lateral hiring grew 21% in firms with 1,000+ lawyers but declined 11% in firms ≤250, indicating larger employers currently provide more lateral pathways and mobility-related opportunities.
Current restructuring pressures also drive lateral mobility adoption. In 2024-2025, 73% of HR leaders were executing or considering layoffs, with redeployment/internal mobility cited as essential for employer brand and workforce realignment, signaling higher reliance on internal moves during restructuring.
The future points toward skills-based, internal-first mobility strategies enabled by advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, with lateral moves becoming core components of talent retention and organizational agility in increasingly competitive markets. Worker expectations for career growth and learning are core to mobility strategies, with mobility framed as a key lever for dynamic career paths and worker-led development.
This evolution transforms lateral move from optional career experiments into strategic necessities for both individual advancement and organizational success, making 2025 the year when lateral mobility becomes truly mainstream across industries and career levels.
