As it stands the safest option is going by titles as they are a badge of what you earned.
If you remove the levels completely and just go by titles you suddenly get a really good idea of how good the player is. And the player can hide/show off their skill as they see if.
e.g. a miracle thief (to this day I hate that title's sound) proves you've got knowledge of exploiting the system to grind underdog.
or they have the option to just hide themselves by simply using the lower tier tide turner.
Its still in the same vein as old 15 but not so culminatively arbitrary as grind x achieves to lvl up. It's I've done this one thing, check it out.
But yus I definitely want some end game goal for the devs to come up with a carrot and stick system. Do well you earn points, do poorly you are deducted in them.
But no matter what system you can think of becomes circumstantial. e.g. some asshat buff engie can get more exp in the current system from buffs and repairs as opposed to some smart engie with main kit. Plus a good pilot doesn't put their ship at risk so easily.
Its seriously all about a person's personal reputation (as well as their clan's) in the end that defines their skill level. But you can't do that with people, as people can be vindictive and fickle (I mean the guy that has the most applauses doesn't really mean the best player, nor does the guy with the most reports or lack of commendations being the worst).
Hence why I'm going by this title based vein as titles make a player stand out individually. Levels do not. And it emphasises the importance of knowing someone purely by name which is what essentially the playerbase lvling system (our community mmr if you will) is based on.