How does one get one of these non-management yet senior jobs? Companies like to talk about a "technical track" but I have yet to see anyone climb up it. I've se

How does one get one of these non-management yet senior jobs? Companies like to talk about a "technical track" but I have yet to see anyone climb up it. I've seen senior engineers hired from outside into fellow type roles. But those seem to degenerate into management roles anyway. Maybe I'm just not working for the right companies, but it really does look like the only way up is management.