I've worked for 2 well known software companies and what you are describing is a Senior Engineer in both (5-10 years experience). The place I am now starts fre

I've worked for 2 well known software companies and what you are describing is a Senior Engineer in both (5-10 years experience). The place I am now starts fresh grads as Engineer I, then Engineer II, Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer, Architect and then Staff Engineer. Each promotion takes about 4-5 years so you aren't reaching Staff until about 20 years. A Staff Engineer is basically fully autonomous and is an IC that reports directly to the executives. They work on what they want and with who they want. I understand this is different at Google and I guess Staff is the equivalent to a Google Fellow.