Staff engineer is the name for a “rank” but the rank has existed for a long long time. Staff is the first “leadership” engineering role - roughly equivalent to

Staff engineer is the name for a “rank” but the rank has existed for a long long time. Staff is the first “leadership” engineering role - roughly equivalent to a manager in scope. Some places have a manager equivalent of senior engineer but that’s also sometimes a role you’re expected to rapidly leave: either via promotion or back to IC.