IC duties beyond senior are pretty arbitrary at most companies, you might be worrying about it too much honestly. Principal seems to be a terminal position for

IC duties beyond senior are pretty arbitrary at most companies, you might be worrying about it too much honestly. Principal seems to be a terminal position for people who have 1) been consistently productive 2) been at the company a million years. These people were typically already doing more “strategic” architectural implementation/design work anyway. Last year I went from Staff to Senior taking another job. I make 30k more and do essentially the same thing. If you want more money just optimize for that and stop caring about title imo