I believe the article was using Senior Engineer as equivalent to lead/architect, because at big tech companies like Google or Amazon, that's what a Senior Engin

I believe the article was using Senior Engineer as equivalent to lead/architect, because at big tech companies like Google or Amazon, that's what a Senior Engineer is, they act effectively as team lead/project lead, and as team(or multiple teams) level architect. When you become senior at those companies you also start to report directly to the skip level.