>I'm not sure your point stands any scrutiny. Titles such as principal engineer or staff+ levels are not granted by seniority or at an anniversary. OK, fair en

>I'm not sure your point stands any scrutiny. Titles such as principal engineer or staff+ levels are not granted by seniority or at an anniversary. OK, fair enough - instead of guessing, I went and pulled up some current job postings: -Staff Product Designer @ DoorDash: "You have 8+ years of experience as a product/UX designer in a relevant industry" -Staff Product Designer @ Opendoor: "Experience: At least 8 years of relevant experience as an individual contributor on an in-house product design team" -Staff Product Designer @ Mozilla: "5-7 years of professional product design experience" -Sr. Staff Product Designer @ CNN Digital: "12+ years professional experience, specifically as a Product Designer -Staff Product Designer @ Ro (Roman): "8+ years of experience shipping high-impact and successful digital products across mobile and web at consumer-facing/focused products and brands" So to me, the OP question wasn't "What makes a Staff designer?" it was "What happens to designers as they get older and don't want to pivot to management/PMing?" The answer I was attempting to give was "It looks like there are lots of Staff/Product+ roles opening, which may be good fits for such people." Maybe the main hangup you found was my reference to FAANG/FAANG-adjacent companies, and I may have been off the mark there. And make no mistake about it, I won't hide it - I'm definitely wish-casting here as an old guy in the design industry myself.