To give you a counterpoint to what the scientists trying to lure you are giving you, being a "staff programmer" basically means you will be paid half what you s

To give you a counterpoint to what the scientists trying to lure you are giving you, being a "staff programmer" basically means you will be paid half what you should be to go work in an environment with no process and no engineering culture where you will be seen and treated as an inferior by everyone as you are not a "proper" researcher and academia is extremely status driven.