At Boeing (and the other major aerospace companies), they have 5 levels of engineering, then the Technical Fellow track with 3 levels. Level four requires you b

At Boeing (and the other major aerospace companies), they have 5 levels of engineering, then the Technical Fellow track with 3 levels. Level four requires you be a team lead, and level 5 even higher level of responsibility. That was a more recent requirement, and we were told they corresponded with manager and senior manager, which slowed down promotions significantly. The Tech Fellow track was created to grant executive level compensation to retain subject matter experts. Beyond a graduate degree, becoming a Tech Fellow requires demonstrating your subject matter expertise within the company, with a key measure being that other groups seek out your help, so it does require some politics and networking. At the highest level, you pretty much have to be a national authority. A lot of work, but executive compensation at a megacorp is significant. That said, unless your specialty is avionics or CFD, I don't recommend aerospace companies for software engineers.