Senior+ Fork
After Senior, a career may split into management and IC tracks. In the source diagram, Leadership marks the transition into management rather than a separate grade. The exact steps—Engineering Manager or Director, Staff or Principal—depend on organizational design and do not form a universal ladder.
Management scales impact through people and process. The IC track scales it through cross-team technical leadership, architecture, standards, and difficult problem solving; Staff+ includes several archetypes rather than only Architect.
The fork helps an engineer choose a mode of influence and a company make parallel expectations explicit. Read the level names in the diagram as an illustrative example, not an industry standard.
Compare how the person scales impact: through people and process or through cross-team technical leadership.
Define expectations across scope, impact, complexity, leadership, and improvement without assuming universal grade names.
Build a transition plan around skills, influence, and decision types; take level names from your own organization.