Breaking the Ceiling: Scaling Your Impact at the Staff-Plus Level (InfoQ-DevSummit-Boston)

The transition from Senior to Staff-Plus Engineer marks a pivotal evolution in an engineer's career, requiring not more technical excellence but, more importantly, a fundamental shift in how they influence, lead, and drive outcomes across their organization. When it comes to staff engineering, the old management saying, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There," couldn't be more accurate.

Drawing upon my experience as a Director of Engineering collaborating closely with Staff-Plus Engineers, guiding Senior Engineers through this challenging transition, and participating in promotion committees & performance calibrations, I've observed a distinct pattern in the thought processes, strategies, and behaviors that define top-performing Staff-Plus Engineers.

In this talk, attendees will learn:
– What defines the Staff-Plus level, common expectations across companies, and the key gaps that often cause Senior Engineers to get stuck.
– Critical approaches that distinguish high-performing Staff-Plus Engineers from their peers.
– Practical strategies for scaling personal impact through mentorship, sponsorship, and strategic involvement in projects.
– Concrete examples of "Staff Projects" that demonstrate the scope and scale of impact expected at the Staff-Plus level, offering a roadmap for engineers aspiring to reach and excel at these levels.

Transcript

1. THIAGO GHISI Director of Engineering @thiagoghisi Scaling Your Impact at the Staff-Plus Level Breaking the ceiling
2. Hello! I'm Thiago! 350+ Job Interviews 50 to 250 Team Members 10+ Promoted to Staff- Plus & Beyond 200+ Hours in Performance Calibrations
3. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are solely my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
4. What got you HERE, won't get you THERE.
5. AGENDA 1 2 3 Career Ladders Transformational Leaps Staff Projects Q&A
6. AGENDA 1 2 3 Career Ladders Transformational Leaps Staff Projects Q&A
7. Quick poLl: do you have staff-plus levels at your company?
8. What does it mean to be A STAFF-PLUS ENGINEER?
9. Back in the day, IN most companies...
10. The dual-track career ladder model
11. Are there any problem with the DUAL-track career ladder?
12. Problem 1: LEVELS & expectations vary ACROSS COMPANIES source: levels.fyi
13. EXAMPLE: NUBANK's career ladder
14. staff-plus: Promotion vs. lateral move
15. Problem 2: There are many hidden paths for growth source: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
16. TECH lead: ROLE vs. TITLE
17. Problem 3: THEre is a Hidden dimension of time source: honeycomb.io/blog
18. Adding some industry averages...
19. Adding some industry averages...
20. Intermediate Levels: Progression vs. Stagnation
21. Being a little bit more realistic...
22. Being a little bit more realistic...
23. RECAP: Career LADDER PROblems 1. Levels, Titles & Expectations for Staff-Plus vary a lot across companies: Don't chase Titles; chase mastering core skills & being able to play different roles. Titles will come. 2. There are many hidden possibilities for growth beyond what is on the ladder: Don't limit yourself to what is visible on the ladder. After some level, growth will be mostly on the sidelines, building bridges and paving paths. Remember: Scaling Walls vs. Climbing Ladders. 3. Time between promotions increases & opportunities narrow as you climb the Ladder: Don't get desperate! Focus on increasing your impact and expanding your influence. The right opportunities will unfold over time. Remember: You have a Forty-Year Career ahead.
24. What are the most common patterns of expectations for staff-PLUS Across companies, and WHAT do SENIOR ENGINEERS often MISS?
26. Staff-plus expectations across companies Blast Radius Multi-Scale Planning Ownership Level
27. 1. Blast radius Alex Ewerlöf
28. 1. Blast radius
29. 2. multi-scale planning David Allen Tiago Forte Yearly Review Montly Review Weekly Review
30. 2. multi-scale planning
31. 2. multi-scale planning
32. 2. multi-scale planning
33. 3. Ownership & autonomy level Randall Koutnik
34. 3. Ownership & autonomy level
35. 3. Ownership & autonomy level
36. ACTION ITEMS:
37. 1. High Blast Radius Impact: Am I working on "feels-good" snack tasks or really high blast radius projects? What was the last project I worked on that had an impact beyond my team? Blast Radius ACTION ITEMS:
38. ACTION ITEMS: 2. Multi-Scale Planning Influence: Can I work ahead of time to add things to the annual roadmap, influence stakeholders, or negotiate dependencies? How am I influencing my department with my vision? Multi-Scale Planning Blast Radius
39. ACTION ITEMS: 3. Ownership & Autonomy Level: What is the percentage of my time I'm working as an Implementer vs. Solver vs. Finder? Is this the ideal allocation for my next level? If not, how can I get closer to that? Ownership & Autonomy Blast Radius Multi-Scale Planning
40. ACTION ITEMS: Think about the patterns of expectations and ask: What are my biggest gaps? 1. High Blast Radius Impact: Am I working on "feels-good" snack tasks or really high blast radius projects? What was the last project I worked on that had an impact beyond my team? 2. Multi-Scale Planning Influence: Can I work ahead of time to add things to the annual roadmap, influence stakeholders, or negotiate dependencies? How am I influencing my department with my vision? 3. Ownership & Autonomy Level: What is the percentage of my time I'm working as an Implementer vs. Solver vs. Finder? Is this the ideal allocation for my next level? If not, how can I get closer to that?
41. AGENDA 1 2 3 Career Ladders Transformational Leaps Staff Projects Q&A
42. What IS behavior?
43. Reference Mark Horstman
44. What strategies & behaviors did top-performing engineers Apply to achieve promotions to staff-level & beyond?
45. staff-plus promotions From Lead to Staff From Staff to Senior Staff To Principal & Beyond
46. Leap 1: From Lead to staff
48. 1. Strategic Decision-making: Drove key technical and business decisions, showing a strong alignment with business goals and roadmaps. 2. Effective Mentorship & Leadership: inability to delegate not only limits their capacity to handle larger, more impactful projects but also hampers their development into leaders who can manage and inspire teams Exhibited deep mentorship & leadership capabilities and the ability to scale solutions, significantly impacting business outcomes. 3. Cross-functional Influence: cannot effectively communicate technical challenges, negotiate priorities, or manage stakeholder expectations find it difficult to influence organizational decisions and drive projects that have wide-reaching impacts. Demonstrated exceptional ability to work across functions and lead high-impact projects. Leap 1: From Lead to staff - patterns
49. Leap 2: From Staff to SENIOR staff
51. 1. Leadership in Critical Initiatives: Led critical architectural and strategic changes while providing substantial support and mentorship across multiple teams. 2. Broad & Scalable Influence: inability to delegate not only limits their capacity to handle larger, more impactful projects but also hampers their development into leaders who can manage and inspire teams Instrumental in mentoring future leaders with significant influence beyond their immediate technical teams. 3. Operational Excellence: cannot effectively communicate technical challenges, negotiate priorities, or manage stakeholder expectations find it difficult to influence organizational decisions and drive projects that have wide-reaching impacts. Exceptional ability to manage high-stakes situations and deliver key projects consistently & sustainably. Leap 2: From Staff to SENIOR staff - patterns
52. Leap 3: TO principal & beyond
54. 1. Domain Ownership: Owned entire domains or product lines, influencing wide-ranging projects and strategic directions profoundly. 2. Innovative Technical Leadership: inability to delegate not only limits their capacity to handle larger, more impactful projects but also hampers their development into leaders who can manage and inspire teams Led major platformization efforts or technical innovations that significantly impacted company's capabilities and growth. 3. Comprehensive & Adaptive Mentorship: cannot effectively communicate technical challenges, negotiate priorities, or manage stakeholder expectations find it difficult to influence organizational decisions and drive projects that have wide-reaching impacts. Demonstrated extensive mentorship abilities and flexibility to engage with varied functions & levels, effectively enhancing organizational capacity. Leap 3: TO principal & beyond - patterns
55. What ARE THE PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR of TOP Perfoming staff-PLUs across levels?
56. 1. Strategic Influence & Ownership: Ability to drive significant technical and strategic decisions that align with the business's goals. Not just solving immediate problems but also anticipating future challenges and opportunities, setting a direction that spans multiple business units or technology domains. TOP PERFORMERS PATTERNS: Strategic Influence & Ownership
57. TOP PERFORMERS PATTERNS: 2. Leadership & Mentorship: Took active roles in coaching others, leading by example, and fostering an environment where their teammates can grow and succeed. Actively participated in hiring, mentoring, and contributing to the professional growth of others through talks, pairing, reviews, or one-on- ones. Leadership & Mentorship Strategic Influence & Ownership
58. TOP PERFORMERS PATTERNS: 3. Technical Excellence & Innovation: Ability to navigate & optimize complex systems Proactive approach to adopting or even creating new technologies and methodologies. Track record of being able to innovate within their domains and contribute directly to significant enhancements in product and engineering capabilities. Technical Excellence & Innovation Strategic Influence & Ownership Leadership & Mentorship
59. TOP PERFORMERS PATTERNS: 1. Strategic Influence & Ownership: Ability to drive significant technical and strategic decisions that align with the business's goals. Not just solving immediate problems but also anticipating future challenges and opportunities, setting a direction that spans multiple business units or technology domains. 2. Leadership & Mentorship: Took active roles in coaching others, leading by example, and fostering an environment where their teammates can grow and succeed. Actively participated in hiring, mentoring, and contributing to the professional growth of others through talks, pairing, reviews, or one-on-ones. 3. Technical Excellence & Innovation: Ability to navigate & optimize complex systems. Proactive approach to adopting or even creating new technologies and methodologies. Track record of being able to innovate within their domains and contribute directly to significant enhancements in product and engineering capabilities.
60. What are the MOST common pitfalls that prevent talented engineers from progressing beyond a certain point in their careers?
62. LOW PERFORMERS PATTERNS: 1. Lack of Strategic Vision: Focused solely on technical tasks without understanding how their work aligns with broader business goals. 2. Inability to Delegate & Scale Impact: inability to delegate not only limits their capacity to handle larger, more impactful projects but also hampers their development into leaders who can manage and inspire teams Inability to delegate limited their capacity to handle larger & more impactful projects and hampered their development into leaders who can manage and inspire teams. 3. Poor Stakeholder Management & Communication: cannot effectively communicate technical challenges, negotiate priorities, or manage stakeholder expectations find it difficult to influence organizational decisions and drive projects that have wide-reaching impacts. Struggled to effectively communicate technical challenges, negotiate priorities, and manage stakeholder expectations, restricting their ability to influence decisions and drive impactful cross-department projects.
63. ACTION ITEMS:
64. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Role models are a lot more powerful than checklists: Who are the top five individuals who have most inspired my professional career, and what specific skills or qualities do they possess that I admire or wish to develop? 2. Everybody has at least 1 Key Behavior that is holding them back: What is yours? What is yours? Removing that will be more influential than anything else. 3. Instead of looking outside-in, look inside-out: Look for patterns of Canonical Promotions to Staff-Plus level cases at your company. Do Informational Interviews with those folks. You will be surprised!
65. AGENDA 1 2 3 Career Ladders Transformational Leaps Staff Projects Q&A
66. What ARE STAFF PROJECTS?
67. Reference Will Larson
68. My Checklist for staff projects Technical Excellence & Innovation Leadership & Mentorship Strategic Influence & Ownership Ownership & Autonomy Blast Radius Multi-Scale Planning Top Expectations Top Behaviors
69. My Checklist for staff projects High Blast Radius Impact Multi-Scale Planning Influence Ownership & Autonomy Level Chance to Demostrate: Strategic Influence & Ownership end-to-end. Many Opportunities for: Leadership & Mentorship Powered by: Technical Excellence & Innovation staff projects
70. How DO I make sure my staff projects are "good enough" and I will have time to work on them?
71. Continuously setting & managing expections WITH YOUR MANAGER in WRITING.
72. Continuous Expectations Snapshots <YOUR NAME> - 2024.H2 Expectations WHAT/Deliverables Status Goal Plan Metrics ! " # HOW/Skills Status Goal Plan Metrics ! " # Real Example:
73. How do I make sure my manager isn't biased and avoid surprises during performance review season?
74. CALIBRATING YOUR expections at THE BEGINNING OF THE PERFORMANCE CYCLE THE SAME WAY YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS & BEHAVIORS ARE CALIBRATED against your current & NEXT LEVEL "BAR" AT THE END OF THE PERFORMANCE CYCLE.
75. Expectations Calibration (At each Level) Managers being calibrated Manager presenting Level+1 ICs Representatives Cross-Calibrator (From a different department) ? ! $ Facilitator (Level+1 or Level+2 Manager) Time-keeper Note-taker ? % %
76. ACTION ITEMS:
77. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Write down your expectations, add at least 1 Staff Project & 1 Key Skill: If you don't know what format to use, I suggest the following... Metric -> Plan for each. 2. Calibrate it against your peers, mentors, or people who got promoted to the next level in previous cycles. What is yours 3. Revisit them with your manager at least every quarter on a formal checkpoint during your 1:1s (!"#), ideally every month: Ask your manager to grade each of your top 3 deliverables and top 3 skills, indicating how you are progressing and what the trend line is.
78. ONE-PAGER SUMMARY:
79. 1. Titles vs. Expectations 2. Hidden Growth Opportunities 3. The Forty-Year Career 1. High Blast Radius Impact 2. Multi-Scale Planning Influence 3. Ownership & Autonomy Levels Staff-plus expectations Career LADDER INSIGHTS 1. Role Models Over Checklists 2. Key Limiting Behaviors & Skills 3. Inside-Out Growth Perspective TRANSFORMATIONAL LEAPS 1. Set Clear Expectations and Goals 2. Managers & Mentors Calibrations 3. Monthly and Quarterly Reviews STAFF-PLUS PROJECTS
80. AGENDA 1 2 3 Career Ladders Transformational Leaps Staff Projects Q&A
81. Q&A
82. Thank you! What is the highest leverage thing you can do NEXT week with your skills (hard & soft), your relationships and your vision that will cause the highest blast-radius? THIAGO GHISI Director of Engineering @thiagoghisi