How can I prepare to be a Staff+ research engineer?

Question

I’d like to be a very senior research engineer in a FAANG company. I’m currently a senior engineer at my medium-sized company but I want to move closer to the research side as a more senior IC. What does it look like to be Staff+ research engineer vs software engineer? How can I build those skills now?

Rahul Pandey · Accepted Answer

These titles are often invented (meaningless). Focus more on the scope of your work and your ability to lead a team of engineers through a lot of ambiguity. On the research side, having some awareness of the research priorities is important, which may be (are often) different from product teams.

How can I prepare to be a Staff+ research engineer?

Discussion