- Senior: project-level ownership, deep single-domain competence, strong execution and fundamentals
- Staff: cross-team or org-level scope, sets technical direction, navigates ambiguity and tradeoffs
- Staff: decisions stay defensible under hindsight, impact is quantified rather than only described technically
- Staff: communication and organizational influence carry as much weight as technical depth
Background for shaping the fin-project-review deck. Not a talking point to raise directly in the interview.