In big companies, the most successful Staff Engineers forge a symbiotic relationship with a manager at the equivalent level.<p>The two build trust where the Staff Engineer makes tech decisions and sets direction for the manager&#x27;s teams in exchange for not having to deal with people or personnel issues as a titled manager. Much of the power without the direct accountability.<p>The manager, on the other hand, gets the awesome power of the Staff Engineer to deliver projects and handle the technical challenges while reaping most of the credit and rewards, in exchange for being held directly accountable for the teams.<p>Without this relationship, both halves are fairly useless. So my advice is to forge a relationship with a manager peer until you are ready to move on.