While getting feedback on StaffEng, one request was for more content on managing Staff-plus engineers. It doesn’t quite fit the theme–that effort is focused on the Staff engineers themselves rather the company or the manager–but it’s an interesting topic and a worthy appendix.
Of course, not all aspects of managing Staff-plus folks are unique to the level: there are fundamentals that apply to managing anyone in any role, like doing effective 1 on 1s or giving feedback. For that sort of thing, read Lara Hogan’s Resilient Management or Camille Fournier’s The Manager’s Path. What I wanted to get into here is how managing someone at the Staff-plus level differs from managing, say, a Senior engineer.

StaffEng's platform is a resource for engineering leaders, offering insights into engineering management, team leadership, and organizational dynamics. Through articles, case studies, and interviews with engineering managers, StaffEng offers insights into effective leadership strategies, career development paths, and building high-performing engineering teams. Readers can learn about managing technical debt, fostering a culture of innovation, and navigating challenges in engineering management roles to advance their careers as engineering leaders.

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Managing Staff-plus engineers requires a fundamentally different approach than managing senior engineers. Key strategies include sponsoring rather than directing, helping them redefine success metrics, providing frequent feedback, keeping them informed with organizational context, involving them in planning, and giving them unrefined problems to solve. Managers should create space for deep thinking while maintaining connection to day-to-day realities, minimize administrative overflow, and hold them accountable to full leadership expectations. The transition from Senior to Staff-plus represents a major shift in work type rather than just scope, requiring deliberate management support.