>Isn't the BBC a company where the only senior positions are as a contractor, charging 3 times the amount of their permanent counterpart for much less hassle?
Digital do seem to have sorted this out, with clear job titles and stuff, at least for programmers, and tech jobs upto band 10. Elsewhere it's not so clear cut. Support have no way to progress past band 8 without going into a terrible management structure. Good engineers are rarely good managers.
Not really, no.