Yes. Perhaps I’m getting old and cynical, but “staff engineer” is an invention by companies that are no longer growing quickly enough to absorb all of their most promising employees into proper management roles. Instead of having the power of enabling continued employment, you have to “influence” others to do your work.
A promising engineer rises through the technical track by showing impact. You show impact by getting others to sign on to your vision. You request a budget. You engage with a lot of stakeholders through meetings. Sounds a lot like what we call a "people manager" but without all of the tools available to one.
Maybe a better way of framing it is people managers have too much power. In an alternate reality, "staff engineers" hire and fire and have budget signature powers, and "people managers" are more like HR-plus who manage interpersonal conflicts and deliver performance evaluations. The status quo is a remnant of how society has historically undervalued and infantilized technical workers.
