Software architect.

One of the staff engineer archetypes, architects are responsible for the success of a technical area of the company that is both critical and permanent, such as the API gateway or database performance. They focus on joining the needs of the business, the user, and the technology into a unified solution. They gain influence by making good recommendations to the business. They may or may not work directly in the code, depending on the company.rL4


  1. Will Larson, Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the Management Track, First edition (San Francisco? Will Larson, 2021). (See notes.)