You’ve become the person people come to when they are stuck. You make important technical decisions, unblock your team and influence work beyond your immediate area. Then the promotion conversation begins, and “becoming more senior” suddenly feels much less clear. What is expected of you now? Should you continue on the technical path, move into management or aim for a broader leadership role? This talk explores the less visible challenges of moving from senior engineer to staff or principal engineer, engineering manager, director or head of engineering. These are the skills and behaviours that are rarely explained clearly, but become increasingly important as your scope and influence grow. Using practical engineering scenarios, we’ll look at: - When to solve a problem yourself and when to help someone else solve it. - How to influence decisions when you do not have formal authority. - What strategic thinking looks like in everyday engineering work. - Why being the strongest technical expert can sometimes become a limitation. - How to explore technical leadership, people management and organisational leadership. We’ll use a simple model based on four levels of impact: code, systems, teams and organisations. This will help attendees understand where they are today, what their next step might require and which skills they want to develop. This is not a talk about following one fixed career ladder. It is about understanding the different ways engineers can create impact and finding a leadership path that feels right for them.