After coaching 100+ engineers into roles at Meta, Google, Netflix, Salesforce, and more, I’ve identified three core reasons why senior engineers plateau.

Let’s break them down.

1. You’re delivering results — but not business value.

At senior levels, execution alone isn’t enough.

Engineers get stuck because their impact sounds like this:

• “I built a backend service…”

• “I improved performance…”

• “I migrated us to AWS…”

All of that is good.

But promotions require business language:

• “Increased revenue by…”

• “Reduced cost by…”

• “Improved reliability making X feature possible…”

• “Accelerated the roadmap by…”

⚡ Visibility = business value.
If your work doesn't tie to metrics leadership cares about, you stay invisible.

2. You’re waiting for recognition instead of engineered visibility.

Another painful truth:

Promotions don’t go to the best engineers.
They go to the most visible engineers.

If you’re not:

• presenting your work

• socializing your impact

• building executive presence

• narrating progress to stakeholders

• aligning cross-functionally

…then leadership has no reason to assume you’re operating at the next level.

This is why your quieter peers sometimes leapfrog ahead.

It’s not politics — it’s visibility.

3. You haven’t connected your work to a Staff-level narrative.

To get promoted, you must make leadership believe:

“This person is already operating at the next level.
All we need to do is make it official.”

This does not happen automatically.

You need a promotion narrative that shows:

• how you think strategically

• how you influence without authority

• how you drive cross-team alignment

• how your projects create org-level impact

• how you improve systems, not just tasks

Too many great engineers assume:

“If I just keep working hard, I’ll get promoted.”

No.

Not at senior levels.

You need:

• structured storytelling

• a measurable impact journal

• repeatable leadership behavior

• signals of ownership

This is what separates L5 from L6, and L6 from Staff.

The 5-Step Framework to Break the Invisible Ceiling

This is the same system I use inside the Peak Potential Career Accelerator, backed by the results in my “Land More Interviews in 30 Days” guide.

STEP 1 — Create Strategic Career Clarity

Define exactly:

• the level you’re targeting

• the skills and behaviors required

• the visibility gaps holding you back

Engineers get promoted when their leadership sees a clear path forward — not ambiguity.

STEP 2 — Build Executive Presence

Presence =
Clarity + Composure + Conviction.

Leadership needs to trust that you can:

• represent the team

• influence decisions

• communicate with impact

This is why I teach the 3×3 rule and the PREP framework — they instantly make you sound more senior.

STEP 3 — Operate Like the Next Level Before You’re at the Next Level

Every promotion is earned retroactively.

Becoming Staff means:

• leading cross-team initiatives

• foreseeing problems before they happen

• driving architecture decisions

• mentoring engineers into independence

This is “operating ahead of level.”

STEP 4 — Build Your Visibility Engine

Visibility is a system — not luck.

I coach clients to:

• send monthly updates to leadership

• present their work intentionally

• socialize design docs

• share learnings publicly

• document impact weekly

If your name isn’t mentioned in rooms you’re not in, you’re invisible.

STEP 5 — Craft Your Promotion Narrative

This is the step 99% of engineers skip.

A winning narrative includes:

• your top 5 org-level impacts

• metrics that show measurable business value

• leadership stories demonstrating maturity

• how you elevated the team

• proof of strategic ownership

This is the document managers use to argue for you during calibration.

No narrative = no promotion.

🚀 Real Example: How One Client Broke Through a 3-Year Promotion Block

One of my clients, a Senior Engineer at Oracle, had been waiting 3 years for a promotion.

After applying this framework (and the visibility system inside my eBook):

• Her visibility with directors increased immediately

• Her confidence skyrocketed

• Her narrative showed real business impact

• She received principal-level interview opportunities at Meta and Amazon

• Her manager initiated her promotion conversation

She didn’t change her skills —
she changed her positioning.

That’s the unlock.

🌟 Final Thoughts: You’re Not Stuck — You’re Under-Positioned

Most senior engineers aren’t missing skill.

They’re missing:

• strategy

• visibility

• executive presence

• a strong narrative

• clarity in how to advance

If you want to accelerate into Staff, Tech Lead, or Engineering Manager roles…

You need a system — not guesswork.