> A Staff and Sr manager would be paid the same

do they report to the same level? every place I've seen a "technical track" and "management track" it seems the higher level technical people report to someone on the same or even lower level in management. I.E. a manager can have technical reports that are equal level or higher. that obviously doesn't happen in the management track.

not that these are first level managers but if a principal engineer not reporting to a VP, the it doesnt seem like the tracks are equal.

Why does the reporting chain matter? They're separate roles and jobs so the manager is leveled differently.

If I'm a jr engineer reporting to a director does that give me more authority then a staff engineer reporting to a manger?

Management is a different job, it would be leveled differently.

Maybe a high level IC needs to work closely with a team for a bit so they just report to the manager of the team.