I read an interesting article about the archetypes of Staff engineers - it clearly breaks down what roles exist at this level.

There are 4 archetypes in total:
1. Tech Lead - leads the team's technical strategy, helps prioritize tasks, coordinates between tech and product. The most common archetype.
2. Architect - deep expert in a narrow area (e.g., API or infrastructure). Makes systemic changes, influences through quality of decisions, not hierarchy.
3. Solver - deals with chaos: unstable systems, technical debt, urgent fires. Usually moves between teams.
4. Right Hand - the right hand of the CTO/director. Scales their influence, takes on complex cross-team initiatives.

Also an interesting fact: ~⅔ get Staff within their own company, the rest need to change jobs. And a "staff project" (big important project) is not mandatory - often consistent contribution or just a change of context is enough.

If you are on the path to Staff or already there, the author also provides a weekly schedule for each type - you can "try it on" yourself 😎