Seniority level
The scope of responsibility a developer holds: junior, mid, senior, staff, principal. Scope and ownership define it more than years.
What it tells you about a developer
Verified seniority shows up as maintained projects, releases shipped, and code other engineers depend on. When a title arrives without that footprint, the interview is where the real scope gets established.
Levels describe what someone owns. Juniors execute defined tasks. Mids own features. Seniors own systems and unblock other people. Staff and principal engineers set direction across teams. The same title maps to different scopes at different companies, so calibrate on evidence of ownership.