If anyone else isn’t familiar with ‘IC’, it seems it stands for “individual contributor” (as opposed to a role where you're managing others). Correct me if I’m wrong.
[updated] IC = worker with management tendencies but more technical knowledge.
[kept] Ok then. Helpful. Corporatespeak is often just jargon creation to exclude others for whatever reason.
[edit expansion] Worker who is not manager but has manager skills sufficient to orchestrate as needed to deliver a result in required manner. Knowledge level exceeds expectation normally associated with a classic "pure" manager.
Many software engineers (including myself) much prefer the IC route.
Ok I probably mangled this but IC just paid for itself in my mind via increased understanding, nuance and useful brevity.
There's also the verisimilitude that it can also mean an inferred ceiling. For example, Principal <whatever area> Engineer role[s] at Microsoft is [are] typically the highest that you can go - if you stick to the IC (read: non-managerial) track[s].