Exactly this. I'm TL for a large team. I get to set strategic and technical direction for our entire org and manage no one. It's fantastic. If I had more time to write code, it would be my dream job.
tl==tech lead, not team lead right? Yeah tech lead is a great role, assuming you have the space and freedom to actually execute a tech roadmap.
Yeah, tech lead.
What is SR IC
I'm guessing: "Senior Individual Contributor".
It would be someone experienced, who is still responsible for technical contribution (writing code, planing architecture, etc.)