I work in an EE dominated industry where staff and principal titles are only handed out to 30+ year veterans who know their domains better than anyone else in the world. These are people who specialized in one thing their entire career (mmWave RF amplifiers for instance). These companies are every where big software is at, and then some. They don't pay great, they are not "cool" to work at. Gov is often the biggest customer. Doing something novel in these fields will require a PhD, a decade of corporate R&D experience, and significant corporate backing.