It doesn’t matter that the company already has 6 different key value store systems or that you can find open source solutions. Your problem is surely slightly different. Building a new one shows deep technical chops.

At this point getting promoted on the Individual Contributor track becomes hard, so you do a lateral move to management.

At this point getting promoted on the *Individual Contributor* track becomes difficult, so you do a *lateral move to Management*.

*Manager to Director*: do a reorg