Our office has had a rough year with engineering, communication, and strategy. Over the past few months, myself and one other (both engineers) have stepped up to address these concerns. To do so, we've created and pitched product strategy, offered solutions for communication, and presented an engineering org structure that would avoid future difficulty. The ideas are well received and are in the process of being implemented by senior leadership. In my opinion, the initiative shown here is well above the station of a typical engineer.
As is natural, both of us would like to be rewarded for the initiative and contribution to the business. The proposed "engineering org" involves the team migrating from a totally flat hierarchy to one with well defined roles and ownership. Without going to more detail, we've identified "Staff Software Engineer" as a role that ensures sane engineering and architectural practices across teams. We both want this position.
I have never asked for a promotion or title change, but in the interest of advancing my career I think this is the right opportunity. Right now our office is small, but expecting to grow considerably in the next few years. I am about 10 years junior to my co-worker and fear that if there can only be one, he will be selected. In my biased opinion, we both deserve that role.
In an ideal org, we will be "Staff" level engineers on separate teams with the goal of supporting good engineering across the division. These teams may be small now, but will grow substantially. How do I/we approach senior leadership with a stronger message than "please promote us both"?