You led people. The role you want now is an IC. Here’s how to downplay leadership without erasing it — and without lying.
1. Retitle
“Head of X” → “Senior X.” “Director” → “Lead.” Same work, lower altitude label.
2. Drop direct-report counts
“Managed 5 direct reports” → cut entirely. Or: “Worked alongside 4 engineers” (factually true if they were ICs you collaborated with).
3. Replace strategic verbs with execution verbs
“Led” → “Shipped.” “Defined” → “Wrote.” “Aligned” → “Worked with.” Full breakdown.
4. Swap “led the org” for “led a pod”
Org-level scope reads at director altitude. Pod-level scope (1 team) reads at IC altitude.
5. Cut C-suite name-drops
“Partnered with the CEO” reads as “I’m peer-of-CEO.” Replace with “Partnered with the engineering lead” — closer to the target altitude.
6. Drop the “vision” word
“Vision-led leader” / “Defined the vision” / “Set the multi-year vision” — these are leader-coded. Replace with concrete execution outcomes.
Verify with the diagnostic
Run a diagnostic. If the seniority indicator still trips, one of the six edits was incomplete. The diagnostic surfaces which one.