There are no promotions between entry-level and lead dev? I don't know that I'd call it a reasonable career ladder if the second rung is 15 years away.
My lab (US Gov.) is the same, except there are is also no title change for the top level. I've been a 'Research Structural Engineer' for two years, and work with people who have been a 'Research Structural Engineer' for 40 years. They get paid a bit more, and have generally put in some time with a 'Group Leader' title, but they don't get saluted in the halls.
The consensus is that this promotes a more egalitarian culture, and prevents people from being locked in to roles they don't prefer. Senior staff are free to spend a few years managing a large project or in a leadership role, then back off to get back into the research.
There are 'promotions', but they're basically entirely disconnected from day-to-day work. I'm a 2; the lead is a 4, my boss is a 6 (all in the technical track). There's a separate management track, which has very similar salaries to technical ones (maybe 10-15% higher), which leave you with plenty of time to do technical tasks (management tasks account for 10-50% of a person's time, depending on the level of management), and I assume there is a tier where they don't disclose the salary structure for "executives" (major organizational leads). I'll get promoted to a 3 at some point in the next year or two; then I'll be a 3 for a really long time (with annual raises), and eventually get bumped to a 4.
Are regular promotions that important? As long as I get keep getting to do interesting work and keep getting reasonable raises I'm quite happy with my job title not changing more than once a decade.
I suppose not. I'm just used to compensation and responsibilities being tied closely to promotions. There just needs to be some way that the organization regularly recognizes people for doing a good job, so however that materializes is fine.
