[mooreds]

As I recall, they tend to start the senior folks at grade 15. They have to get approval for starting at any step above step 1, and I don't know how often that approval is granted.

They are very open about all this during the process.

[andrefrancisco]

That's right. There's no set grade or step for engineers, but most of our senior engineers start at a 15. Your grade and step (and therefore your pay) are determined by previous experience and previous pay.