[bzzt]

I've never seen any team where Senior Dev / Tech lead have had any power to make "arch level" decisions. And I have a very hard time imagining a team where the other junior/mid level engineers would accept to have such decisions made over their heads, by a member of the team.

[ochronus]

Well, that’s how we do it. Senior devs make arch level decisions (how could you expect ownership otherwise?). It’s also not made over others’ heads but by involving them in the discussion, hearing their input.