Comment by bluGill

As a senior engineer I've learned that is my job. I take on much less work than anyone else because I know I will be called on to solve those problems.

This is in fact known in management literature: assign your best people to the least important project. That way the second best can grow to become the best, while the best are always free to help out if your fourth most important project has issues - it isn't a big deal if your least important project doesn't get done on time and if they manage to finish it so much the better. (your best are also free should sales discover a short window where a quick feature can bring in a large sale - though this is obviously easy to abuse)