Hi Dustin. I think it’s just a case of experience. Senior design positions — like any senior positions, I suppose — are given to designers who have a good amount of experience under their belt. I see some courses that prepare students for being art directors, which I think is misplaced — you’ll become an art director (etc.) once you’ve had a good amount of experience as a designer.

One thing I would say is that senior design roles usually involve a lot of non-design-related responsibilities, like leading projects, liaising with stakeholder, presenting ideas to a team, and presenting ideas to management (with a clear understanding of how the design tasks relate to business goals); so anything you can do to practice skills like that would be valuable in preparing for that step up to a senior role.

I hope that’s useful in some way!