How would I judge the status of a researcher without talking to them or reading their papers?
Assuming the question is about status and not quality:
Job title is a strong indicator of status.  The meaning of each title typically depends on the country.  For the US, as an example, named professorships have the highest status, followed by professors and associate professors.
The status of the university is also a strong predictor of status of the researcher.
&quot;Status&quot; is not quantitative and attempting to rank status is not productive.