It does seem to crop up at different stages. There’s an old SC wiki here: Sampajañña - a source collection that gives a nice survey of its occurrences and how it has been translated. It has a situational awareness usage earlier in the gradual training sequence after sila, sense restraint, wakefulness etc., but before setting aside the hindrances and jhana. It is also a term used in association with satipaṭṭhāna. Finally, it crops up as a factor of third jhana, specifically, which is rather far along in the practice.
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