As humankind evolves, particularly in the realms of tech, a whole host of newly minted jobs with weirdly specific job titles is emerging. Some are more ridiculous than others.
What’s your job title? Does it accurately and simply describe what you do? If only everyone could be so lucky. Unfortunately, some job titles beget more questions than they answer.
As the world’s population grows, and the breadth of our knowledge and ability expands, the variety of jobs on offer is in constant flux. This is particularly obvious in sci-tech, where regular innovations mean we’re facing very different possibilities for work every few years.
This flux has created an environment in which a whole host of new jobs – with new remits and functions – materialises every few months. Those new jobs need new job titles.
While some are still perfectly clear and make intrinsic sense, others, alas, are more ambiguous. Here, we’ve gathered just a few of those.
Chief birthday officer
This is the job that, on this list, sounds most likely to lead to unbridled fun on a daily basis. In practice, sadly, it’s just another job.
At the time the job was originally advertised for, the chief birthday officer – a role created at fruit-basket supplier Edible Arrangements – was responsible for ‘birthday outreach to influential people’, writing ‘birthday-themed posts’ for the company’s blog and planning corporate birthday celebrations.
Social alchemist
We’re going to be honest here. We have no idea what social alchemists do. It’s something to do with marketing, maybe? And social media? And turning clicks into gold? (We’re out on a limb with that last one.)
Well, as long as they know what they do, we suppose.
Brand warrior
Another marketing one here. A brand warrior is responsible for spearheading brand promotion, but they don’t just promote brands; they fight for them.
Or that’s the tagline anyway.
Mischief champion
The title of mischief champion was famously held by Harry Dromey at Paddy Power. The role required Dromey to mastermind the PR stunts and campaigns that frequently get the betting company into the news.
Dromey has since moved on to pastures new and more normal job titles over at Channel 4.
Tech evangelist
While tech evangelist may sound lofty, the work done by those who hold this title is slightly less so.
Tech evangelists are responsible for building support for a product by pimping it at every opportunity, thus creating a user base.
Digital prophet
Ah, Shingy.
David Shing is the self-proclaimed digital prophet of AOL, though his actual role is somewhat obfuscated. His work seems to span a number of areas, from media marketing and development to futuristic prognostication.
Space lawyer
This one sounds like something a child would make up when asked what they want to be when they grow up. When you really think about it, the existence of space lawyers makes perfect sense.
Space lawyers, as one might – in a Ronseal-esque fashion – guess, work within the realms of space law, the set of rules that govern humankind’s forays into the far reaches of space.
Wizard of Moz
This one is a favourite of the Silicon Republic team, solely for its punning prowess.
The title Wizard of Moz is held by Rand Fishkin, co-founder, former CEO and current employee of marketing tool creator Moz. Under this epithet, Fishkin ‘contributes’ to the company.
Even Moz describes his title as “ludicrous”.
Paranoid in chief
Another favourite, albeit an informally named one, the paranoid in chief is head honcho of Yahoo’s cybersecurity division (referred to as The Paranoids).
Current paranoid in chief, Bob Lord, is having a tough time of it given recent revelations, but perhaps his paranoia will prevent future massive hacks.
Galactic viceroy of research excellence
How could you not love this job title, in all of its ridiculousness?
The role of galactic viceroy of research excellence was embodied by Microsoft’s James Mickens. The sadly-more-earthbound-than-it-sounds reality of the job saw Mickens engaging in cloud research for the tech giant.
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