Funny job title generator

A level, a department and a grand noun, drawn at random, with what the job is in plain words.

Chief Snack Officer

Is in charge of the snack cupboard. Made up the title.

Words

The job title generator's word lists

Each title takes one word from each list: 18 levels, 30 departments and 28 nouns, which makes 15,120 titles.

Levels

Chief
Made up the title.
Senior
Has done it long enough to stop asking why.
Lead
Nobody reports to them.
Principal
Paid more to do the same.
Global
From one laptop at the kitchen table.
Junior
Does all of it.
Associate
Does it for less.
Interim
Until someone else says yes.
Executive
Has a parking space.
Regional
Covers the second floor.
Deputy
Does it on Fridays.
Acting
Nobody has said it's permanent.
Assistant
Does the boss's share of it.
Distinguished
Stopped doing it in 2019.
Founding
Joined when there were beanbags.
Fractional
Does it on Tuesdays for three companies.
Visionary
Has never opened the spreadsheet.
Staff
One level above senior, and nobody knows why.

Departments

Inbox
Email
Calendar
Meetings
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets
Synergy
Other teams' work
Culture
The Friday pizza
Snack
The snack cupboard
Stakeholder
People who reply all
Slide
Slide decks
Vibes
The group chat
Growth
A chart that goes up
Onboarding
New people's laptops
Innovation
Ideas from the last offsite
Alignment
Meetings about meetings
Engagement
The annual survey
Workflow
The ticket queue
Transformation
The reorg
Printer
The printer
Password
Forgotten passwords
Expense
Receipts
Thought Leadership
LinkedIn posts
Customer Delight
Complaints
Coffee
The coffee machine
Hybrid
The office on Tuesdays
Brand
The logo
Data
Exports to Excel
Cloud
Someone else's servers
Deliverables
Things due Friday
Bandwidth
Everyone's workload
Kitchen
The dishwasher
Offsite
Team-building

Nouns

Evangelist
Talks about it
Architect
Draws boxes around it
Ninja
Quietly fixes it
Wrangler
Chases people about it
Guru
Has opinions on it
Officer
Is in charge of it
Champion
Cares loudly about it
Strategist
Makes slides about it
Whisperer
Is the only one who understands it
Czar
Has the final say on it
Alchemist
Turns it into a budget line
Custodian
Cleans up after it
Curator
Picks favorites from it
Hero
Fixes it at 11 pm
Rockstar
Breaks it, loudly
Liaison
Forwards emails about it
Catalyst
Starts arguments about it
Specialist
Knows one thing about it
Advocate
Complains about it for a living
Steward
Guards it
Orchestrator
Schedules calls about it
Magician
Makes it disappear
Futurist
Guesses what happens to it next
Owner
Gets blamed for it
Consultant
Bills by the hour for it
Ambassador
Goes to lunches about it
Scientist
Runs experiments on it
Detective
Finds out who broke it

Titles

Nouns borrowed from real titles

Some of the nouns come from real companies. Automattic sorts its job board into departments such as Tax Wrangler and Fraud Wrangler, and Guy Kawasaki became Chief Evangelist at Canva in 2014. A real title can sound less likely than one we made up, and telling them apart is the whole game in real or fake job titles.

Others come from the same job ads as the worst corporate buzzwords. In an ad, Ninja means two people’s work done without complaint and Rockstar means no training. The generator is more honest about both. Its Ninja quietly fixes things, and its Rockstar breaks them, loudly.

Grand titles with nobody under them

A grand title can come with nothing attached. A Lead can have nobody reporting to them. A manager can hang off the org chart on a dotted line, answerable for results from people who report to someone else. A reorg can take away the whole division and leave its manager in place. The manager keeps the title and a small budget, with orders to spend it before year end so it isn’t marked as surplus.

That’s why the generator’s Owner gets blamed for things and owns none of them. It’s the most realistic noun on the list.

How to come up with a job title

For a real job, keep the title plain. 54% of US workers say a job title affects whether they accept an offer. Start with the name people search for, such as accountant or support engineer, then add the level your pay matches. The level you were promised can wait for the review.

For a joke title, take the dullest part of the job and make it grand, the way our funny job titles do. Whoever writes the note about the dishes becomes Senior Kitchen Enforcement Officer, and the note gets a letterhead.

Questions

What are some creative job titles?

Creative titles name the result instead of the task. A recruiter becomes Head of Talent, and a receptionist becomes Director of First Impressions. They're fine inside a company. On a resume, put the plain title first, because nobody searches for Director of First Impressions.

What are some cool job titles?

Short ones with a single grand word. Subway's crew job is Sandwich Artist, and Apple calls the staff at its Genius Bar Geniuses. Both fit on a business card with room to spare.

How can I generate a job title?

Take one word from each of three lists, a level such as Senior, a department such as Calendar and a grand noun such as Architect. A Senior Calendar Architect draws boxes around meetings. The three lists here make more than 15,000 others.

What are some goofy jobs?

Toys R Us had a Chief Play Officer whose job was to play with and test toys. The job was product testing, and the title did the rest of the recruiting.