Head of Team Anywhere, and Other Job Titles for an Uncertain Time

Hyper-specific and unconventional roles are opening up to match a professional landscape no one has seen before.

Heres one sneaky sign of unsettled times: longer job titles.

The past few years have thrown businesses into chaos. Millions are still working fully from home, while many others are picking up their commutes in fits and starts. A majority of people whose jobs could be done remotely were still mostly out of the office as of earlier this year, according to Pew Research Center data.

The amount of disruption weve had has shaken every aspect of business, said J.T. ODonnell, a career coach. Whats exciting is not just the number of new companies, and new ideas, but the number of new types of jobs.

Job titles have always changed with the times. The growth of new technologies in the 1980s gave rise to chief information officers. The flow of political figures into tech turned everybody into a chief of staff. Competition for talent in recent years has morphed heads of human resources into chief people officers. Now the rise of remote work has given way to new positions, whose lasting power has yet to be tested.

People will try a lot of titles, Ms. ODonnell added. Some will fail because theyll be too far out there. But ultimately youll see a lot of shifts.

LinkedIn has seen a 304 percent spike in titles that reference hybrid work and a 60 percent increase in titles related to the future of work since the start of the pandemic. Far-reaching currents of malaise, coupled with churn in the labor market, have also led to the creation of new positions focused on boosting morale though workers are often skeptical of what they really stand to gain from those feelings-focused roles.