Please help me name my new role!

January 28, 2022 1:22 PM

Hi Hivemind! I'm starting in a new team on Monday and due to the laid back nature of my new boss, we don't yet have a role title yet. Context and details inside.

I work for a big American IT company in Central Europe. I'm in the middle of an internal transfer between two teams. This position will be created for me with input from me on naming it and the details of the description.

In my new team I'll work on a greenfield cloud project which aims building an internal API catalogue, documentation repository and automated integration thingy aimed at external partners who are selling our products to customers.

My main tasks are to
- build contacts with all the internal teams who provide APIs
- gather documentation / specification where possible
- and come up with a method to generate this documentation automatically from the code where there's none available
- and in general work with all the APIs and integrations we have internally

The job level is the same as I have now (Senior Consultant) which is an internal code for senior software/db developers. I was thinking about something with Senior, API and cloud in it. But what would sound great that's not too .. crowded? Senior Cloud API Developer? That's too bland. Any ideas?

posted by kmt to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Best answer: I've seen these roles be called Enterprise Architects, Solution Architects, or Business Analysts. I wouldn't recommend making up a title because when you're looking for your next job, it is nice to have a title that means something to people reading your resume.

Enterprise Architect at most companies is already a pretty senior position. I know for us it is equivalent to a Director. You aren't really doing wide-scale enterprise architecture though, but you are doing enterprise architecture focused on APIs, especially if you start writing style guidelines and such.

If you really want to stay development aligned, Senior API Engineer (or Staff API Engineer or Principal API Engineer depending on the level of seniority you are trying to convey) will work. If I saw "Senior API Engineer" on a resume I'd take the API out and assume you were a Senior Software Engineer that focused on APIs.
posted by cmm at 2:19 PM on January 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Nowadays most API live in the cloud anyway, so I don't think you need the word cloud in the title.

Senior API Documentarian? Sounds too bookish.

Would Senior API Taxonomist be too weird? :)
posted by kschang at 4:41 PM on January 28, 2022

Best answer: LOL, Agent of Special Circumstances.

Seriously, a bit like cmm there are like corporate/governmental job titles that transfer a bit better than "rockstar ninja" or the likes. I might go for 'Integration Lead' or something. And yeah the 'Architect' might also be appropriate. Maybe 'Integration Architect' or 'Senior Integration Engineer'.

And yeah Enterprise Architect is about Director in the same-meetings sort of thing with a shuffle of the geek sort of baggage vs the people sort of baggage.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:02 PM on January 29, 2022

Best answer: Senior API Integrator? Hmmm... Sounds more like a codemonkey.

Chief API Architect / Engineer sounds senior enough that you're not actively mucking with code.
posted by kschang at 6:45 PM on January 29, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks for the ideas and perspectives! I think I'll bring up the Senior API Engineer and Senior Integration Engineer titles as options on the next meeting. As much as I like Senior API Taxonomist, I think I'll go with the "transferrable" titles. :)
posted by kmt at 12:30 AM on January 31, 2022