Lost in translation: manager titles

Have you ever heard the term “c-suite”? It refers to the group of managers in a company. Read on for more information about job titles for managers.

By Katrin Günther

Sometimes the group of managers at the very top of a big company is called the “c-suite” – because the abbreviations of their titles start with a c for “chief”. Best-known of all is the chief executive officer (CEO) whose position is the highest and similar to that of the German Geschäftsführer.

All other “chiefs” report to the CEO. Among them are the chief operating officer (COO), who is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations, and the chief financial officer (CFO) who is in charge of the company’s finance division.

In many cases it is difficult to find an exact and universally applicable translation for manager titles. However, for members of the c-suite it is often acceptable to use compound words with -chef. Thus chief executive officer can be translated as Firmenchef, chief financial officer as Finanzchef and chief marketing officer as Marketingchef.

Many American companies also have vice-presidents. This title, however, should not be translated as Vizepräsident. Very often a vice-president heads one particular division of the company. So, if a manager’s title is Vice-President Electronics it is very likely he is Chef der Elektroniksparte.

| Photo: Pixabay