In French, one occasionally describes a senior-level exec as having a "titre ronflant", which is to say someone whose title is clearly senior all while sarcastically denoting that it's basically super-sized and lavish.
Is there any equivalent US/UK expression, or is the more neutral sounding senior-level exec the only one that's commonly used?
Colloquially, you just say someone's title is fancy, or that they have a fancy-sounding or impressive-sounding title. The latter formulation is a little sarcastic (saying impressive-sounding rather than impressive).
A related issue in US corporate settings is giving low-level staff fancy titles, like administrative services technician for secretaries. US labor law (until very recently) allowed you to avoid paying someone for overtime work if their duties were technical, administrative or professional.
I worked at a place where a half of 100,000 employees all over the world were carrying a business card titled vice president. That is usually called "(job) title inflation" and it is used to refer to a title that sounds very high, but not that high in reality.
Actual usage:
KIM JONG IL, the North Korean dictator, is not normally a trendsetter. But in one area he is clearly leading the pack: job-title inflation. Mr Kim has 1,200 official titles, including, roughly translated, guardian deity of the planet, ever-victorious general, lodestar of the 21st century, supreme commander at the forefront of the struggle against imperialism and the United States, eternal bosom of hot love and greatest man who ever lived.
