AI firms are adopting a new job title to redefine roles

A once-rare job title is gaining traction across AI companies and professional platforms: 'member of technical staff' (MTS). This title is being used at firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, where it can describe both senior engineers and junior employees. According to a New York Times report citing Stanford researchers Nick Bloom and Gideon Slocum Moore, 39% of Anthropic employees used the MTS title on LinkedIn in December 2025, compared to 31% at OpenAI and 26% at xAI. The use of the title has increased by 50% across these companies and Microsoft AI over the past year. OpenAI and Anth, both view the title as a way to merge the roles of researchers and engineers, placing them on equal footing. The term also reflects a revival of a title once used by Bell Labs. Elizabeth Eley, an assistant professor at McGill University, notes that while the title may seem unremarkable, it signals to potential employees that they will be part of an innovative team that values collaboration over traditional hierarchies. Eley also suggests the title may be a response to the scrutiny of military-inspired job titles like 'forward deployed engineer'.