Dx 9-11 you may not have anyone reporting to you. NSF not counted. You may have 10 or none.

Your external title is am M SM, but your internal title is simply officer, or deputy head, or head.

Most roles of DX is not to manage subordinates, but to coordinate with various stakeholders. These stakeholders usually don't report to you, but you will lean on the rank of the person you report to, and play rank to get things done.

SAF has way to many departments and way too many layers due to nuances in procedures. Every simple thing needs minimum 3 approvals and you must know who are these 3 in order to do things fast. Sometimes even the person u want things from don't know who need to approve. Then you must know otherwise its stuck there.

But yes I understand title matters for bragging rights and for re-entering private subsequently.