The simplest path to formalising a “protocol whisperer” role in orgs might be to position it as a Decision Architect or Decision Engineer. The point is legibility: it’s a title orgs already know how to place, fund and evaluate.

If the assumption is that protocols mediate the complex sociotechnical infrastructure orgs run on, and so enable decisions about resource allocation, then in applied settings what protocols solve for is high-quality decisions at scale. Sometimes that means better decisions, but most of the time it means taking action to make decisions self-evident or even unnecessary.

A Decision Architect, like a traditional senior sociotechnical figure, owns the whole system end-to-end across one or more domains. A Decision Engineer owns a narrow end-to-end slice in one domain. These titles work like all role titles do, as cover stories: the person nominally does x, but really does y to achieve outcome z. What makes it work is the carte blanche authority the title confers. Protocol whisperers need a gonzo, FDE-style, high-agency aura to be able to walk through otherwise solid walls and do unreasonable but allowable things. A legible title is what makes that licence acceptable to everyone else and allows the whisperer to pursue scaled, high-quality decisions at speed.