First, I have to agree with another poster on that information steward position. Sounds like a cross between some geek-squad reject and Gopher from the love boat. Keep the CIO out of trouble. Get real. Maybe if the CIO was competent (as most are not) he would not have to worry.

However, I have intimate knowledge of two of these supposedly cool new IT positions. I am an outsourcing relationship manager. I manage a $35 million IT infrastructure outsourcing contract and honestly, it's not a bad gig. You do have to be the jack of all trades which is nice as it gives me exposure to many different technologies and applications. You also have the luxury of being the "Customer" of the outsourcer which has it's perks.

That one position you list, the service delivery manager, which in my case is my counterpart at the outsourcing firm, could be the worst IT job ever. You (along with some other staff) are the scap goat for anything that goes wrong with the contract and are usually paid very little to clean up other peoples mistakes.

For example, my outsourcing contract is a few years old, in steady state and going very well from my point of view. We, the customer, are fairly satisfied. However, we are on our 3rd SDM from our vendor, the outsourcing firm. Usually, when this position is with an outsourcer, the outsourcing firm has usually low-balled the contract bid to the customer to get the business. Once the deal is signed, the sales guy walks off with his fat commission and the SDM and other support people are left to sort out the pieces, clean up the mess, and hopefully make this profitable without making the customer angry.

Yeah, sounds like a "cool job" to me.