Earlier quoted context omitted.
On a related note, I dated a woman who was promoted to vice president of a small start up when she was in her 20's. She had to hide her title on her resume when she left because no established firm wanted to hire someone whom they assumed they'd need to pay a quarter million dollars to be competitive. Sometimes grandiose titles can work against you.
At my current startup, I recommended everyone to hold the title of Research Engineer. I was to be recruited as a Software architect / Principal tech lead, but I chose to keep this title too & suggested the same to my peer & immediate junior. Something good that I learned from Facebook Engineering flat organization structure. Keeping the hierarchy flatter helped more honest communication. There were lesser inhibitions…
The only problem with this approach is that people look for other markers of "status" (like, for instance, the amount of time you've been with a company.