There is a dialog in Love Actually that goes like this:
Harry: Tell me, exactly, how long it is that you've been working here?
Sarah: Two years, seven months, three days and, I suppose, what... two hours?
Harry: And how long have you been in love with Karl, our enigmatic chief designer?
Sarah: Ahm, two years, seven months, three days and, I suppose, an hour and thirty minutes.
In the European Spanish version of the movie, Karl is mentioned to be the "primer diseñador". Now, "primer diseñador" is indeed a good translation. If we see the definitions for both words, we have:
Chief - accorded highest rank or office.
Primer - dicho de una persona o de una cosa: que precede a las demás de su especie en orden, tiempo, lugar, situación, clase o jerarquía.
What bothers me is that chief is the person with "the highest rank", but primer (or primero) can be the first not only in rank, but in many other things (order, time, place and so on). So a "primer diseñador" could be understood as the first one that was hired by the company (the first in time).
So, what other adjectives can be used to say that someone is the first in rank in a more straightforward, unmistakable way? Maybe "diseñador jefe"? "Diseñador principal"? What is the adjective that is more commonly used in Spanish by companies when they want to hire a "chief something"?