It is an unfashionable role right now in good software development organizations. I used to go by the title but tend not to anymore.

Nevertheless, there is still a need for that role in large organizations whether they are called that or not. A typical project or product at a large company has many people over multiple sites involved and/or significantly affected by the project.

Someone with enough technical depth needs to coordinate, make decisions, and be accountable for the overall technical cohesion.

Most developers either aren't interested in spending their time on that or aren't good at it. The ones that are end up playing the role of architect. If they don't have the authority to back it up, either by reputation or granted by title, they will get nowhere when they try to convince other groups all work towards the same vision.