The term director-general is used worldwide to signify the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution. Commonly used in international organisations and government departments, though often called an Executive Director or Managing Director in the U.S..

In the UK, Director-general is the professional head of an Executive Agency which contains other agencies headed by directors. For example the chief executive of the British Broadcasting Corporation is called the Director-general. The head of the UKs internal security service MI5 is also a Director-general, who operates at Permanent Secretary (Grade 1) level. (See British Civil Service#Grading schemes for details.)

In the European Commission, each department (called a Directorate-General) is headed by a non-political Director-General. This is roughly equivalent to a British Permanent Secretary.

Generaldirektör