A male in charge at a very small level (6)
I believe the answer is:
atomic
'small level' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'a male in charge at a' is the wordplay.
'a male' becomes 'tom' (tom can mean a male cat).
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'tom'+'ic'='tomic'
'tomic' after 'a' is 'ATOMIC'.
'very' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for atomic that I've seen before include "Extremely small" , "Extremely minute" , "Sort of bomb, number, or power" , "Very little" , "Relating to nuclear energy" .)