Cherubic type highly placed in the CID (5)
I believe the answer is:
cupid
'cherubic type' is the definition.
(Cupid resembles a cherub)
'highly placed in the cid' is the wordplay.
'highly placed' becomes 'up'.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'up' going into 'cid' is 'CUPID'.
(Other definitions for cupid that I've seen before include "The little love god" , "Cherubic symbol for love" , "a help to Santa" , "boy with little bow" , "godlike figure" .)