Managed, chief position (7)
I believe the answer is:
ranking
'position' is the definition.
(ranking is a kind of position)
'managed chief' is the wordplay.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this before).
'chief' becomes 'king'.
'ran'+'king'='RANKING'
(Other definitions for ranking that I've seen before include "Place among seeds" , "Grading" , "Classification" , "Status" , "position on graded scale" .)