I see this more and more; it's becoming part of the way people talk about jobs. Instead of calling them jobs, they refer to them as “roles.” As in, “We think you'd be a good fit for a new role in our firm,” or “This role plays an important part in transforming our culture here at XYZ.”
Corporate propagandists — ie, people with bullshit job titles like “Corporate Operations Excellence Leader” — are the source of this nonsense.
It's not accidental and it's not innocent. These monsters believe that you shouldn't think about what you do at work as a job, because 'job' means “what you do for money.” They want you to forget about that part, and think about it in terms of “how you add value to the company” – your role. That's how they define “role” and that's how they want you to think about what you do and why. In other words, forget about how your job can reward YOU and think instead about how you can help the company.
Fuck that noise. Never let a weaselly HR slimeball get away with calling a job a “role.” It's a job. People do jobs for money. Don't let them redefine work as some kind of honorific.
The end.