Does going up in rank mean you do entirely different work?

I was looking at this guy's linkedin, his name is Deane Dray and he has held a bunch of different positions at different companies where he was vice president, director, analyst, but at every company and in every position he was still a 'senior analyst'. 

Having read this on his profile, I am curious, do MDs, VPs, associates, and analysts all do the same kind of work, namely the work of an analyst? The only difference being that perhaps the associates and analysts do the grunt work whereas the MDs and VPs do the signing off, reviewing others' work, giving feedback, taking ideas to their bosses, being a link between the company and the analyst/associates. 

Am I correct in thinking that this is their role? If I am wrong, then what is their actual role? So to clarify my question, taking equity research for example, how does the responsibility and day to day work of an analyst, associate, VP and MD differ? And in what ways are they similar?

Also, take other areas of finance like private equity, hedge funds, IBD, is it the same there? How are the roles and responsibilities of analysts, associates, VPs and MDs different to equity research?