In dire trouble, about to see the boss (6)
I believe the answer is:
editor
'the boss' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'in dire trouble about' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'trouble' indicates anagramming the letters.
'about' becomes 'to' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'dire' anagrammed gives 'edir'.
'edir' enclosing 'to' is 'EDITOR'.
'to see' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for editor that I've seen before include "Director of 3 down" , "One expected to make final" , "Person in charge of newspaper" , "The person who determines the final content of the newspaper" , "Wapping boss" .)