There are some roles like that in tech. For example, "charitable" positions like full-time OSS devs.
Another one that is questionable are tech evangelists or dev rel. Sometimes those positions can be connected to revenue, but usually it's "mindshare" accounting.
OSS dev might be a bad example. OSS is often an internal product that is opened up to gain free OSS labor. Most often, the position would exist within the company if it were OSS or not. In other words, it is something the company is working on regardless of OSS or private codebase
Another one that is questionable are tech evangelists or dev rel. Sometimes those positions can be connected to revenue, but usually it's "mindshare" accounting.