Video - 1 minute - introduction to roles & seniority levels

Roles vs. Skills

A Role is broad — the discipline someone works in. Don't confuse it with Skills, which are finer-grained capabilities a Person can have many of, grouped into categories — for example language proficiency (German, French), industry experience (hospitality, travel), technical skills (localization), or people skills (facilitation). A Person has one or a few Roles but can carry dozens of Skills.

Example roles:

• Software Developer

• Designer

• Project Manager

• Strategist

Examples skills and skill categories:

• language proficiency: german, french

• industry experience: hospitality, travel

• technical skills: ChatGPT, localization

• people skills: facilitation, interviews

Primary role and additional roles

Every Person has one primary Role, which keeps reporting sensible, and may have additional Roles on top of it. You can group and filter by primary Role across Operating — for example, Display → Group by → Primary Role.

A Position's Role is what drives its rate: the Rate card prices the Position from its Role, seniority, and Site. If a Position has no Role of its own, the assigned Person's primary Role is used instead — and you can always set a position-specific rate to override. For the full order Operating follows, see What are Positions and Allocations? & How does Operating decide which rate to use?.

Seniority levels

A seniority level is always tied to a Role — they don't work independently. Someone is a "Senior Martech Consultant," not a "Senior" on their own. Because of this, searching for people by seniority alone won't match anyone; pair it with a Role.

Billable and non-billable roles

A Role can be billable or non-billable. Work done by a Person whose primary Role is non-billable is treated as non-billable — carrying a zero rate and earning no revenue — unless a rate is set on the Position.

How roles and seniority drive rates and costs

You set charge-out rates and cost rates by Role and seniority, so a Position gets the right numbers as soon as its Role and seniority are filled in — even before a Person is assigned. See: Rate cards & Cost Rates & Project Profitability

Planning and forecasting with roles

When you plan a team on the Project's Team tab or the Timeline, set each Position's Role first. With the Role (plus Site, Skills, and allocation) in place, Operating can suggest the best-matched people, and your Projects, People, and Reports views start to show what's coming — even before you know exactly who will work when.

Open Positions defined by Role and seniority let you forecast capacity by competence and signal to recruitment which Roles are in demand. @hiring