Partner Role
A Partner Role is a position in a hierarchy assigned to a Salesforce Partner Community user.
Definition
A Partner Role is a position in a hierarchy assigned to a Salesforce Partner Community user. It defines the partner user's level within their partner organisation and determines which records the user can see based on the role-hierarchy sharing model that Salesforce applies to internal users too. Each Partner Account in Salesforce has its own self-contained Partner Role hierarchy, so a partner organisation's internal access model lives inside that account.
The hierarchy under a partner account typically has three levels: Partner Executive, Partner Manager, and Partner User. The hierarchy can be customised with up to three levels by default and renamed per account. The levels mirror the internal Role Hierarchy in behaviour: a Partner Executive sees records owned by Partner Managers and Partner Users below them in the same account. Partner Roles are only relevant for Partner Community licenses and Customer Community Plus licenses configured for role-based sharing.
How Partner Roles work inside Salesforce sharing
Where Partner Roles sit in the Salesforce sharing model
Partner Roles are an extension of the internal Role Hierarchy that applies to external users. When an admin enables Partner Community on an Account, Salesforce creates a Partner Role hierarchy under that account. The hierarchy is a tree of roles that follow the same upward-visibility rules as the internal role hierarchy: a role at a higher level sees records owned by users in roles below it. The difference is scope. Internal roles span the whole org. Partner Roles are scoped to a single Partner Account and do not see records in other Partner Accounts unless additional sharing rules grant access.
The three default Partner Role levels
When Salesforce creates a Partner Role hierarchy on an account, it provisions three levels by default: Partner Executive, Partner Manager, and Partner User. Partner Executive is the most senior; the user in this role sees records owned by Partner Manager and Partner User in the same partner account. Partner Manager sees records owned by Partner User. Partner User sees only their own records and any records explicitly shared with them. The default three levels are usually enough for a partner organisation that runs a small team against one or two channel managers. Larger partner organisations sometimes add intermediate levels for regional leads or product specialists; the platform allows additional levels up to the maximum per account.
How Partner Roles compare to internal Roles
Internal Roles span the entire org and form one tree from the CEO down to individual contributors. Partner Roles span only one Partner Account and form a small tree (typically three levels) within that account. An internal user in the Account Owner's role can see records owned by partner users on that account through the internal role hierarchy plus the implicit-sharing rules. A partner user cannot see records owned by anyone outside their own Partner Account unless a sharing rule, sharing set, or share group explicitly grants access. The two hierarchies cooperate but do not merge.
Partner Roles and the channel manager pattern
The most common use of Partner Roles is the channel manager pattern. The internal channel manager owns the Partner Account and the partner relationship; partner users on that account work the deals the channel manager registers with them. The channel manager sees every Lead, Opportunity, and Activity owned by partner users on the account through the role hierarchy. The partner users only see their own records and the records of users below them in the partner role. This isolates partner organisations from each other while giving the channel manager full visibility into each partner's work.
Customising the Partner Role hierarchy on an account
Each Partner Account's role hierarchy can be customised independently. The admin opens the Partner Account, accesses the Manage External User options on a Contact, and configures the Partner Role for that user. New roles can be added if the default three are not enough for the partner organisation's structure. Renaming roles is supported (Partner Executive can become Regional Director, for example) but the rename only applies to that account; other partner accounts continue to see the default labels unless their hierarchies are renamed separately.
Sharing rules and Partner Roles together
Partner Role hierarchy alone confines a partner user to their own account's records. Sharing rules can extend that access across accounts, for example a rule that shares Opportunities from all Partner Accounts in EMEA with a public group of EMEA channel managers. The combination of role hierarchy and sharing rules is how mature partner programs handle cross-account collaboration scenarios: regional roundtables, joint opportunities, partner-of-the-quarter recognition. The role hierarchy provides the default isolation; sharing rules grant the specific cross-account exceptions.
Partner Roles and high-volume vs low-volume licenses
Partner Roles only apply to licenses that participate in the role hierarchy. Partner Community licenses and Customer Community Plus licenses (with role assignment) get a Partner Role and behave like the patterns above. High-volume licenses (Customer Community, Customer Community Login) do not get a Partner Role; their access is governed by Sharing Sets and Share Groups instead, which is a separate mechanism designed for high-volume scenarios where role-based sharing does not scale. Choosing the right license at user creation locks in which sharing mechanism applies for the life of that user.
Assign a Partner Role to a Partner Community user
A Partner Role is assigned on the Contact record of the user, after the user is enabled as a Partner Community user. The steps below assume the Partner Account is already set up and Partner Community is enabled on it.
- Enable the Partner Account
Open the Account record. Click Manage External Account, then Enable as Partner. This creates the Partner Role hierarchy under the account and prepares it to host partner users.
- Enable the Contact as a Partner User
Open the Contact record for the partner contact. Click Manage External User, then Enable Partner User. The Setup form opens for the User record fields: license, profile, role.
- Pick the Partner Role on the User form
On the User form, the Role picker shows the Partner Role hierarchy under the parent account. Pick the level that matches the user's responsibility: Partner Executive for senior account owners, Partner Manager for team leads, Partner User for individual contributors.
- Save the User record
Save the User. Salesforce sends the welcome email and the user can log into the Partner Community. Their access rights now follow the chosen Partner Role's position in the hierarchy.
- Verify by logging in as the user
Use the Log In As feature to test the partner user's record access. Confirm they see only the records owned by themselves and roles below them in the same Partner Account. If access seems wider than expected, review any sharing rules that might be granting cross-account access.
The most senior level. Sees records owned by Partner Manager and Partner User on the same account.
The middle level. Sees records owned by Partner User on the same account.
The lowest level. Sees only own records and any explicitly shared records.
- Partner Roles only apply to Partner Community and Customer Community Plus licenses. High-volume licenses (Customer Community, Customer Community Login) do not use Partner Roles; assigning one in the UI does nothing.
- Each Partner Account has its own Partner Role hierarchy. Renaming a role applies only to that account. Mature programs use a consistent naming convention across accounts to keep dashboards comparable.
- Partner Roles do not grant cross-account access on their own. A partner user in Account A cannot see records owned by a partner user in Account B unless a sharing rule explicitly grants it.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Partner Users in Experience CloudSalesforce Help
- Experience Cloud User LicensesSalesforce Help
- User Roles OverviewSalesforce Help
- Record-Level Access Decision GuideSalesforce Architects
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Partner Role.
- Partner UsersSalesforce Help
- Role HierarchySalesforce Help
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Partner Role.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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