# Change someone's role

Source: https://help.mucka.ai/settings/change-someones-role
Category: Settings
Last updated: 2026-09-04

> Move a subcontractor onto the payroll, promote an engineer to manager, or hand someone the office job — and what it does to your bill.

Somebody's job changes — a subcontractor comes on the books, an engineer takes over the diary — and their role in Mucka should change with it. It's one dropdown.

## Change a role

Go to [**Settings → Team → People**](/settings/team/team), open the person's card and scroll to **Role**. Pick the new one and it saves straight away.

You'll only see the dropdown if you can manage the team. **Owners** don't have one — they already have everything — and you can't change your own role, so ask another owner.

## What each role is for

- **Owner** — the whole workspace, including billing, roles and settings.
- **Manager** — runs the day to day: the diary, quotes, invoices, the team.
- **Engineer** — their own jobs, their own schedule, certificates.
- **Subcontractor** — their own jobs and nothing else. No customer list, no prices, no quotes.

You can also build your own roles in [**Settings → Team → Roles**](/settings/team/roles) and pick those here too.

## What it does to your bill

**Subcontractors are free.** They don't use a seat, which is why a firm with ten lads on the books and six subbies is billed for ten.

So moving somebody **out of** Subcontractor and into any other role **adds a paid seat**, exactly like inviting a new teammate does — and moving them **into** Subcontractor takes one off. If your plan already covers the extra person, nothing changes and nothing is charged; if it doesn't, Mucka tells you right there at the dropdown and offers you the seat.

## Good to know

- **You can't hand out more than you hold.** Mucka won't let you give somebody a role with permissions you don't have yourself — so a manager can't make anyone an owner.
- **The last owner stays an owner.** Make somebody else an owner first if you're moving them off it.
- **Their work stays put.** Jobs, quotes, certificates and anything you owe them are untouched by a role change. What changes is what they can see and do next time they open Mucka.
- **A subcontractor stays on the timesheet list** even after you promote them, because you may still owe them for work already done. Take them off in Timesheets when you're square.