How to create a custom user role

How to create a custom user role

Estimated 4 minute read

Updated Jan 30, 2026, 12:00 AM EST

Table of contents

Before you begin
Overview
Set it up
Best practices
Permissions
Troubleshooting
FAQ
Next steps

Find out how to create, edit, and assign custom user roles so each user on your account only sees the area of the product that they need.

Before you begin

Who can do this Owners, Admins, and users with Edit access under User management.
Availability All Klaviyo plans. Best suited for mid-market and enterprise accounts with multiple users.

Overview

Custom user roles allow you to tailor user permissions to your team's specific needs, so each user has access to the areas of the product required for their job. Fine-grained access control helps you onboard users, reduce security risk, and keep billing, data, and messaging settings in the right hands.

Klaviyo provides 8 static roles (Owner, Admin, Manager, Analyst, Campaign Coordinator, Content Creator, Support, and Social Media Manager) by default. Custom roles enable you to mix and match specific permission sets (e.g., Content View, Account Settings Edit) to create roles that precisely match your organization's structure. Use Custom roles when the static roles provide either too much or too little access.

Set it up

Go to Settings > General > Users.
In the Roles section, click Add.
In the Name field, enter a clear, unique name (e.g., “Lifecycle Marketer – EU”).
In the Description field, enter a description of the role and who this role is for. This description will be visible in the users tab and when you are assigning a role to a user.
Under Permissions, turn on each product area the role needs, then select its access level. Select at least 1 permission to create the role. See the permission set breakdown below.
For a comparison of static roles, see User management and privileges reference for Static User Roles.
Click Create.

Your new custom user role is now created and will appear in the Roles section of the Users tab in Settings.

Assign a custom role

If your account uses SCIM or single sign-on (SSO) with just-in-time (JIT) provisioning, change roles in your identity provider. You can still change roles in Klaviyo for users on the SSO exemption list.

Go to Settings > General > Users.

To invite a new user, click Add new user, enter their Email, select your custom role, and click Add User. The user must accept the invitation to access the account.
To change an existing user’s role, click their name or email in the users table, select your custom role, and click Update.

Edit a custom role

Go to Settings > General > Users.
In the Roles section, open the role’s 3-dot menu.
Click Edit.
Change the name, description, or permissions. Updates apply to all users in that role immediately, so review your changes before clicking Save.

Delete a custom role

If users are still assigned to the role, reassign their roles before deleting it. Note: Static roles can’t be deleted.

Go to Settings > General > Users and find the Roles section.
Open the role’s 3-dot menu, then click Delete.
Click Delete in the confirmation dialog.

Best practices

Align Roles to Job Functions: Create roles that correspond to real job functions in your organization (e.g., Creative, Growth, Finance). This makes it easier to audit and manage permissions.
Leverage Content Permissions: For users who only need to view data or content (e.g., external agencies), use the Content View permission set without granting Edit access.
Limit Billing Access: Grant the Billing Edit permission set to as few users as possible to prevent unauthorized changes to your plan or payment information.
Conduct Regular Audits: Review roles and user assignments quarterly, or whenever a team member changes departments.
Keep Descriptions Clear: Use short, specific descriptions (e.g., “Can build flows; no billing access”) so other admins can understand the role's purpose at a glance.

Permissions

Permission set breakdown

Access levels vary by product area. Selecting a higher level also includes the lower levels in that area. For example, Edit for Content includes View and View and export.

View
View and export
Edit
Edit + publish

Data platform uses Data admin and All of data platform. Account settings also offers Compliance to manage compliance blocklists and SMS litigator protection.

Product areas

Product areas include the following:


Product area	Description
Content	View, export, edit, or publish dashboards, campaigns, flows, sign-up forms, templates, products, and other content assets. Users can also access analytics, SMS conversations, and intelligence data. For Customer Hub content, grant the separate Customer Hub permissions described below. With this permission, users can see some profile data within UIs like flows and reports, but they cannot edit a full profile, view all profile data, or use any of the export functionality that exists on the Profiles, Lists, and Segments tabs.
Profiles, lists and segments	View, create, export or edit lists, segments, and individual user profiles. Users can also manage inactive segments, view and edit subscriber growth, manage suppressed profiles, and view or edit all details on a profile.
Billing management	View or edit all billing details for the account.
Account settings	View or edit all account-level settings, including security, translations, domains, tags, email, SMS, push, attribution, data, all downloads from the app and monitors.
User management	View lets users view users and custom roles. Edit lets users add and remove users, create and update custom roles, and assign roles to users.
Data platform	Data admin grants view and edit access to transformations, code, and custom objects. All of data platform also grants access to webhooks, data warehouse sync, and integrations.
API keys and integrations	View API keys and integrations, or select Edit access to create and edit API keys and manage integrations, including those from the Customer Hub.
Clone across accounts	Allows cloning of flows, campaigns, segments, forms, and templates across accounts. Also requires Edit access for the item being cloned: Content for flows, campaigns, forms, and templates, or Profiles, lists and segments for segments.
Helpdesk	Access to help desk workflows such as inbox, tickets, tags, and customer orders. View access is read-only; Edit access allows responding to tickets and updating orders.
Customer Agent	View or manage Customer Agent functionality, including agent status. Edit access allows configuration changes; View access is read-only. To set up Customer Agent, grant Edit under Customer Agent.
Customer Hub	View or manage Customer Hub surfaces. View access allows read-only access to Customer Hub data and UI. Edit access allows users to modify Customer Hub configuration and perform write actions.
Social Media & Assets	Manage social media channels and brand assets with Social + Assets access.
Social Auto-Replies	View Instagram auto-reply automations with View, or manage them with Edit.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
User cannot click Add in the Roles section	Their role lacks Edit access under User management	Have an Owner or Admin update their permissions.
Cannot delete a role that still has assigned users	At least one user is in that role	Reassign or remove users, then delete.
Feature missing after assigning role	Permission set not included	Edit the role and add the required permission set.
Export buttons greyed out	Role only has View permission for the relevant product area	Select View and export or Edit for Content or Profiles, lists and segments, depending on what the user needs to export.

FAQ

How many Custom roles can I create?

There is no limit to the amount of custom roles you can create.

Do custom roles change the 8 static roles?

No. Static roles stay the same; you simply get more options and flexibility in creating new roles.

Can I copy a static role into a Custom role?

Not today. Re-create it by selecting equivalent permission sets.

Will future Klaviyo features appear automatically?

New features can use an existing permission set or introduce a new one. Review release notes regularly and adjust roles if needed.

Do Custom roles sync via SCIM?

Yes. SCIM can create, update, and deactivate users assigned to your custom roles. Set up SSO and SCIM first; a paid plan is required for account access to these features. In Settings > General > Users, open the role’s 3-dot menu and select Custom SCIM ID to copy the value for your identity provider’s role mapping. See How to set up SCIM user provisioning.