LinkedIn Campaign Manager account roles

This guide is built from LinkedIn's Marketing Solutions Help, mainly User roles and permissions in Campaign Manager, Page roles and permissions in Campaign Manager and Business Manager roles and permissions. It covers the five ad account roles, what the billing admin does, the LinkedIn Page roles you also need before you can create ads, and how adding people works with and without Business Manager. Setting up the Page itself is in our guide to the LinkedIn company page.

The five ad account roles

Everyone who works in a LinkedIn ad account has one user role on that account. LinkedIn's Page roles article puts it simply: The user role determines which actions they have permission to take in Campaign Manager. There are five roles, from most to least access:

• Billing admin: LinkedIn's Business Manager article says it Gives access to every ad account permission available, including adding or editing payment information. There can only be one per account.
• Account manager: almost every ad account permission available, except for adding or editing payment information. Account managers can edit account details and manage user access as well as build and edit campaigns.
• Campaign manager: creates and edits campaigns, ad sets and ads.
• Creative manager: creates and edits ads in existing campaigns and ad sets.
• Viewer: views campaign performance and downloads reports.

There is no separate "owner" role in this list. The person who creates the account starts as billing admin, and the people who control access are the account managers (or, if the account is in Business Manager, its admins). Campaign Manager itself is explained in our LinkedIn ads basics guide.

What each role can do

This is LinkedIn's own table from User roles and permissions in Campaign Manager, which it describes as common permitted actions each user role can perform:

Two things in the table are easy to miss. Every role, including viewer, can see the account's billing history. And creative managers can work on ads but cannot create a campaign or ad set; LinkedIn's permissions to create or sponsor ads page says that to create an ad set you need campaign manager, account manager or billing admin, while creative manager is enough If you only need to create or edit ads in existing ad sets.

The billing admin

LinkedIn says: Keep in mind that each ad account must have a billing admin. The person who creates the ads account is automatically assigned as the billing admin. Only the billing admin can add or update the credit card. A few rules follow from that, all from LinkedIn's help pages:

• Only an account manager can become billing admin. The edit user permissions page says a person must first be assigned as an account manager.
• If the billing admin is gone, an account manager can replace them. LinkedIn's page on an unavailable billing admin gives the path: Account settings, Manage access, then Make billing admin next to the new person.
• Changing the billing admin puts the account on hold. LinkedIn says the ad account will be placed on hold and the new billing admin will need to update the billing information to remove the hold. Ads don't run during a hold, so plan the switch for a quiet moment and have the new card ready.
• You can't just remove the billing admin. The remove a user page says To remove a billing admin, you'll need to add another billing admin first.

This matters most when an agency or a former employee set up the account and their card is on it. The fix is to make someone in your business an account manager, then billing admin, and then add your own card.

Page roles you also need for ads

An ad account role alone is not enough to create ads. LinkedIn says you need the correct permission on both your ad account and LinkedIn Page. Every ad account is tied to one Page, and LinkedIn's page on associating a Page with an ad account warns that this link can't be changed once saved; to advertise for a different Page you need a new ad account. Only an account manager can set it.

LinkedIn's Page roles and permissions in Campaign Manager lists which Page role each ad task needs:

Task in Campaign Manager	Page role that allows it
Create ads	Super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster
Manage Lead Gen Forms	Super admin, content admin or Lead Gen Forms manager (LinkedIn notes some Lead Gen Forms functions work without a Page role)
Create event audiences	Super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster
Create company Page audiences	Super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster
Manage Landing Pages	Landing Page manager
Sponsor organic video posts as ads	Super admin or content admin (Sponsored Content poster may work, depending on objective)

The three paid media roles exist so an advertiser can run ads without running the Page. LinkedIn's Page admin roles page says a Sponsored Content poster can create Sponsored Content ads on behalf of an organization or to sponsor organic posts in Campaign Manager, but this role doesn't grant access to boosting organic posts directly on a Page. There is also a limit on edits: Sponsored Content posters cannot edit Page posts, though they can sponsor them as long as the post body stays the same.

Page roles are given by a Page super admin from the Page, not in Campaign Manager. LinkedIn's request admin access page adds that advertisers can request Sponsored Content poster permission through Campaign Manager, while Landing Pages and Lead Gen Form manager access is requested from the Page super admin. What each Page admin role does outside ads is in our company page guide; sponsoring an employee's post is covered in LinkedIn thought leader ads.

Adding, editing and removing people

In Campaign Manager, only account managers manage access (billing admins have the same permission in LinkedIn's table). LinkedIn's add a user page gives the steps:

1. Go to your ad account in Campaign Manager.
2. Click Account Settings on the left menu, then Manage access.
3. Click Add user.
4. Enter the person's name or LinkedIn profile URL and pick them from the list.
5. Choose a role and click Add.

Two limits apply. You can only add members who are your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-degree connections. And if the ad account has been claimed by or added to Business Manager, access has to be managed there instead. LinkedIn also says: We recommend assigning more than one account manager to your ad account.

To change a role, open the same Manage access screen and use the dropdown next to the person's name; LinkedIn says the change saves automatically. To remove someone, click the trash icon next to their name and confirm. LinkedIn's removal page says that once removed they can no longer take any actions for your account, and that you can remove yourself the same way.

When Business Manager owns the account

Business Manager is LinkedIn's central place for a company's Pages, ad accounts and the people working on them. LinkedIn's roles article describes two levels of permission: one for Business Manager itself and one for each ad account and Page. Business Manager has three roles:

• Admin: every Business Manager permission, including adding or removing people, ad accounts and Pages, managing partner Business Manager accounts, monthly invoicing, and shared assets such as Matched Audiences and CRM data. LinkedIn recommends at least two admins and suggests limiting admins to senior employees.
• Employee: can be added to ad accounts or Pages but cannot take administrative actions in Business Manager.
• Contractor: the same access as employee, used to mark people who work outside your organisation.

The ad account roles stay the same five. What changes is who hands them out. LinkedIn's add people to ad accounts in Business Manager page says you must be a Business Manager admin or an account manager on that ad account, the person must first accept an invitation to Business Manager, and the ad account must already be in it. When you add people to a partner's ad account, LinkedIn says you pick from roles based on the role the partner assigned when the ad account was shared.

Can't see an ad account?

LinkedIn's troubleshooting page covers the usual causes:

• You haven't been added yet. Only account managers can add users, so ask whoever manages the account.
• The account sits under a Business Manager, not your personal profile. Click your profile photo in Campaign Manager and switch to the right Business Manager to see its accounts.
• You were added to the ad account but not to Business Manager (or the other way round). You need both.

If you have confirmed you should have access and still can't get in, LinkedIn says to contact its support team. If nobody inside the business knows who the account manager is, LinkedIn's suggestion is to keep asking around the organisation or create a new ad account.

Our view: a sensible setup

These are our recommendations, not LinkedIn rules:

• Keep the billing admin and at least two account managers inside your business. LinkedIn already suggests more than one account manager; two people avoids a lock-out when someone leaves.
• Give an agency campaign manager on the ad account plus Sponsored Content poster on the Page. That lets them build and run campaigns without touching billing, users or the Page itself. Add Lead Gen Forms manager only if they need to download leads.
• Use creative manager for a designer or copywriter who only needs to work on ads inside campaigns someone else built, and viewer for anyone who just reads reports.
• If you use Business Manager, mark agency staff as contractors so they are easy to find and remove when the work ends.
• Check Manage access every few months and after any staff or agency change. Our website ownership handover checklist covers the same idea for your domain, analytics and other ad accounts, and Google Ads access levels and Meta business portfolio cover the other two big ad platforms.

Frequently asked questions

What roles are there in LinkedIn Campaign Manager?

Five: billing admin, account manager, campaign manager, creative manager and viewer. Billing admin has every permission; account manager has everything except payment details; campaign manager builds campaigns and ads; creative manager works on ads in existing campaigns; viewer sees performance and reports.

Who owns a LinkedIn ad account?

LinkedIn has no owner role. The person who creates the account is automatically the billing admin, and account managers control who has access. If the account is in Business Manager, its admins manage access there.

How do I change the billing admin on LinkedIn Ads?

An account manager goes to Account settings, Manage access and clicks Make billing admin next to another account manager. LinkedIn puts the account on hold until the new billing admin updates the billing information.

Why can't I create ads even though I have access to the ad account?

You also need a role on the LinkedIn Page tied to the ad account: super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster. To create a new ad set you also need campaign manager or higher on the ad account.

Why can't I add someone to our ad account?

You must be an account manager, the person must be a 1st, 2nd or 3rd-degree connection, and if the account is in Business Manager you have to add them there instead of in Campaign Manager.

What role should an agency get?

LinkedIn doesn't prescribe one. We suggest campaign manager on the ad account and Sponsored Content poster on the Page, keeping billing admin and account manager inside your business.

For more on LinkedIn advertising, see our guides to LinkedIn ads basics, the LinkedIn company page, thought leader ads and conversation ads.