Agency owner

Upwork ties every agency to one person. An agency is created from an existing freelancer account, and each freelancer can create only one. When a client invites an agency onto Upwork, the first step Upwork asks for is to identify the owner, the person who "will have full access to and responsibility for the agency account".

What is reserved for the owner, or the owner and admins.

• Closing the agency: only the owner who created it can.
• Editing exclusive members' rates, profile visibility and earnings privacy, shared with the Account admin role.
• Buying agency Connects, shared with agency admins.
• Editing the agency profile, shared with members who have admin privileges.

Responsibility. Upwork's agency JSS article says owners are responsible for all the work of the agency and its freelancers. Paying members is also the agency's job: Upwork does not protect or facilitate payments from an agency to its members, and the agency keeps tax records and decides whether members are freelancers or employees.

Closing. Before the close link works, the owner removes every member, closes all open agency contracts and proposals, and makes sure all payments are received and withdrawn. The agency profile is then deleted, the owner's freelancer account stays active, and the owner's JSS reverts to their own contract history, including agency contracts where they were the one hired.

Members' logins are off-limits. Upwork says member accounts are personal; an owner manages people through agency settings and roles, and should never request or try to access a member's credentials, which Upwork calls a Terms of Service violation.

Owning the agency does not make the owner the one who bids. Proposals are submitted by a business manager for any member, or by members with their own profiles.