Search the list before you create anything. Typing a position and choosing Create "..." does attach it to that collaborator, and it works, but the position you make is not added to the list everyone else searches. Next time you want it, on another person or another project, it will not come up and you will have to type it again.
So the rule worth following is: if something close enough already exists in the list, select it. Create a position only when nothing on the list fits.
How to create one
- Open the roles dialog on the collaborator, from the menu on their card.
- Type the position under Add new position. Matching existing positions appear as you type.
- If one of them is what you meant, select it. If not, choose Create "your text".
The position is added to that collaborator immediately, and confirmed with Created and added position. You only give it a name; there is no description to fill in.
Three roles per person is the limit
A collaborator can carry three positions at most. Attempting a fourth gives You can select a maximum of 3 roles and nothing is added, whether the fourth is a new position or one selected from the list. Remove one first if you need to swap.
Pick the three that describe the work. Positions are what a reader sees next to a name in the credits, so "Architect, Project Lead" reads better than three overlapping variants of the same job.
Names are capped at 30 characters
Anything longer is refused. The message you get back is a technical one rather than an explanation, so if a creation fails for no apparent reason, count the characters first. "Junior Architectural Designer" fits at 29; "Senior Landscape Architecture Lead" does not.
Capitalisation and duplicates
The position is stored exactly as you type it, so "project lead" and "Project Lead" are two different entries. Type it the way you want it read.
Because created positions do not join the shared list, typing the same one for a second collaborator makes a second copy rather than reusing the first. That is harmless, and both people are credited correctly, but it is another reason to prefer an existing position where one fits.
The credit order is separate
Adding, changing or removing positions does not move anyone up or down in the credits. That order comes from when each person was added to the project: see Crediting collaborators and the order they appear in.