Cloud Kicks (CK) has organization-wide defaults set to Public Read-Only for Opportunity.

In Salesforce, organization-wide defaults (OWD) for the Opportunity object can be set to Public Read Only, meaning all users can view Opportunities, but only the record owner and users above them in the role hierarchy have edit access. When OWD is set to Public Read Only, additional access can be granted using sharing rules.

For Cloud Kicks, the Account Team role of Executive Sponsor requires Read/Write access to Opportunities associated with the Accounts they sponsor. Since the OWD is set to Public Read Only, the most effective method to grant this access is through an Opportunity sharing rule. Sharing rules in Salesforce are specifically designed to extend access to users in roles, groups, or territories without altering the OWD settings. By creating an Opportunity sharing rule, Cloud Kicks can ensure that all Account Team members with the Executive Sponsor role gain Read/Write access to related Opportunities, regardless of ownership.

An Account sharing rule would not work in this scenario because sharing rules for Accounts do not automatically extend to related Opportunities when OWD for Opportunities is Public Read Only. Additionally, creating a flow would not be as efficient or straightforward as using a sharing rule, which is Salesforce's recommended approach for managing access based on roles and relationships like Account Team roles