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The construction of collective competence using traditional HRM levers and more broadly instituted levers is now accepted in the literature. In this paper, we focus our attention on how the hierarchy mobilizes these levers. In line with the most recent works that focus on the factors that transform, dissolve, or limit collective competence, we study the lever of team composition and the role strain it generates. We examine the case of the PGHM in Chamonix, a military mountain rescue organization, to understand what effects, positive and negative, role strain caused by hierarchy has on the development and maintenance of collective competence. Our nuanced results aim to elaborate on the harmful effect of role strain, identify new factors for the emergence of collective competence, and suggest a connection between ambiguity and role conflict.