This disclosure describes techniques for defining a set of permissions, or privileges, for users who manage resources of a network-based service provisioned in a network-based service platform managed by a service provider. The techniques may include mapping cloud identities of the users to operating system (OS) user groups defined local to the resources that specify the set of permissions for user group members. Systems-manager agents that execute locally on the resources may determine to which OS user group the user belongs based on their cloud identity, and launch shells that are restricted by the set of permissions. Using these shells, a network-based service platform may allow users to remotely manage resources of the network-based service in various ways, such as through batch run commands and/or remote user sessions, while ensuring that the users are unable to execute commands on the resources that are outside the set of permissions.