A written description of reporting lines, budget or hiring authority, and whether the applicant delivers recommendations for others to act on or manages operations directly. General consulting language in an offer letter does not show this; specific detail about authority and reporting structure does.
Ask for the reporting structure, not just the job description
Request that the employer specify who the applicant reports to, who reports to the applicant, and what budget or staffing authority comes with the role. This detail distinguishes a genuinely advisory engagement from one where the applicant functions as an embedded manager. Where this information is vague or the employer describes the role primarily in terms of running a team or department, treat that as a serious classification concern.
Two additions make that request harder to answer vaguely. Ask for an organisational chart showing the position in context, with the boxes above and below it filled in, because a chart forces a choice that prose allows an employer to avoid. And ask for the same information from the client where the work is performed for one, since a consulting engagement often has two descriptions — the one in the employment documents and the one in the client's project plan — and the second is usually more candid about who is running what.
Where the two disagree, that disagreement is the finding. Hypothetical example: a consultant engaged on fleet routing has an employment description framed entirely in advisory language, while the client's project charter names the same person as the workstream lead with three analysts reporting to them, which settles the question without anyone needing to interpret an adjective.