Yes, the actual arrangement can be assessed, including a potential function-manager role. A low or high headcount does not by itself establish eligibility.
Show management of the function
Explain its essential nature, the applicant’s senior role and discretion, and who performs the operational work. Do not assume that responsibility for an important technical task automatically equals management of a function.
Only if the preceding eight months of senior-analyst work involved specialized knowledge of the firm’s methods, so that a continuous qualifying year exists; otherwise the petition should wait until twelve months as a manager have accrued. A carrier's dispatch and freight-acceptance function is plainly essential, and a manager who decides which loads are taken, negotiates owner-operator contracts, sets rates and controls the function's budget is managing it, even though the dispatchers are clerical employees and the drivers are contractors. Executed service agreements, invoices, reporting routines, and evidence of real authority may show that a manager is relieved of routine production, but a vendor does not automatically count as a subordinate. Negotiating policy or directing an essential function may support L-1A, whereas personally delivering routine sales or installation work may weigh against a role that must be primarily managerial or executive.