Roles and permissions

Posting solution for those who also have had this issue.

If you want a role to be system-wide, you have to do the following:

1. Go to Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define Roles.
2. Enter the role you want to be system-wide.
3. Under Role Archetype, you'll see "Context types where this role may be assigned"; select "System".
4. Save changes.