diff --git a/swh/web/tests/api/test_throttling.py b/swh/web/tests/api/test_throttling.py
--- a/swh/web/tests/api/test_throttling.py
+++ b/swh/web/tests/api/test_throttling.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2017-2020  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2017-2021  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from django.conf.urls import url
-from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission, User
-from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.test.utils import override_settings
 from rest_framework.decorators import api_view
 from rest_framework.response import Response
@@ -27,6 +26,7 @@
     scope3_limiter_rate,
     scope3_limiter_rate_post,
 )
+from swh.web.tests.utils import create_django_permission
 from swh.web.urls import urlpatterns
 
 
@@ -217,14 +217,7 @@
 @pytest.mark.django_db
 def test_users_with_throttling_exempted_perm_are_not_rate_limited(api_client):
     user = User.objects.create_user(username="johndoe", password="")
-    perm_splitted = API_THROTTLING_EXEMPTED_PERM.split(".")
-    app_label = ".".join(perm_splitted[:-1])
-    perm_name = perm_splitted[-1]
-    content_type = ContentType.objects.create(app_label=app_label, model="dummy")
-    permission = Permission.objects.create(
-        codename=perm_name, name=perm_name, content_type=content_type,
-    )
-    user.user_permissions.add(permission)
+    user.user_permissions.add(create_django_permission(API_THROTTLING_EXEMPTED_PERM))
 
     assert user.has_perm(API_THROTTLING_EXEMPTED_PERM)
 
diff --git a/swh/web/tests/create_test_users.py b/swh/web/tests/create_test_users.py
--- a/swh/web/tests/create_test_users.py
+++ b/swh/web/tests/create_test_users.py
@@ -3,14 +3,27 @@
 # License: GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
+from typing import Dict, List, Tuple
 
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 
+from swh.web.auth.utils import SWH_AMBASSADOR_PERMISSION
+from swh.web.tests.utils import create_django_permission
+
 User = get_user_model()
 
-username = "user"
-password = "user"
-email = "user@swh-web.org"
 
-if not User.objects.filter(username=username).exists():
-    User.objects.create_user(username, email, password)
+users: Dict[str, Tuple[str, str, List[str]]] = {
+    "user": ("user", "user@swh-web.org", []),
+    "ambassador": ("ambassador", "ambassador@swh-web.org", [SWH_AMBASSADOR_PERMISSION]),
+}
+
+for username, (password, email, permissions) in users.items():
+    if not User.objects.filter(username=username).exists():
+        user = User.objects.create_user(username, email, password)
+        if permissions:
+            for perm_name in permissions:
+                permission = create_django_permission(perm_name)
+                user.user_permissions.add(permission)
+
+            user.save()
diff --git a/swh/web/tests/test_create_users.py b/swh/web/tests/test_create_users.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/web/tests/test_create_users.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2021  The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+
+def test_create_users_test_users_exist(db):
+    from .create_test_users import User, users
+
+    for username, (_, _, permissions) in users.items():
+
+        user = User.objects.filter(username=username).get()
+        assert user is not None
+
+        for permission in permissions:
+            assert user.has_perm(permission)
diff --git a/swh/web/tests/utils.py b/swh/web/tests/utils.py
--- a/swh/web/tests/utils.py
+++ b/swh/web/tests/utils.py
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2020  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2020-2021  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional, cast
 
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission
+from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.http import HttpResponse, StreamingHttpResponse
 from django.test.client import Client
 from rest_framework.response import Response
@@ -207,3 +209,23 @@
     if template_used is not None:
         assert_template_used(response, template_used)
     return response
+
+
+def create_django_permission(perm_name: str) -> Permission:
+    """Create permission out of a permission name string
+
+    Args:
+        perm_name: Permission name (e.g. swh.web.api.throttling_exempted,
+          swh.ambassador, ...)
+
+    Returns:
+        The persisted permission
+
+    """
+    perm_splitted = perm_name.split(".")
+    app_label = ".".join(perm_splitted[:-1])
+    perm_name = perm_splitted[-1]
+    content_type = ContentType.objects.create(app_label=app_label, model="dummy")
+    return Permission.objects.create(
+        codename=perm_name, name=perm_name, content_type=content_type,
+    )