A Salesforce Architect is a highly experienced and critical role within the Salesforce ecosystem, responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of complex Salesforce solutions that align with a company's business goals and technical strategy. They are big-picture thinkers and in-depth problem solvers who ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, secure, and performant.
Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the typical job description for a Salesforce Architect:
Overall Purpose:
- The Salesforce Architect leads the design, development, and implementation of robust, scalable, and secure Salesforce solutions. This role serves as a trusted advisor to stakeholders, translating complex business requirements into technical solutions and guiding development teams through the entire project lifecycle.
Solution Design and Architecture:
- Lead the design of comprehensive Salesforce solutions, including data models, automation, integration strategies, and user experience, ensuring alignment with business objectives and Salesforce best practices.
- Develop high-level and low-level architectural diagrams and technical documentation (e.g., system landscape, data models, integration patterns, data migration strategies).
- Assess existing Salesforce environments and recommend improvements, identifying gaps between current and desired states.
- Make critical decisions regarding configuration vs. customization, declarative vs. programmatic solutions, and the appropriate use of Salesforce products (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Experience Cloud, etc).
- Design solutions that account for large data volumes, data privacy, security, and performance.
Technical Leadership and Governance:
- Provide strategic oversight and technical guidance to Salesforce development and administration teams.
- Define and enforce architectural standards, coding standards, security best practices, and governance policies.
- Conduct code reviews and ensure quality and adherence to design patterns.
- Act as the subject matter expert (SME) for the Salesforce platform, staying current with new features, releases, and industry trends.
- Lead discussions on solution design trade-offs, considering lifecycle costs, usability, and feasibility.
Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication:
- Collaborate extensively with business stakeholders, product owners, and executives to understand requirements, define project priorities, and align technology solutions with business goals.
- Translate complex technical concepts into clear, concise, and business-friendly language for diverse audiences.
- Facilitate workshops, discovery sessions, and presentations to gather requirements, present designs, and gain consensus.
- Act as a bridge between technical and non-technical teams.
Integration and Data Management:
- Design and oversee complex integrations between Salesforce and other internal and external systems (ERP, marketing automation, other cloud applications, etc) using various integration patterns (REST, SOAP API, middleware).
- Define and maintain the data architecture, including data modeling, data migration strategies, and data governance.
- Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and security across all integrated systems.
Project and Release Management:
- Support project planning, estimation, and scoping.
- Oversee the technical delivery of Salesforce implementations, including custom development, integrations, and data migration.
- Provide guidance on environment management, release management, code versioning, and deployment methodologies.
- Assist with troubleshooting production issues and performing root cause analysis.
Mentorship and Coaching:
- Mentor and coach junior technical team members (developers, administrators), fostering their growth and ensuring best practices.
- Share knowledge and expertise within the team and across the organization.
Education:Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
Experience:
- Typically 7+ years of hands-on Salesforce experience, with a strong focus on solution design, configuration, and development (Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Components).
- Proven experience as a Salesforce Architect or in a similar leadership role on large-scale Salesforce implementations.
- Experience with various Salesforce Clouds (Sales, Service, Marketing, Experience, etc).
- Strong understanding of CRM processes within sales, marketing, and service environments.
- Experience with integration tools and methodologies (APIs, middleware like MuleSoft).
- Knowledge of deployment processes and release pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, Bitbucket/Git).
Technical Skills:
- Deep expertise in Salesforce platform features and capabilities.
- Proficiency in Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Components (Aura and LWC), SOQL, and Salesforce APIs.
- Strong understanding of web services, databases, and security practices.
- Familiarity with various architectural patterns and design principles.
- Experience with data modelling, data migration, and large data volumes.
