What is a Salesforce Architect?

• It is not easy for companies to find Salesforce professionals that are up to speed with the newest products and updates
• Salesforce Architects "build from the ground up" and could do every job on their team
• Such an experienced professional is not cheap, but is worth the investment to give the company the results they want
• In this job seekers' market, Salesforce Architects like many tech experts have their pick in jobs

At the heart of the Salesforce mission is innovation. 

Where do companies find talent that is skilled in the newest Salesforce products?

Every quarter, Salesforce.com releases new products, features, and enhancements for their tools and products. The sooner a new product is adopted and applied, the more impactful it is to the end customer. To be a Salesforce customer is to innovate alongside Salesforce in improving the world through technology, accessibility, and digitization of information. An Implementation Partner is usually the easiest answer, because they receive training on the newest tools. However, businesses must meet the challenges of staffing and retention issues that face every company. Often, IPs can harm the quality of an otherwise impactful process when integrating with customer-facing teams.

One of the most lucrative, exclusive, important jobs in the Salesforce ecosystem is a Salesforce Architect. To use Salesforce most effectively for the best results and return on investment, the technology must be interwoven throughout an entire organization. These are all reasons why the top Salesforce users partner with Computer Futures, and why top Salesforce professionals have Computer Futures representing them to potential employers.

Building a Salesforce platform is like building a skyscraper. 

The role of a Salesforce Architect may be likened to the most skilled and highest-level professional on a building project, who creates the blueprint or roadmap. They execute the vision for what the Salesforce platform will look like from imagination to completion. 

The Salesforce Architect has the most experience on the team and has served in many other roles on many teams through the years to receive the depth of training necessary to earn the title. An architect could potentially do all the work required and has the ability to perform every task on a team, but their time is better used delegating and overseeing the results. A "hands-off" approach allows for attention to be allotted to each area of the process at proportionally pertinent measures.

A champion of the Salesforce tool and a key stakeholder at board-level or c-suite meetings, the Salesforce architect speaks to the overall direction of the platform as it carries out the business mission, directives, and objectives. They help the business stakeholders understand the functionality limitations, reaches, and exceptional power to utilize and provide data throughout all departments. They are informed on how the tools and products purchased from Salesforce for the business fit into the wider budget and can speak to the value offered through implementation and integration. 

The average* salary of a Salesforce Architect would be between $180,000 - $250,000 annually. In certain circumstances, earning potential can be even higher at approximately $300,000. 

Apart from the usual reasons for fluctuation in salaries such as location, enterprise experience, leadership abilities, and so on, a major determinant is whether the Salesforce professional is providing services as a consultancy, or a contractor. A consultant provides full-service, taking on a project as a vendor to a client. The relationship to the business is different than a contractor, who is hired by the company to complete certain duties and meet certain deliverables. 

The size of the organization and its structure is also a consideration. Teams are built very differently in, for instance a major global bank, than at a regional credit union. Each has different processes, resources, hierarchy, reporting standards, and any number of other factors. This is important to a Salesforce Architect's earning potential as it shapes the scale of a major project and the experience required to complete it.

Smaller organizations often need specialists that can "wear more than one hat" and are cross-trained in certain niche skills that apply to their businesses. Larger organizations often require an even deeper knowledge of technical requirements and niche skills, and must be willing to be "hands-on" with the newer or newly updated products.

The phrase "best job" is highly subjective and depends heavily on the personal and professional interests of the person seeking a new role in the Salesforce ecosystem. Especially in the competitive 2022 talent market, candidates for top roles require more than just a good salary. What is an "ideal job" for one individual may be entirely different for another with similar skills and experience.

Often, the matter comes down to what a candidate is looking to achieve in terms of lifestyle, creativity in their projects, working hours, perks, and a team environment all in symphony. Companies are finding themselves needing to increase the standards of benefits, flexibility, culture, and embracement of DE&I. 

Salesforce Architects, being so highly sought-after, knowledgeable, and experienced, often have their pick of the jobs they choose to take.

These are the most frequently cited qualities of a "best job" for Salesforce Architects:

• Remote and flexible work options and a good location for hybrid or in-office roles 
• An engaged business stakeholder and support of leaders invested in the platform
• Absence of micro-management, autonomous decision-making power
• A challenging role with access to the most cutting-edge tools, clouds, and products
• Competitive salary and excellent benefits
• Teams that are communicative, collaborative, and at the center of a company's success
• Resources to design and strategize or work hands-on as desired

One especially attractive quality is the creative opportunity to develop an implementation from scratch. This is always exciting for an architect and allows them to build the functionality from the ground-up. A much more enjoyable journey than fixing work that is already in place and a broken mess to be repaired.

To maintain the most highly-skilled, capable, and efficient professionals on their teams, companies must consider these top elements in their hiring:

• Is this a functional role or a technical role?
• Am I hiring someone who has the experience and trainability to accomplish what I need?
• Who is able to lead the industry in the most recent releases?
• What about my company or project will attract the high level of talented professional I need?
• Is the value of working with my company coming across in the job market?