What Does a Salesforce Administrator Do?
Salesforce administrators configure, maintain, and support the Salesforce suite of products. They establish and configure user accounts, develop and customize applications, and troubleshoot problems and issues. They must also remain current with the ever-changing Salesforce landscape and maintain a detailed understanding of the company’s business processes. They also work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to identify and expand Salesforce usage and effectiveness.
Salesforce administrators should be natural problem solvers who leverage their analytical skills to anticipate and resolve technical issues that arise within the platform. They perform routine maintenance and data cleanup activities to maximize performance and minimize data loss or corruption. Finally, they must be highly collaborative and able to work and communicate equally well with other technical team members and business users.
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National Average Salary
Salesforce administrator salaries vary by experience, industry, organization size, and geography. To explore salary ranges by local market, please visit our sister site zengig.com.
The average U.S. salary for a Salesforce Administrator is:
$89,830
Salesforce Administrator Job Descriptions
When it comes to recruiting a Salesforce administrator, having the right job description can make a big difference. Here are some real world job descriptions you can use as templates for your next opening.
Example 1
Are you a technical expert? Can you translate client needs into tangible results? If so, apply for our position as a Salesforce administrator! Salesforce administrators use their deep knowledge of the Salesforce platform to define requirements and tailored customizations for clients. They handle database management, security, compliance, and interacting with the users to ensure efficiency and quality. These administrators use a variety of languages and API’s and generally have a well-rounded understanding of the technical challenges presented during the development and maintenance of the platform. Having soft skills that allow you to translate complex, technical solutions to non-technical clients, and being able to transform their needs and wants into a usable platform is vital to success in this role. If this describes you, please apply.
Typical duties and responsibilities
- Handle all fundamental Salesforce administrative functions including routine tasks such as user account maintenance and workflows
- Carry out regular internal Salesforce system audits and upgrades
- Work with the management team to determine appropriate Salesforce processes
- Grow the Salesforce skillset throughout the organization, and facilitate the training of new users
- Act as a liaison between Salesforce users, vendors, and application development teams
- Work independently with members of the community to establish and form development requirements
Education and experience
This position requires a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field, plus a minimum of two years of experience as a Salesforce administrator. Most important is to have official certification from Salesforce. The company offers several levels of certification for administrators. Preparation and registration information is available on the Salesforce website.
Required skills and qualifications
- Expertise in Salesforce
- Proven project management ability
- Excellent at meeting deadlines
- Innovative and analytical thinker with solid problem-solving skills
- Proficient in written and verbal communication
- Ability to assess information from multiple sources and resolve conflicts
Preferred qualifications
- Strong Salesforce product knowledge and at least 5+ years of Salesforce administration hands-on experience with Sales Cloud
- Certified Salesforce Administrator
- Additional Salesforce certifications
- Understanding of basic triggers/Apex code knowledge
Example 2
About the role:
As the Salesforce Administrator, you will support the Revenue Operations (RevOps) team by creating Salesforce reports and dashboards, owning data management tasks, responding to user support requests, and testing new features and functionality. This role will have the opportunity to contribute to diverse projects both big and small and work cross-departmentally with the B2B Sales, Finance, Enrollment, and Marketing teams.
Responsibilities:
- Partner with the RevOps team and internal business stakeholders to create Salesforce reports and dashboards
- Administer ABC Company’s Salesforce instance and manage connected integrations
- Respond to Salesforce user requests and assist with developing solutions to address business needs
- Perform frequent data quality checks to ensure Salesforce data is accurate
- Make recommendations on improving existing business processes using Salesforce and other RevOps technology
- Assist the CRM team with testing new Salesforce functionality that supports business requirements
- Take on ad-hoc responsibilities around new initiatives such as building new metrics and requests to analyze revenue information
Requirements:
- 2-4 years experience administering Salesforce and innovating or scaling in a similar, fast-based environment; specifically, experience in tools administration
- Salesforce ADM-201 Certification (required)
- Experience working as a part of a sales/business development, sales/revenue operations, or sales team
- A track record of working successfully as a member of a team and taking initiative to own individual projects
- Advanced excel skills and excellent written communication
- Familiarity with the creation and configuration of Salesforce and/or Tableau dashboards and reporting
- BA/BS with a major in finance, computer science, statistics, quantitative economics, or another degree emphasizing data analysis
- The ability to work in (City) office three days per week
- Independent US work authorization (required)
Example 3
ABC Company is looking for a full-time Sales Analyst to work within ABC Company’s Growth team to manage, optimize, and drive the future state of sales systems used in our business development process. The primary responsibilities will be focused on ensuring there is a clear system and process support for all sales activities, opportunity tracking, and sales reporting and planning. The successful candidate will have a proactive, detail-oriented approach and the ability to work both autonomously and collaboratively on a wide range of time-sensitive, and important tasks that will help drive the business forward. This position will report to the growth team and support client and account teams in all of ABC Company’s offices.
Responsibilities:
- Be the Product Owner and serve as a subject matter expert and point of contact for Salesforce and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, owning the future roadmap, managing system enhancements, maintaining the current environment, as well as supporting integrations with other ABC Company systems
- Lead updates to the Salesforce environments, including upstream and downstream system integration, by maintaining a structured backlog, supporting development, and data migration efforts
- Maintain regularly circulated reports and dashboards and ensure data quality of all supporting data through data hygiene data cleansing protocols
- Build forecasting functionality, optimize existing reports and dashboards, and create new reporting tools and operating analytics, as needed to share insights with the Leadership for repeatable, scalable, and predictable sales processes
- Be the main point of contact in onboarding new employees and leadership onto the sales platform, developing refresher training and educational support as needed
- Manage sales tools vendors, access, and seats for ABC Company users
- Grow with ABC Company by supporting internal initiatives to uplift our people, processes, and market presence
- Cultivate new skillsets based on your own professional development goals utilizing the learning and development budget provided by ABC Company
Required qualifications:
- 2-3 years of related experience with a Salesforce Admin certification OR 3-5 years of experience in total
- Highly skilled in Salesforce and/or a certified Salesforce, Sales Cloud Enterprise Admin, reporting, and dashboards
- Knowledge of data loader or other data transformation tools
- High level of proficiency with MS Office Suite
- Proficient in data analysis, analytics, and tech-oriented problem solving
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills; highly professional and diplomatic approach
- Experience in training and process documentation
- Flexibility to work outside normal business hours and travel within the US; hours may exceed 8 hours per day
- The ability to demonstrate a legal right to work in the U.S
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience in the Consulting industry and/or vendor management
- Experience with lead generation and/or marketing activities
- Bachelor’s Degree
Example 4
ABC Company seeks an experienced Salesforce Administrator to be part of our team. The Salesforce Administrator is responsible for executing our product vision and leading the ongoing development of our salesforce.com deployment including Sales Cloud and Field Service Lightning. The successful candidate has a record of success in improving processes and adoption using the Force.com platform. The Salesforce Administrator works closely with their manager, functional leaders, organizational units, vendors, and subject matter experts to identify, develop and deploy technology supporting our core business processes. The Salesforce Administrator oversees and assists in the day-to-day configuration, support, maintenance, and improvement of our CRM platform.
Due to the expansion in operating systems, we are adding a Salesforce Administrator position to our IT team. This position reports to the Director of IT Operations.
Responsibilities:
- Serve as primary system administrator for the Salesforce.com environment
- Regularly communicate product outcomes and tell the product story to stakeholders
- Manage and own relationships with cross-functional teams and vendors to develop product strategy and drive desired outcomes
- Build, lead, and coach a Salesforce center of excellence team
- Support all administrative functions including user account maintenance, reports and dashboards, workflows, approval processes, and other routine tasks
- Complete regular internal system audits and prepares for upgrades
- Manage data feeds and other integrations
- Coordinate the evaluation, scope, and completion of new development requests.
- Assist in training new users, and grow the Salesforce.com skill set across the organization
- Effectively act as the liaison between our users, vendors, and the application development teams
- Work independently with members of the user community to define and document development requirements
- Continue to develop and customize the Salesforce.com platform using industry best practices
- Make recommendations and design solutions that improve user experience, expand platform utilization, and align with the overall company strategy
- Translate business requirements and user stories into working solutions using appropriate configuration and development approaches
- Proactively identify new opportunities to support additional business processes or functions
- Research changes in upcoming versions of Salesforce.com in order to provide recommendations that enhance productivity
- Work with department managers to drive efficiency through tooling and business process automation
- Create and maintain reporting that meets management requirements and efficiently conveys key performance indicators in multiple areas of the company
- Create and maintain documentation for users, processes, approval processes, and workflow
- Document system requirements, including validation rules, process builder, automation, record types, encryption, workflow, approval processes, and triggers
- Identify the appropriate third-party products/applications and determine when it is appropriate to include external application developers to meet business requirements and timelines
- Manage and resolve support ticket submissions
- Work with third-party vendors and Salesforce premier support to resolve issues.
- Assist staff across multiple departments within the company to optimize their success with the platform through communications, training, and support services.
- Remain current on Salesforce best practices, technologies, and certifications
- Develop and manage roadmap communications and negotiate priorities
Education and experience:
- Minimum 2 years of experience as a Salesforce.com administrator for an environment supporting 400 or more users
- Minimum 2 years of experience with Field Service (“Service Cloud”)
- Saleforce.com Admin (ADM201 and ADM211) certified or defined path toward certification
- Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Developer certifications preferred
- Proven ability to design and implement new processes and facilitate user adoption
- Strong understanding of the platform, with the ability to build custom apps and objects, formula fields, flows, approval processes, custom views, and other content of intermediate complexity
- Strong understanding of Salesforce.com best practices and functionality
- Strong data management abilities
Candidate Certifications to Look For
- Complete Salesforce Classic Administrator. This foundational course taught by Udemy provides the core concepts of the platform, along with several mechanics and methods for deploying the platform. This is an excellent entry point for beginners who wish to learn more about the platform and its uses, and for intermediates who would like to get reacquainted.
- Salesforce Administrator Credential. This module-based learning course provided by Trailhead will teach basic concepts and principles used within Salesforce. Once candidates have finished, they’ll be able to test their proficiency through a series of assignments and hands-on tests. This is another excellent beginner-level option, and it’s even free!
- Intermediate Salesforce Certification. This certification offered by InLearning is a great next step for candidates seeking further mastery over their platform. Beginners and intermediates alike will benefit from taking this course, and upon completion, candidates will demonstrate their commitment and working knowledge of Salesforce.
- Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator. For those looking to take their careers to the next level, this course provided by Udemy is an excellent choice. If candidates are familiar with the platform, and they’d like certification to prove it, look no further. They only need the Udemy prerequisite to apply.
How to Hire a Salesforce Administrator
When hiring a Salesforce administrator, there are several factors to consider:
- Recruiting: Can you source and recruit for this role successfully using your internal resources and tools?
- Complexity: Does a senior professional need to be hired, or could a middle or even junior-level coordinator suffice?
- Duration: Do you have an indefinite need for this project or is it a one-time project?
- Management: Are you capable of directing the work effectively?
- Urgency: Will this role address a pressing need or an ongoing one?
- Headcount: Does this role need to be approved through HR?
Answering these questions will help you determine the most effective approach to bringing on new talent. Situations and needs change frequently, so the answer today may be different than the answer tomorrow. Each scenario can be solved with a wide variety of great options, no matter how unique. For hiring a Salesforce administrator, we recommend the following options:
1. Use 4 Corner Resources (or another professional recruiting firm)
The heavy lifting is done for you when working with a top-tier staffing company like 4 Corner Resources. We source, screen, recruit, and deliver only the most qualified candidate(s), saving you significant time and effort throughout the hiring process while you remain focused on your core business. Understanding your needs and ensuring the right candidate for the position is the key to our success.
This is the best route to take when:
- You need to fill the position quickly
- You want access to a vast talent pool of high-quality, prescreened candidates
- Your position is suited for temporary hiring services, contract staffing, or contract-to-hire recruiting, and you intend to direct the work activity.
- You are hiring an employee as a direct placement but aren’t able to recruit effectively or efficiently with your internal staff.
- You aren’t familiar with current salary rates, market trends, and available skill sets
2. Advertise your opening on a top job board
Your best option may be to advertise your opening on a proven job board. There are many widely used job sites out there that draw visits from qualified candidates. If you have someone internally who can dedicate the time and energy to sort through applications and screen individuals effectively, this can be a great choice.
We recommend using a job board when:
- Your internal recruiting team has the knowledge and experience to assess candidate qualifications
- You are hiring a direct employee and have time to manage the entire recruiting effort
- You have a process for receiving, screening, and tracking all resumes and applications
- You are prepared to respond to all applicants
We recommend CareerBuilder when hiring a Salesforce administrator:
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder has been a trusted source for hiring since 1995. Reach 80+ million unique, diverse U.S. job seekers annually by posting your jobs through their talent acquisition channels. Through CareerBuilder, you can engage candidates and drive them into your sourcing pipeline. We recommend using CareerBuilder for hiring when you have the internal resources and processes to review, screen, and reply to all applicants.
3. Leverage your internal resources
You can utilize your own website, social media, and employees to assist in your search for top candidates.
A company website posting should be the first step in notifying prospective candidates that you are hiring. Social media can also be a powerful tool for spreading the word about your new opening. As far as exposure is concerned, this option can be as good as some job boards when you have a large enough following across various platforms, like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.
Current employees are every organization’s greatest asset. Encourage your internal team to promote job openings to their network by offering cash and other incentives.
We recommend these options when:
- Your brand has great name recognition
- You can consistently monitor and respond to candidate activity through your website and social media accounts
- You have a process in place to quickly and broadly communicate job openings and requirements
- You have an effective employee referral program in place
If you aren’t sure which path is best, schedule a discovery call today with our seasoned recruiting professionals. The 4 Corner team is on standby to help you find the best option for your unique hiring need.
Sample Interview Questions
- Describe your professional experience with Salesforce.
- What training and certifications have you recevied?
- Where have you previously worked as a Salesforce administrator?
- How did you customize Salesforce to meet specific business needs in your previous role?
- What was the most complex customization you implemented?
- Describe your experience managing user accounts and permissions.
- What are the different editions of Salesforce?
- What is your approach when it comes to training new users?
- How do you respond to an unrealistic user request?
- What is your process for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues?
- What are the different types of objects in Salesforce?
- How many custom fields can I create in an object?
- How would I go about getting a security token?
- What’s a dependent picklist?
- What’s considered a fiscal year in Salesforce?
- Which field cannot be added as a custom index?