Salesforce Consultant

The Salesforce Consultant helps nonprofit organizations use Salesforce and related technology effectively in the service of their missions. This position works with 501 Commons clients to define business needs, design practical Salesforce solutions, implement and improve systems, support integrations, migrate and clean data, document processes, and coach client administrators and staff.

This is a highly client-focused consulting role that requires technical skill, strong communication, sound judgment, and sensitivity to nonprofit missions and operations. The Salesforce Consultant must be able to understand the big picture of a client's organization while translating requirements into useful, sustainable Salesforce solutions. The position supports 501 Commons' mission and belief that "We all rise when nonprofits thrive."

Responsibilities

Client Discovery, Requirements, and Project Scoping (20%)

• Lead or facilitate discovery conversations to define and gather client business requirements.
• Analyze client needs, priorities, workflows, data, constraints, and readiness to identify practical Salesforce solutions.
• Assist with client intake, needs assessment, project scoping, budgets, timelines, and client education.
• Prioritize delivery of the highest-value work as early as possible within client budget and capacity.
• Translate nonprofit client needs into clear scopes of work, project plans, requirements documentation, and implementation recommendations.

Salesforce Implementation and Customization (25%)

• Lead Salesforce implementations, system improvements, and configuration projects for nonprofit clients.
• Configure Salesforce features such as users, profiles, permissions, custom objects, fields, workflows, validation rules, processes, flows, reports, dashboards, and views.
• Support Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack and other nonprofit-focused Salesforce products and tools.
• Build or support solutions involving Program Management Module, Experience Cloud portals, automation, and other Salesforce functionality when appropriate.
• Ensure implementations are useful, sustainable, documented, and aligned with each client's mission, business process, budget, and staff capacity.

Salesforce Administration, Maintenance, and Support (15%)

• Provide Salesforce administration support and best-practice guidance to clients.
• Maintain overall Salesforce system health through monitoring, troubleshooting, updates, user support, permissions management, and data maintenance.
• Support data deduplication, archive tasks, system updates, report requests, dashboard requests, user onboarding, and issue resolution.
• Coach client administrators and end users so they can use and maintain Salesforce effectively.
• Stay current with Salesforce releases, related documentation, and new functionality that may benefit nonprofit clients.

Data Migration, Documentation, and Quality Assurance (10%)

• Plan and support data migration, data cleanup, imports, exports, testing, and quality assurance activities.
• Use tools such as Data Loader, ETL tools, or similar applications to support data migration, maintenance, and analysis.
• Create documentation for requirements, design, testing, training, configuration, customizations, and ongoing administration.
• Document work in ways that support client reuse, future maintenance, training, and continuity.
• Help clients understand data quality, reporting needs, and ongoing data stewardship responsibilities.

Integrations and Third-Party Applications (10%)

• Support integration of third-party applications with Salesforce in ways that fit nonprofit business processes.
• Work with applications and tools related to email marketing, forms, merge documents, reporting, payment processing, donation platforms, events, volunteer management, and websites.
• Support website-to-Salesforce integrations and other data flow needs as appropriate.
• Help clients evaluate integration options, risks, dependencies, and ongoing support needs.
• Collaborate with developers or technical partners when custom development, Apex, Visualforce, JavaScript, HTML, managed packages, or unmanaged packages are involved.

Client Relationship Management and Consulting Delivery (10%)

• Manage ongoing client relationships with professionalism, responsiveness, and clear communication.
• Explain technical options, limitations, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Keep clients informed about project status, timeline, decisions, risks, and next steps.
• Adapt to changing priorities while maintaining project focus, documentation, quality, and client trust.
• Build effective working relationships with colleagues, client stakeholders, and technology partners.

Internal Salesforce Support and Service Development (5%)

• Support the 501 Commons Salesforce environment and internal users as assigned.
• Help improve Salesforce use for grants management, development operations, consulting contracts, opportunities, reporting, and organizational tracking.
• Develop reports, dashboards, tracking tools, and documentation that strengthen internal capacity.
• Participate in cross-department meetings and contribute Salesforce expertise to internal process improvement.

Learning, Team Collaboration, and Other Duties (5%)

• Remain current with Salesforce releases, nonprofit technology trends, Salesforce community learning, and relevant certifications or Trailhead learning.
• Collaborate with 501 Commons staff, consultants, developers, and partners to deliver high-quality Salesforce services.
• Share tools, templates, documentation, and learning that improve Salesforce practice across the organization.
• Contribute to a collaborative, learning-oriented, client-centered team culture.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Competencies

• Strong Salesforce administration, configuration, implementation, and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to gather requirements, analyze business processes, prioritize needs, and translate nonprofit workflows into practical Salesforce solutions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to explain technical topics to non-technical audiences.
• Strong client service orientation and ability to build trust with nonprofit leaders, staff, administrators, and partners.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, priorities, and client relationships.
• Strong documentation habits and commitment to reusable, accurate, and accessible work products.
• Ability to learn new technical skills quickly and adapt to changing client and technology needs.
• Sound judgment, initiative, independence, and ability to self-manage work.
• Comfort working with multiple software systems and willingness to learn new tools.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, respectful service, and effective work with diverse nonprofit clients and colleagues.

Requirements

• Three or more years of experience in technology as a developer, consultant, business analyst, systems administrator, or similar role.
• Two or more years of experience as a Salesforce administrator or consultant.
• Experience with Salesforce implementations from requirements gathering through launch, training, and support.
• Experience with Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack.
• Experience creating documentation for requirements, design, testing, training, administration, and system configuration.
• Experience automating business processes using Salesforce tools such as validation rules, flows, workflows, or similar functionality.
• Ability to prioritize tasks, organize information, work independently, and use good judgment.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues and client stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to self-manage and adapt to changing priorities as needed.

Preferred

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent education, training, and directly relevant experience.
• Salesforce certifications, such as Administrator, Platform App Builder, Nonprofit Cloud Consultant, or Experience Cloud Consultant.
• Experience working with nonprofit organizations.
• Experience with Salesforce Program Management Module, Experience Cloud portals, Nonprofit Cloud, Volunteers for Salesforce, Outbound Funds Module, DLRS, or similar nonprofit Salesforce tools.
• Experience integrating third-party applications with Salesforce, including form builders, payment processors, donation platforms, event platforms, mass email integrations, document generation tools, text messaging tools, or website integrations.
• Experience with Agile methodology, DevOps tools, Salesforce DevOps, GitHub, ETL tools, or package management.
• Some experience with Apex, Visualforce, JavaScript, HTML, Lightning Components, or related development tools.
• Open-source website CMS experience, especially WordPress, Drupal, or similar platforms.
• Active participation in the Salesforce community, user groups, Trailhead, or other Salesforce learning communities.

What we offer

• Flexibility: Ability to set your own schedule within a Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. timeframe, including working remotely and/or from our office in Seattle. This position may require occasional presence at client sites or the 501 Commons office.
• Collaboration with a small but highly professional team with opportunities for professional development.
• Benefits include generous paid time off, 11 paid holidays, and access to a retirement account.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here represent those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• The employee is regularly required to talk and hear.
• This position requires the ability to use computers for extended periods of time.
• This position requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time.
• This position may require occasional travel to client sites or the 501 Commons office.
• This position requires clarity of vision at approximately 20 inches or less, including using computers; distance vision of 20 feet or more; and the ability to distinguish color.