Responsible for providing expertise and data-driven leadership to support the continued evolution of ascend – Kindsight Salesforce platform and the Hamilton community. The Director of Advancement Systems will provide ownership for new and ongoing projects selected to enhance ascend and the related experience for end users. This leader also will work with the broader Advancement Information Systems and Business Intelligence team to prioritize and operationalize platform projects, use cases, and feature enhancements. This leader is instrumental in setting the strategic and operational technical systems objectives that align with Hamilton’s Advancement goals. The Director will support the team in managing day-to-day workloads and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. Also, this role serves as the primary administrator of Hamilton College’s Advancement Office environment and works with central IT (LITS) in relation to the overall Salesforce Org. This position is responsible for the secure and efficient maintenance, configuration and customization of the system; including troubleshooting issues, reviewing and collaborating with other team members on enhancements, supporting LITS in maintaining and analyzing backups and updates, supporting end users and documenting technical processes. The Director will directly supervise and coordinate with a broad team of experts including Business Analysts, Developers, Data Analysts, and others to identify, track, and implement solutions.
This is an exempt position with a pay range of $105,000 - $120,000.
Responsibilities
- Strategy:
- In partnership with the Executive Director of Advancement Information Services and Business Intelligence, develop cohesive long-term vision and roadmap for how ascend can enable prioritized business needs; demonstrate subject matter expertise on solutions and provide recommendations on new Salesforce-related technology capabilities to meet customer needs.
- Responsible for streamlining the user experience through effective product management strategies, executing change management, evaluating current strategies and partnerships, and ensuring that technology aligns with Hamilton’s business goals.
- In conjunction with the Executive Director and broader team develop and refine the evolving strategic vision, action plan, and fiscal oversight required to successfully maintain ascend.
- Develop and maintain strong partnerships with cross divisional stakeholders to drive integration of Salesforce and programs throughout all of Hamilton College. This includes partnerships with Library and Information Technology Services (LITS), the Business Office, the Office of Institutional Research and others.
- Operations:
- Delivers project proposals to executive leadership and ensures execution of projects upon approval.
- Communicates key information to ascend internal stakeholders.
- Leads requirements gathering sessions and translates those requirements into technical solutions.
- Defines and maintains a transparent, prioritization framework for project selection and solution development (e.g. using project management solutions such as asana, azure, or similar.)
- Updates, improves, and maintains Salesforce-related products in line with the roadmap, including management of Hamilton’s vendor relationships and coordination with internal technology and data teammates.
- Manages the development and tracking of analytical reports and review boards that track all project performance.
- Technical:
- In partnership with LITS, oversees decisions related to front and back-end solution architecture, development, and release management strategies, and IT change management.
- Ensures all development work such as design implementation, whether managed internally or by service provider, follows established standards, processes, application guidelines and technical architecture (e.g., Salesforce, IT best practices, LITS, etc.)
- Ensure consistent and comprehensive technical documentation, help text, and other governance information within Salesforce and in other satellite and supporting systems.
- Provide technical leadership, setting best practices including integration and application development, deployment, testing and validation (unit and systems), and iterative refinement.
- Assess the impact of new requirements on Salesforce and all upstream and downstream applications, systems, and processes.
- Oversee the management of Salesforce data feeds and other integrations.
- Ensure utilization of Salesforce best practices and stay current on the latest tools, trends, and techniques.
- Implements Salesforce configuration changes, including (but not limited to): Flow, matching rules, approval processes, fields, page layouts, record types, dynamic layouts, apps, actions, custom settings, mobile administration.
- Monitor and analyze salesforce backup jobs.
- Maintains the Salesforce Sandbox environment.
- Implements and maintains integrated applications and third-party suppliers including, (but not limited to): Marketing Cloud, Mogli, Blackthorn, Nintex, Salesforce Maps, DocuSign as well as other custom integrations.
- Support basic integrations between systems using the Workato platform, and work with LITS on advanced integrations.
- Leverages a comprehensive Salesforce security framework for managing user permissions and access within the Salesforce Environment. These may include licenses, roles, profiles, permissions, public groups, OWD, and sharing rules.
- Ensure compliance with applicable internal and external privacy and data management policies and regulations
- Supervision Expectations:
- The Director of Advancement Systems will directly supervise an additional Salesforce-specific Business Analyst who will support the Director across all phases.
- Coordinate with partners in LITS (and third parties as necessary) to execute projects that align with Hamilton’s strategic vision and roadmap for Salesforce.
- Required:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline.
- Experience with Salesforce administration, data management, and enterprise management system(s).
- Strong understanding of Salesforce Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and/or other Salesforce technology solutions.
- Ability to manage multiple projects at once with a sense of urgency required to advance a deadline-driven environment; technical project management experience; Proactive open-minded attitude to platform enhancements that support Advancement Senior Leadership team’s vision.
- Knowledge of integration technologies and platforms
- Preferred:
- MBA or Master’s degree preferred.
- Managerial, supervisory, and/or demonstrated leadership experience.
- Higher Ed Salesforce preferred; ascend - Kindsight experience a plus.
- In depth experience with Salesforce configuration and custom development (Apex, VF, integrations, Lightning Web Components, data migrations, executing deployments).
- Knowledge of distributed system architecture, middleware, or object-oriented analysis and design.
- Requires minimal supervision; work is expected to be done autonomously.
- Active Salesforce Administrator and/or Developer Certification.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Excellent project management skills; demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, handle and prioritize simultaneous requests, and manage laterally and upwards.
- Proficiency with Salesforce configuration tools, including a deep understanding of custom objects, page layouts, workflows, process builder, flow builder, and validation rules.
- Deep understanding of the Salesforce security model, including profiles, permissions, record-level access, field-level access, roles, and hierarchies.
- Proficiency with Salesforce reports and dashboards and CRMA.
- Familiarity with and a basic understanding of Apex, custom metadata and custom settings.
- Familiarity working with Salesforce integrated marketing solutions, preferably Marketing Cloud.
- Familiarity with and a basic understanding of middleware tools such as Workato.
- Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and an understanding of the contributions a diverse workforce brings to the workplace.
Please submit cover letter, resume and contact information for three professional references. Consideration of candidates will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Pay: $105,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year
