Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Salesforce Project Manager
💰 $95,000 - $145,000
🎯 Role Definition
The Salesforce Project Manager is responsible for planning, executing, and delivering Salesforce initiatives that align with business objectives. This role acts as the bridge between business stakeholders, Salesforce administrators, developers, and external partners, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and on budget while maximizing platform value and user adoption.
📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Salesforce Business Analyst
- IT Project Coordinator
- CRM Administrator
Advancement To:
- Senior Salesforce Project Manager
- Salesforce Program Manager
- Director of Salesforce or CRM Platforms
Lateral Moves:
- Product Owner (Salesforce)
- Enterprise Applications Project Manager
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Lead end-to-end Salesforce projects including implementations, enhancements, integrations, and platform migrations.
- Define project scope, objectives, deliverables, timelines, and success criteria in collaboration with stakeholders.
- Develop and maintain detailed project plans, schedules, budgets, and resource allocations.
- Manage cross-functional teams including Salesforce admins, developers, QA analysts, architects, and vendors.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
- Facilitate requirements gathering sessions to translate business needs into Salesforce solutions.
- Oversee Agile and Waterfall delivery methodologies, adapting based on project needs.
- Run sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
- Track project progress against milestones and proactively manage risks, dependencies, and issues.
- Ensure alignment between Salesforce configuration, custom development, and business requirements.
- Coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT), system testing, and deployment activities.
- Manage change control processes, including scope changes, prioritization, and impact analysis.
- Ensure data migration, system integrations, and third-party app implementations are executed correctly.
- Monitor platform performance, adoption metrics, and post-launch success indicators.
- Communicate project status, risks, and outcomes to executive leadership and steering committees.
- Enforce governance standards, documentation practices, and Salesforce best practices.
- Support release management and coordinate Salesforce seasonal releases with internal teams.
- Partner with security, compliance, and IT teams to ensure regulatory and data protection requirements are met.
- Manage vendor relationships, contracts, deliverables, and service-level expectations.
- Drive continuous improvement by identifying process efficiencies and platform optimization opportunities.
- Support training, change management, and end-user enablement initiatives.
Secondary Functions
- Support Salesforce roadmap planning and long-term platform strategy.
- Assist with portfolio-level prioritization and demand management.
- Mentor junior project managers or Scrum Masters.
- Contribute to PMO standards, templates, and best practices.
- Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the Salesforce delivery teams.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Strong knowledge of Salesforce Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and core CRM capabilities.
- Experience managing Salesforce implementations and complex enterprise projects.
- Familiarity with Salesforce development lifecycle, including configuration, Apex, and integrations.
- Proficiency with Agile, Scrum, SAFe, or Waterfall project management methodologies.
- Experience with project management tools such as Jira, Smartsheet, MS Project, or Asana.
- Understanding of Salesforce data models, security architecture, and reporting.
- Ability to manage integrations with ERP, marketing automation, and third-party systems.
- Knowledge of Salesforce release management and deployment processes.
- Experience with change management and stakeholder communication strategies.
- Salesforce certifications (Admin, PMP, Scrum, or Salesforce-specific certifications) are a strong plus.
Soft Skills
- Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
- Strong leadership and team coordination abilities.
- High attention to detail and organizational discipline.
- Problem-solving mindset with the ability to manage ambiguity.
- Ability to balance technical constraints with business priorities.
- Strong facilitation and conflict-resolution skills.
- Adaptability in fast-paced, evolving environments.
- Results-driven and customer-focused approach.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s Degree
Preferred Education:
Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Information Systems
- Business Administration
- Computer Science
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
4–8 years of project management experience, including 2+ years managing Salesforce projects.
Preferred:
Experience leading enterprise-scale Salesforce implementations in sales, service, or marketing organizations.