The Ultimate Guide to a Career as a Salesforce Technical Consultant

If you’re an ambitious individual who wants to excel in their career, there is no better place than Salesforce. The entirely cloud-based CRM platform offers a diverse range of careers with competitive salaries and excellent career progression, to suit all levels of experience.

There has never been a better time to begin a career in Salesforce. Not only due to its huge growth, but also for the number of roles in the Salesforce ecosystem. Depending on your experience and skill set, there is a perfect job role for you with Salesforce and we are here to help you find it.

Are you currently a Salesforce Developer with aspirations to move into a Technical Consultant role? Or are you new to Salesforce and have technical consultant skills which would allow you to thrive in a consultant role in the Salesforce ecosystem? We’ll cover the ins and outs of the Salesforce Technical Consultant role, who it best suits and how to go about becoming one.

What is a Salesforce Technical Consultant?

A Salesforce Technical Consultant role is an exciting and dynamic role for anyone who enjoys working with Salesforce technology and helping businesses succeed. The Technical Consultant plays a crucial role in the implementation and customisation of Salesforce solutions for businesses to drive their efficiency and productivity.

Salesforce Technical Consultants work closely with clients to understand their requirements and translate them into technical solutions on the Salesforce platform. For this reason, the role not only requires a deep understanding of Salesforce architecture, configuration and customisation capabilities but also strong communication and client facing skills.

What does a Salesforce Technical Consultant do?

A Salesforce Technical Consultant plays a key role in designing, implementing and maintaining Salesforce solutions for users of the platform. The primary responsibility of the Technical Consultant role is to understand the unique business requirements of clients and leverage their technical expertise to deliver effective and scalable solutions on the Salesforce platform.

Typical responsibilities include collaborating with clients to understand their business needs and objectives, developing comprehensive technical designs based on business requirements, configuring and customising Salesforce applications using Apex, Visualforce, Lightning components and other programming languages and implementing integrations between Salesforce and other systems.

Why is a Salesforce Technical Consultant role so interesting?

The Salesforce Technical Consultant role is a rewarding and fulfilling career path not only because the landscape of Salesforce roles is constantly changing but also because you get to be part of the entire process. Technical Consultants are the backbone of the Salesforce landscape and are responsible for configuring the Salesforce platform to meet customer requirements.

From liaising with clients to designing and implementing technical solutions on the Salesforce platform tailored to their specific needs, Technical Consultants will be able to see the direct impact of their work on the success of the business. As a Technical Consultant, you will be working on many complex projects and be surrounded by more senior professionals you can learn a lot from.

How to land a Salesforce Technical Consultant role?

The Salesforce Technical Consultant role is not considered an entry level role within the Salesforce ecosystem and therefore requires a high level of skill and proficiency in Salesforce technology. For this reason, it is common for Salesforce Developers with several years of experience on the Salesforce platform to progress into a Salesforce Technical Consultant role.

In addition to having proven experience in Salesforce technology, employers will also look for Salesforce certifications. Key certifications for this role include the Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification, Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant Certification, Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Certification and Salesforce Platform App Builder Certification.

Aside from having proven experience on the Salesforce platform, the Technical Consultant role is best suited to an individual who is happy moving into a predominantly client facing role. Other desirable candidate qualities include excellent problem-solving skills, strong analytical skills, attention to detail and ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.

What does progression look like for a Salesforce Technical Consultant?

As a Salesforce Technical Consultant, there are various paths for career progression. It’s really all about continuous learning, honing your skills and taking on new challenges to grow in your career. A popular route for progression is gaining more experience and expertise in Salesforce by pursuing certifications such as the Salesforce Certified Technical Architect. This can open doors to more senior positions, such as Salesforce Technical Architect or Technical Lead roles.

Salary expectations for a Salesforce Technical Consultant

The salary expectations for a Salesforce Technical Consultant can vary depending on factors such as expertise of the individual, location and company size. On average in the UK, a Salesforce Technical Consultant can expect to earn a salary between £60-£80k and £80-£90k at a more senior level.