Salesforce Developer Job Descriptions, Average Salary, Interview Questions

What Does a Salesforce Developer Do?

Salesforce Developers design and build customized applications within the Salesforce platform. They collaborate with stakeholders and technical team members to analyze business needs, then design technical solutions, and develop and test code to ensure applications meet desired performance and functionality requirements.

These developers can create and maintain functional apps and software for internal staff and external customers and will integrate third-party suites, and native software already used by the company. 

Successful Salesforce developers possess strong technical skills, including proficiency in Apex and JavaScript, and maintain deep knowledge and understanding of the Salesforce platform and its capabilities. Having the soft skills to lead, participate, or meaningfully contribute to meetings is beneficial in this role, along with an analytical mindset and logical problem-solving abilities.

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National Average Salary

Salesforce developer 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 Developer is:

$105,300

Salesforce Developer Job Descriptions

When it comes to recruiting a Salesforce developer, 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

We’re looking for a talented Salesforce developer to design world-class apps for our growing CRM needs! You’ll be responsible for developing tailored solutions within the Salesforce platform. You’ll also analyze our project objectives, create workflows, and overcome technical errors. 

We’re searching for someone who can solve complex technical problems, and ultimately provide solutions to meet the needs of the company. If you’ve got a rock-solid understanding of the Salesforce CRM platform, demonstrable coding knowledge, and application development experience, we’d love to hear from you!

Typical duties and responsibilities

  • Meeting with project managers to determine CRM objectives
  • Create custom solutions within the Salesforce platform
  • Create timelines and developmental goalposts for projects
  • Testing, troubleshooting, and maintaining the functionality of applications
  • Creating documentation and acting as a knowledge resource for Salesforce staff
  • Test and maintain integrity and security of application software
  • Work in Agile development framework
  • Collaborate periodically with Salesforce team to understand the scope of technical limitations and solutions
  • Design clean, functional code
  • Develop software that supports high transaction volumes

Education and experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science or software engineering
  • 3 years previous work in application or software development

Required skills and qualifications

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Strong project management skills
  • Experience with customer-facing interfaces
  • Advanced knowledge of Salesforce CRM
  • Proficient in MYSQL, Apex, JavaScript, Native, and VisualForce
  • Experience with MavensMate or Eclipse
  • Ability to solve highly complex, technical issues regarding software and applications

Preferred qualifications

  • 5 years experience in application or software development
  • Excellent presentation skills
  • Excellent time management skills
  • Strong working knowledge of APIs and REST
  • Strong working knowledge of ETL tools and relational databases
  • Integration experience with AWS

Example 2

About the role:

The Software Application Engineer at ABC Company is part of the GTM (Go-To-Market) Platform Management team that is responsible for the Salesforce implementation at ABC Company. Our team enables continuous improvements to the application and supports our Marketing, Sales, Services, Support, Finance, and Legal business partners. Responsibilities include responding to service requests, incidents and technical optimizations and driving automation to increase efficiency in business processes. The right candidate has deep technical experience in all the capabilities and functionalities of the Salesforce.com platform and a proven track record of driving best practices and processes.

Responsibilities:

  • Perform the build activities to deliver a solution from the design stage to a functional application
  • Created modern Enterprise Lightning Apps combining Lightning Design System, Lightning App Builder, and Lightning Component features
  • Upgraded some Apps from Salesforce Classic to Lightning Experience to develop rich user interface and better interaction of pages
  • Retrieved some data and its functionality from Third-Party API’s and displayed within the lightning component
  • Created multiple Lightning Components, added CSS and Design Parameters that makes the Lightning component look and feel better
  • Leveraged APEX Controller to make a call for external requests to retrieve data from various API’s and displayed them on to the component
  • Enabled Aura Framework, by adding Aura Attributes and Aura Handlers for Events to focus on Logic and Interactions in Lightning Applications
  • Minimized code in JavaScript Controllers by adding reusable functions in Helper Component
  • Updated the APEX Controller and Helper functions regularly making the Component Context Aware as per business requirement
  • Created modern Enterprise Lightning Apps combining Lightning Design System, Lightning App Builder and Lightning Component features
  • Tested apps by appending multiple components to a Lightning Application thereby deployed Applications from Sandbox to Production
  • Used refined global search in Lightning by developing Apex classes and Controllers
  • Experienced using Force.com IDE for creating, modifying, testing, and deploying Force.com Applications
  • Used SOQL and SOSL statements within Governor Limits for data manipulation needs of the application using platform database objects
  • Maintenance of installed Managed Packages in Lightning using Apex. Experienced in using Data Migration tool called Data Loader
  • Visualforce Pages for Lightning Experience, Alternates for Java Script Codes, Sharing Visualforce pages between Classic and Lightning
  • Worked on Lightning Process builder flows, Connect API, Chatter, and quick Action
  • Built Lightning Component Tab for Salesforce 1 Navigation and Custom Applications in Lightning Experience
  • Execute unit tests and write Apex test classes for code coverage
  • Use development tools such as Eclipse IDE (for source code editor, debugging, and deployment) and GIT (for source code and version control)
  • Deploy metadata (configuration and code) to different environments via tools such as Ant and Flosum
  • Use tools such as Data Loader for data export, backup, and migration between environments

Skills/requirements:

  • Bachelor’s with 7+ years of experience OR MS with 5+ years in Computer Science or Information Technology
  • Strong technical knowledge of enterprise software application development and enterprise application integrations (Salesforce, Apttus)

Non-Technical Skills:

  • Self-motivated, flexible, team player with solid multitasking, time management, and organization expertise with the ability to manage multiple and often changing priorities
  • Attention to detail with the ability to analyze and solve complex problems as well as provide documentation, guidance, and instruction to users. Demonstrated ability to learn and embrace new technologies, applications, and solutions

Professional Certifications:

  • Salesforce Certified Platform Developer (A plus)
  • Salesforce Certified App Builder/Salesforce Certified Administrator (A plus)
  • Enterprise Integrations (SnapLogic) (A plus)
  • Salesforce Certification Required
  • Good Experience in building Lightning Web Components

Example 3

Job description:

The Salesforce Developer is a key role in our growing Salesforce practice. They have an excellent technical understanding of both Salesforce languages and frameworks and key technical aspects of Salesforce integrations. They can take business requirements and can, working with a team or alone, deliver full solutions to the business problems those requirements address. They will have great experience migrating data between systems and integrating systems. The developer will lead technical requirements sessions, architect and document high-quality technical solutions, and build and test those solutions, and oversee the release of those solutions into production.

Responsibilities:

  • Translate business requirements into well-architected solutions that best leverage the platform
  • Lead technical design sessions and architecting/documenting technical solutions that are aligned with the client’s business objectives
  • Manage the technical delivery of custom development, integrations, and data migration elements of a salesforce.com implementation
  • Develop custom solution and interfaces
  • Manage technical scope and client expectations
  • Provide hands-on expert level assistance to developers for technical issues
  • Design and manage the execution of test plans and ensuring a quality solution is delivered
  • Demonstrate technical thought leadership
  • Conduct code reviews for on-going projects to ensure that code quality is at the highest level possible and design patterns are being used which are appropriate for the project
  • Coach and mentor junior developers team members

Required skills:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, MIS, or equivalent combination of education and experience
  • Proven ability to design and optimize business processes and to integrate business processes across disparate systems
  • Minimum 2 Years of Salesforce/Customer 360 platform experience
  • Minimum 4 Years of relevant technical development experience.
  • Extensive Apex VF Controllers, Apex Triggers development experience
  • Must have a strong background in design/development of large internet or client-server systems or complete software product lifecycle exposure
  • Good knowledge of object-oriented programming, database designing, and the SDLC
  • Extensive previous experience in implementing technologies like: VB, COM, COM+, MSMQ, VB.NT, C#, ASP, ASP.NET, XML, XSL, Web services and SOAP, SQL Server, Oracle
  • Knowledge of Integrations, 3rd party integration tools, ETL with Salesforce
  • Client-ready written and oral communications skills

Preferred skills:

  • Salesforce.com Platform Developer, Sales Cloud Consultant, and/or Service Cloud Consultant Certifications Preferred
  • JQuery development experience is a plus
  • Web Services development experience is a plus

Example 4

Salesforce developer needed for a target state commercial credit underwriting, fulfillment and monitoring system. Mulesoft/Informatica/Oracle skills are also very applicable to the role. The solution runs on Force.com with 30+ integration points. The ideal candidate an expert in all things Salesforce, ESB, APIs, and batch loads connecting from a secure network to Force.com. This role is a highly visible position on a large project. Requires 5-10 years of experience.

Responsibilities:

  • Provide leadership and innovative solutions for cloud integrations
  • Exhibits a sense of urgency focused on customer delight
  • SAFe Agile environment achieving technical excellence through technical and execution discipline
  • Invoke or quickly acquire domain acumen: Analyze the current business functions, technical implementations and plan for needs, gaps, and improvements
  • Calmly work in a highly regulated and high pressure environment to inspire teamwork, positive attitudes, and well respected solutions
  • Meet tight timeline commitments

Required skills:

  • Autonomous/Self Starter
  • Must have SFDC skills including config/Apex, process builder, Unit tests, and other key SFDC components
  • Must have strong SFDC integration skills including knowledge of Salesforce API limits (streaming, soap, rest, bulk, and chatter)
  • Must have excellent data relationship/data interfaces/SQL query skills
  • Should have excellent Web Services (REST/SOAP) skills
  • Should have experience with data integration tools – Mulesoft, Informatica PowerCenter, Tibco, Cast Iron, WebMethods
  • Ability to determine best fit solutions – real time, batch, event messaging
  • Work efforts must be thorough and focused with strong attention to detail
  • Able to understand strategic objectives as well as deliver tactical solutions
  • Ability to document designs in a Wiki as well as draw clean flow and sequence diagrams
  • Ability to coordinate with multiple application partners, business, other IT managers, architecture, internal stakeholders, and developers in providing solution suggestions and constructive feedback
  • Ability to confer with peers, architects, BAs and product owners to backwards engineer legacy integrations and develop technical requirements without a BRD
  • Effectively lead triage efforts to closure and contribute in development, documentation, and completing the production support feedback loop to the Agile Release Train
  • Experience with clouds, multithreading, distributed environments, fault tolerance, scalable software
  • Proven experience on large projects with 10+ integrations (this project has 30+)
  • Excellent analytical skills and critical thinking

Desired skills:

  • Force.com integration patterns and APIs, certifications, or proven trailhead completion
  • Design by contract
  • Passionate leaner
  • Salesforce Expert
  • Mulesoft and Informatica PowerCenter
  • Agile Kanban, test driven development, analytical yet quick decision maker
  • Experience in implementing and supporting large scale complex solutions and integrations of Salesforce with other platforms and technologies
  • Experience in a CI environment with automated builds and tests

Candidate Certifications to Look For

  • Platform Developer I. This entry-level certification by Trailhead Academy is designed to teach candidates baseline credentials that any Salesforce developer will need to succeed. It will showcase their understanding of basic database modeling, and best practices for Apex fundamentals and programmatic customization.
  • Platform Developer II. This certification will build upon the fundamentals learned in the first certification and deepen a candidate’s understanding of creating custom applications on the Lightning Platform. This will prove their understanding of typical platform behavior, limitations, and performance under a wide variety of business requirements.
  • Javascript Developer I. This platform-free exam will test a candidate’s knowledge outside of the Salesforce sphere. This will demonstrate their understanding of developing front or backend Javascript applications for web stack. This certification will help round candidates out as developers and demonstrate their standalone strength in any environment.
  • Industries CPQ Developer. The Salesforce Industries credential is designed for candidates who have experience configuring applications for the Communications, Media, and Energy & Utility Clouds. This will reinforce and demonstrate a developer’s understanding of building, organizing, and quoting processes.

Sample Interview Questions

  • Can you describe the difference between a role and a profile?
  • What are the three types of object relationships in Salesforce?
  • What is SOQL for?
  • What is Programmatic and Declarative development?
  • Describe the process from Sandbox to Production.
  • How would a Release work?
  • Can you describe Apex?
  • What kind of options exist for Apex Triggers?
  • How would you decide when to use Apex over Workflow rules or Process Builder?
  • Can you describe a few examples of Governor Limits?
  • What are some Apex best practices?
  • What is Visualforce?
  • What’s a Lightning Component?
  • What’s LMS?
  • Can you describe Salesforce Flow?
  • How are sharking rules used in Salesforce?
  • What’s a roll-up summary field, and where can you use it?
  • What’s OAuth?
  • What’s a Connected App?
  • Can you give an example of a Salesforce API and its usage?
  • What was your most frustrating project? How did you overcome it, and what was learned?
  • Would you consider yourself a good communicator?
  • Would you consider yourself a good teammate?
  • Can you provide an example of good time management pertaining to this role?

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