What are the responsibilities and job description for the CRM Architect position at Columbus McKinnon and Careers?
Job Summary/Overview
The CRM Architect/Manager provides strategic leadership in customer relationship management, initially focusing on architecting and optimizing Salesforce systems and processes. As the role evolves, responsibilities will expand to include team leadership, governance, and broader CRM program management. This blended position is ideal for candidates seeking to grow from a hands-on technical architect into a strategic manager, driving CRM strategy, adoption, and continuous improvement across the organization.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Architectural Responsibilities
- Lead CRM system design, architecture, and roadmap development in collaboration with IS, marketing, sales, and customer service teams.
- Implement and maintain Salesforce configuration changes, including Flows, assignment rules, approval processes, fields, page layouts, record types, apps, actions, and dashboards.
- Design and develop custom applications using Apex, Lightning Web Components, and Visualforce.
- Manage integrations with third-party applications and external systems (e.g., ETL/iPaaS tools, AppExchange apps).
- Conduct proactive system maintenance including release updates, health checks, and sandbox management.
- Oversee data quality initiatives, including imports, deduplication, and automation of data processes.
- Serve as the company’s primary point of contact for our CRM vendor (Salesforce).
- Support marketing automation efforts (e.g., Pardot) and leverage CRM data for targeted campaigns.
Managerial Responsibilities
- Facilitate Steering Committee/CRM Governance meetings with key stakeholders to help drive activities best aligned with company priorities.
- Manage user roles, profiles, permissions, and license provisioning.
- Promote user adoption through training, documentation, and communication of platform changes.
- Monitor CRM usage and identify opportunities to leverage underutilized features.
- Respond to user tickets, troubleshoot bugs, and deliver system enhancements to improve usability and performance.
- Lead change management initiatives and ensure effective communication across teams.
- Stay current with Salesforce releases and industry best practices.
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Actively engage in the Salesforce community and represent the company at relevant events.
Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Abilities
- Strategic mindset with experience aligning CRM capabilities to business goals.
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Proficiency in Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Components, and Salesforce APIs.
- Solid understanding of Salesforce architecture, data model, and security.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience with change management, governance, and documentation.
- Familiarity with marketing automation platforms and CRM analytics tools.
- Flexibility to collaborate across time zones.
- Active engagement in the Salesforce community
- Demonstrated ability to transition from technical solution design to team leadership and program management.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional qualification.
- 5 years of CRM management experience, 3 years with Salesforce specific experience.
- Salesforce Administrator certification required; Advanced Administrator or Sales Cloud preferred.
- Experience with Pardot, Einstein AI, and Translation Workbench is a plus.
- DevOps/Release management experience preferred
- Experience in both hands-on CRM architecture and team/project leadership is preferred.