Salesforce Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Job Description: Salesforce Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Job Type: Contract Position / Hybrid

Location: Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Position Overview:

·        The Salesforce SME serves as the lead responsible for the overall management, performance, and quality control of all services delivered.

·        Provides expert architectural guidance, platform strategy, and solution design across the multi-org Salesforce environment.

·        Ensures that all applications reside within a secure, scalable framework capable of integrating with applications touching thousands of internal and external users.

·        Conducts core development, configuration, and modernization activities to update Salesforce enterprise solutions, internal tooling orgs, and public-facing program sites.

·        Manages the complex environment lifecycle and deployment operations for over 50 applications across 10 distinct Salesforce organizations.

·        Ensures rapid, error-free deployment pipelines for major releases, minor enhancements, and urgent hotfixes.

·        Handles day-to-day configuration management, environment maintenance, data security enforcement, and foundational governance across the enterprise tenant.

·        Tracks performance metrics against contractual Acceptable Quality Levels (AQLs) while validating absolute adherence to Federal accessibility mandates.

Key Responsibilities

• Implement adequate quality controls, performance measures, and metrics to ensure all requirements and standards are met or exceeded.
• Responsible for Salesforce enterprise configurations, ensuring strict adherence to best practices, security protocols, and long-term scalability.

·        Architect and drive the maturation of the Salesforce platform, guiding 14 application teams across multiple organizational elements of the Customer.

·        Actively engage with Customer leads, development teams, and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) teams to review Technical Design Documents (TDD) and provide technical direction prior to deployment. 

·        Design efficient, scalable data models and integration patterns to connect Salesforce with other enterprise systems.

·        Lead the architectural training and onboarding for newly assigned development team.

• Update and modernize core enterprise tools, including the Release Management Portal, LaunchPad, and the User Separation Tool.
• Drive the development of Phase 2 for Salesforce License Tracking and Counting to track exact license consumption metrics.
• Design, test, and deploy Content Vulnerability code to secure document handling for applications featuring public-facing sites.
• Review existing Tooling org code within the repository, ensuring source code is up to date and converted into appropriate packaging formats.
• Execute code-level hotfixes and rapid org-wide changes under compressed timelines to support the broader Customer ecosystem.
• Develop self-service reporting capabilities to allow leadership to track license usage, helpdesk tickets, and release trends.
• Coordinate and execute an average of 90–120 environment releases and 25–30 production changes per month.
• Manage and enhance the internal Release Management Portal and maintain the master enterprise release calendar.
• Administer the OIT Change Request (CR) process, utilizing ServiceNow (SNow) to create CRs within 1 business day of request and present packages to the Change Control Board (CCB).
• Facilitate weekly CR calls to synchronize schedules and coordinate technical design reviews across teams.
• Provide dedicated DevSecOps pipeline support, including creating Git repositories within 1 business day of request and resolving critical pipeline issues within 4 hours.
• Provide 24/7/365 on-call release management and configuration support specifically for the mission-critical, high-volume Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Portal.

·        Monitor, acknowledge, and resolve a high volume of monthly helpdesk tickets (averaging 400 ServiceNow Tier 2 tickets and 580 LaunchPad Tier 2/3 tickets).

·        Deliver comprehensive Root Cause Analysis (RCA) documentation for critical system incidents

·        Maintain and groom the master Jira Board, ensuring work items are clearly defined, categorized, and prioritized.

·        Develop, implement, and maintain the comprehensive contract Quality Management Plan (QMP).

·        Validate that all delivered Information and Communications Technology (ICT) conform precisely to regulatory Section 508 Standards during each release iteration.

·        Author detailed Section 508 Conformance Test Plans, conduct accessibility test runs, and generate formal Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) utilizing the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT).

• Monitor delivered configuration changes to ensure they do not reduce the original Section 508 accessibility levels of existing components.

• Manage all Center of Innovation (CoI) development, decommissioning, testing, and delivery tasks within a structured sprint cycle.

• Prepare, facilitate, and deliver minutes for the contract Kick-Off meeting, and coordinate the submission of Transition-In and Transition-Out plans.

• Formulate and deliver Weekly Status Reports (tactical views) and Monthly Status Reports including Quality Control Metrics (QCM) and Root Cause Analyses (RCA) for any missed targets.

·        Manage the lifecycle of 1,000 available sandboxes (300 active), completing creation, refresh, and decommissioning requests. 

·        Manage and monitor over 150 Application Program Interface (API) connections using Connected Apps and the Salesforce Admin Console.

Required & Preferred Qualifications

Certifications:

• Certified Salesforce Administrator credential required.

o   Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or equivalent Agile credential required.

o   Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) certification is highly preferred.

o   PMP and/or PgMP certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is highly preferred.

• Experience:

o   Deep understanding of the Salesforce security model (data access controls, permissions) and Salesforce Shield encryption technology.

o   Proven experience involving cross-functional teams in full-lifecycle Agile program management; migrating legacy applications to modern platforms; delivering enterprise solutions to production; and performing complex solutions/migrations within Salesforce cloud environments.

o   Strong proficiency in integration patterns, middleware, release management, source control, and cloud deployment technologies.

o   Proficient in Salesforce programmatic development (Apex, Lightning Web Components, Visualforce) and declarative customization.

o   Hands-on experience working with Microsoft VS Code (with Salesforce Extensions), Salesforce CLI, Gitlab code repositories, and automated SecDevOps pipeline toolsets.

o   Strong understanding of code packaging, branching strategies, and deploying updates across Integration, Stage, and Production environments.

o   Proficiency using enterprise ticketing platforms, specifically ServiceNow and LaunchPad.

o   Strong knowledge of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria, and standard software quality auditing models.