In this post, we’ll talk you through the salary expectations for Salesforce Architects, give you an overview of the Technical Architect profession, and what certifications you’ll need to land one of the best and top-paying jobs at Salesforce.
We’ll also share insights from one of our Revols, Amir Khan who went from working as an EMT to a qualified Technical Architect at a modern business engineering company.
With so many Technical Architect jobs on the market that pay so well, this career path is well worth considering, even if you don’t have any experience in Salesforce. Technical Architect jobs are among some of the highest-paying roles within the Salesforce ecosystem. Mason Frank’s latest Careers and Hiring Guide reveals that 41% of all survey respondents considered a Technical Architect certification to be the most likely to increase their earning potential. Despite this, certified Salesforce Architects are still a rare breed. As a result, Salesforce Architects are sought-after and widely perceived as the ‘pinnacle’ among the wide range of jobs at Salesforce.
Salesforce Technical Architect salary
The Technical Architect salary in a senior role in the US ranges between $150,400-$184,100 per year or $118-$201 per hour.
In Canada, this equates to C$143,800-C$158,600 per year or C$143-C$201 day.
In the UK, the earning potential is extremely high. Even in a junior role, a Technical Architect salary can be between £95,100-£126,300, rising to £126,300-£158,100 in a senior position. The daily rate is anywhere between £733 to £1,046.
In Australia, the earning potential in a junior role is as high as A$170,400-A$210,400, rising to A$210,400-A$250,000 in a senior role, and A$1,350-A$1,650 per day on a freelance basis.
What do Salesforce Architects do day-to-day?
Salesforce Technical Architects are team leaders and trusted digital advisors. Keeping an eagle eye on the big picture, they enjoy solving problems in-depth. Their expertise in functional, platform and integration architecture make them strategic advisors at an executive level, and some of the most sought-after roles among Salesforce careers. They’re excellent communicators, able to share and discuss highly technical concepts with a range of stakeholders across the business, not all of whom have Salesforce knowledge. They’re also effective project managers, responsible for setting deadlines and managing expectations with the client and the team.
What Salesforce certification do you need to become a Certified Technical Architect?
There are a number of Salesforce Trailhead trails that a budding Salesforce Technical Architect can take, each reflecting their specialized knowledge, skills, and experience. When you train with Revolent, our talent team will work with you to devise a personal development plan to work out what you wish to specialize in. You’ll also have an assigned career coach to keep you on track. Here are some of the certifications you’ll need to become a Technical Architect.
- Salesforce Admin Certification
- Platform Developer I
- Platform App Builder
- Sharing and Visibility Designer
- Data Architecture and Management Designer
- Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer
- Identity and Access Management Designer
- Integration Architecture Designer
- Applications Architect
- Systems Architect
Q&A with Amir Khan, Technical Architect at a world-leading business engineering company
Amir started his journey with Revolent in October 2020 after enduring 6 months of unemployment, as a result of the pandemic. After completing 4 initial weeks of training and earning his first Salesforce-accredited Salesforce certifications, he’s now working as the Technical Architect at a world-leading company that specializes in engineering modern business, on a project worth $900k. Read about his incredible journey and get an insight into the day-to-day life of a Technical Architect in this Q&A.
What was your path to becoming a Technical Architect?
When I started out, I actually wanted to become a doctor. But I didn’t have medical experience, so I ended up becoming an EMT. I had a very bad call and decided to switch gears. When I was a kid, I built my first computer with my dad, and my own computer in junior high. So, I went back to doing comes naturally to me — working with a computer.
Twelve years ago, I started moving ‘up the ladder’ from a Systems Analyst to a System Engineer, to a Software Engineer. My wife and I moved to Houston, Texas before the pandemic hit. Like many others, I lost my job. At that point, I was a Java Developer, and I had plenty of Salesforce experience. I knew I had to get my certs and find a way to get my foot in the door with Salesforce careers. Because, even with all that experience, you still need certifications to get the best Salesforce jobs. It was good timing when Revolent reached out to me. I was able to complete my certifications while getting a job placement as a Salesforce Developer, and I’ve been non-stop developing myself since then. After that first project, I was pulled into another Project as a Lead Developer, where I then eventually got promoted to an Architect. While working as a Technical Architect, I am getting my certs for being a Certified Technical Architect.
What are your day-to-day duties as a Technical Architect?
For any project, I start by talking to the client and getting their requirements, which requires some business analysis skills. My work involves taking that information and creating a solution, then creating design documents, and with the assistance of the Business Analyst, creating stories from those design documents. We refine the stories all the way down to the task level, and then we assign those stories out per capacity.
There’s also a lot of future scoping involved. It’s like constantly playing a game of chess. Anticipating what problems may crop up down the line and designing solutions for those. Essentially, I’m there to ensure that the company is compliant with the best practices and that any designs I’ve come up with are not going to jeopardize the future. I work with the team leads to make sure that the development is running on time and refine our progress. I update the leadership team on where we’re at and what our deadlines are. Part of my job is offering technical solutions and explaining them to people who may not have a technical background.
Sometimes my job also involves undoing ‘duct tape and bubblegum’ approaches. There’s a way of doing things right and then there’s a way of just making things work. You can make anything work the way it’s not supposed to. Say, if you wanted to put wheels on a toaster, you could do it with some duct tape and bubblegum. But that’s not going to help you in the future when you’re trying to toast some bread, because the toaster may slide around.
What certifications do you need to become a Technical Architect, and are they worth it?
I didn’t think they would but, honestly, certifications really help. At work, some of that knowledge just leaks out in the way that you talk. My director recently said that he’s met Technical Architects before but I stand out because I’m able to combine the knowledge and talk about it from a development aspect, a business aspect and in a technical aspect. And a lot of that is thanks to the knowledge I gained when doing my certifications.
What are your career aspirations? Where do you see yourself in the next 3-5 years?
My long-term goal is to learn as much as I possibly can, so that I am able to provide solutions for a wide variety of sectors and get the best scope of Salesforce jobs. My immediate goal is to become a fully-certified Solutions Architect and Application Architect. I’m working towards getting my Salesforce Architect Certifications, including Sharing and Visibility Designer. I’d then like to jump into a Certified Technical Architect role. That way I can focus on developing myself and gaining more knowledge.
How did you find the experience of cross-training with Revolent?
In terms of getting certified, Revolent has been helping me all the way by providing me with materials to study, a resource center and putting me in contact with other Revols I can talk to. Having the opportunity to do this training with a company that’s actively supporting you is fantastic. For me, working as a team has been the best thing. There’s just so much to gain from being part of a team that’s focused on getting you a job. It’s not something you’d get when doing the training by yourself.
Seeing everyone progress together and become better together has been great. Revolent put us in groups from the onset and really pushed for us to work together. Having an open environment of working together to achieve our end goals really helped in the learning process. And you have to have that collaboration to succeed. You need that cohesion because we’re all social creatures. Being able to work together to achieve a goal is a very different experience, compared to someone sitting in a cube by themselves and reading documents. There’s just so much more enjoyment when you see other people’s faces light up. For example, when I was doing my certifications, I used to host sessions on Salesforce Trivia, which helped us get through the information quickly and in a much more fun way.
Do you have any advice for those starting out in their career that might have limited experience with Salesforce?
Have that thirst for knowledge. Technical Architects tend to be generalists, so you need to have a real desire to be as knowledgeable and interconnected as possible. While it works really well for others, I don’t enjoy specializing. I enjoy finding solutions, discovering how things work underneath the surface, and how things may work in the future. Having that passion to drive innovation is where you want to be.
In terms of Salesforce certifications, you need to have at least Platform Developer I and Salesforce Administrator. Those are essential; those are the core to any job in Salesforce. In fact, for any of the Salesforce careers, you need to have the Salesforce Admin certification, and with anything you’re doing on a technical side, you need to have the Platform Developer I. Anything more advanced is built off those two, and even the Platform Developer I is built off Salesforce Admin. So, the most quintessential part of this is the Admin Certification.
Are you brand new to Salesforce, and looking for Salesforce jobs entry level? Find out more about what is a Salesforce Administrator and what they do in this blog post.
What’s your one piece of advice to a budding Technical Architect?
Say, you’re in a project where someone asks you to build an application that allows you to get water. A Junior Dev would just go ahead and design a well. And it’s the same mistake that I used to make. What you need to do is take a step back and understand the business need behind the project, because your design may completely change. The business need for getting the water may be to put out a fire. So, by the time you’ve done designing the well, the fire has already burned down the village. When what you should have done is take a step back, pick up a bucket and just pour the water over the fire.
