Before you hire a Salesforce admin

The short version: before you post a Salesforce admin job, get a clear picture of what the new person will inherit and what the system actually needs. Many nonprofits find the problem isn't headcount. It's that nobody has set direction for the system. Often, senior help that sets direction and does the work costs about the same as what you're spending now.

How most nonprofits staff Salesforce

In most nonprofits I see, Salesforce is run by whoever is available. Sometimes it's an admin. Sometimes it's someone who inherited it on top of their real job. Sometimes it's a contractor working through a ticket queue.

They work hard. But usually nobody in that setup is deeply technical, and nobody owns the bigger picture. Problems get patched one ticket at a time, the system gets more complicated, and over time the platform stops delivering what it should.

I don't think that's anyone's fault. Nonprofits rarely attract the most technically capable people, and that gap holds back good organizations doing important work.

What the role actually needs to do

A healthy Salesforce setup needs two things, and most hiring plans only cover one.

Direction. Someone has to decide what the system is for. What questions leadership needs answered, which processes belong in Salesforce, what to build and what to leave alone. That's strategy, and it's hard to hire into a junior admin role.

Execution. Someone has to configure, build, clean, train, and support. That's the part most job descriptions describe.

If you hire for execution without direction, you get a busy admin and a system that still doesn't work. The person also has to work comfortably with both your technical and non-technical staff, because a lot of the job is understanding how people actually work.

Review the system before you hire

Before you post the role, it's worth knowing what your new hire is walking into. I'd look at:

1. The biggest issue. What's the one thing about Salesforce or your data that frustrates leadership most? Start there.
2. How people actually use it. Watch a few staff members enter data. What do they skip? What do they keep in spreadsheets instead?
3. What's been built. Fields, automations, and integrations that nobody can explain are a sign the system has drifted.
4. Where the data lives. List every system that holds part of the picture, and how (or whether) each connects to Salesforce.
5. What you're spending. Add up licenses, contractor hours, and staff time spent working around the system.

That review turns into a plan: what to fix, in what order, and what it takes. A new admin with that plan in hand starts fast. One without it spends months figuring out what's going on.

Compare the cost of senior help

Once you know what you're spending, compare it honestly. For what many nonprofits pay a contractor or a part-time admin, you can often get someone senior who sets the direction and does the work.

That doesn't have to mean replacing your admin. If you have one, a senior partner can work alongside them, give them a plan, and help them grow. That's often the best outcome: your admin gets better, and the system finally gets the direction it's been missing.

If you only do one thing

Before you write the job description, write down the three questions leadership most wants Salesforce to answer, and check whether it can answer them today. If it can't, the gap is direction, not headcount.