Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Salesforce Platform Developer

🎯 Role Definition

As a Salesforce Platform Developer, you will be responsible for designing, building, customizing, testing and deploying high‑quality applications on the Salesforce Platform that deliver business value and scale with demand. You will partner closely with business analysts, administrators, architects and other developers to translate functional requirements into robust technical solutions—leveraging declarative tools, Apex, Lightning Web Components (LWC), integrations, data models and DevOps practices. Your role will ensure that our Salesforce ecosystem remains secure, efficient and aligned with business priorities.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Salesforce Administrator or Junior Salesforce Developer
CRM Developer or Business Systems Analyst
Web / JavaScript Developer with Salesforce interest

Advancement To:

Senior Salesforce Platform Developer
Salesforce Solutions Architect / Technical Lead
Director of CRM Platforms or Cloud Business Applications

Lateral Moves:

Salesforce Integration Developer
DevOps Engineer specialized in Salesforce CI/CD
Salesforce Consultant or Customer Success Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Analyze business processes and requirements, work with stakeholders to gather user stories and transform them into scalable Salesforce solutions.
Develop, customize and maintain Salesforce applications using Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Web Components (LWC) and other platform tools to meet business objectives.
Implement and manage data models, custom objects/fields, workflows, Flows, validation rules, process builder, page layouts and security configurations.
Design, build and maintain integrations between Salesforce and external systems using REST/SOAP APIs, middleware, and platform events to ensure seamless data exchange.
Conduct code reviews, write unit tests, maintain minimum code coverage, debug, troubleshoot and optimize deployed solutions for performance and reliability.
Participate in release planning, deployments, version control using Salesforce DX, Git, change sets and CI/CD pipelines to ensure efficient change management.
Maintain the security and integrity of the Salesforce platform including profiles, permission sets, role hierarchy, sharing rules, data access, and overall governance.
Conduct data migrations, data imports/exports, data cleansing, deduplication and manage large data volumes or batch processes to support business continuity.
Provide technical documentation, design specifications, solution architecture diagrams, user guides and training to administrators and end‑users.
Stay updated with Salesforce releases, evaluate new features/technical debt, advise on best practices and incorporate platform innovations to drive continuous improvement.
Collaborate with Salesforce administrators, UI/UX designers, business users and other developers to ensure delivered solutions meet usability, business process and compliance requirements.
Optimize user interface experiences on Salesforce Lightning, LWC or Visualforce pages, ensuring responsiveness, accessibility and mobile compatibility.
Monitor system health, performance metrics, error logs, governor limits and undertake proactive remediation and tuning to deliver high‑performing solutions.
Mentor junior developers, assist in onboarding, share coding standards, initiate peer reviews and help maintain a high quality of team deliverables.
Assist in solution strategy and roadmap for Salesforce platform adoption, recommend architecture, reusable components, AppExchange apps and technical governance.
Manage sandbox, configuration, environment setup, and ensure proper Dev/UAT/Prod environments, refreshes and deployments processes are followed.
Support user acceptance testing (UAT), demo solutions to stakeholders, gather feedback and ensure that delivered functionality meets user expectations and business goals.
Ensure data security, compliance and auditing within Salesforce environment, including adherence to internal and external regulatory requirements.
Troubleshoot production incidents, perform root‑cause analysis, implement fixes, coordinate hotfix releases and support post‑deployment stabilization.
Contribute to knowledge base, best practices library and develop reusable frameworks or components that accelerate future Salesforce development across the organisation.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc feature requests, quick prototypes or proof‑of‑concepts to demonstrate Salesforce capabilities and gather stakeholder buy‑in.
Contribute to the organisation’s Salesforce strategy and roadmap by providing input on architecture, reuse opportunities and optimisation of development practices.
Collaborate with business units to translate user process needs into technical Salesforce deliverables, design backlog items and support sprint planning sessions.
Participate in agile ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand‑ups, backlog grooming and retrospectives to align development efforts with business priorities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient in Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Web Components (LWC), Aura Components and Salesforce declarative tools.
Experience with SOQL, SOSL, Apex triggers, batch Apex, asynchronous processing and Salesforce governor limits domains.
Strong web development skills: JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, Lightning Design System (LDS) and front‑end customization.
Experience integrating Salesforce with external systems using REST/SOAP APIs, middleware (MuleSoft, etc), platform events, webhooks and data transformations.
Familiarity with Salesforce DX, version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, change sets, sandbox management and release governance.
Knowledge of Salesforce security model: profiles, permission sets, sharing rules, OWD, role hierarchy and data access controls.
Experience in data migration, data loader, bulk API, ETL processes and handling large data volumes in Salesforce.
Strong analytical and debugging skills with ability to tune system performance, manage governor limits and optimize processes.
Certifications such as Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I and II plus familiarity with Sales/Service/ Community Cloud as preferred.
Excellent documentation skills, solution architecture experience and ability to communicate complex technical concepts to stakeholders.

Soft Skills

Strong communication and collaboration skills—able to work effectively with business stakeholders, SMEs, administrators and peer developers.
Problem‑solving mindset and detail‑oriented approach to meet quality, scalability and maintainability goals.
Ability to manage multiple tasks, priorities and deadlines in a fast‑paced agile development environment.
Coaching and mentoring skills to uplift junior team members and promote best practices.
Adaptable and continuous learner—keen to stay current with Salesforce platform enhancements, ecosystem changes and emerging technologies.
Business‑oriented mindset—able to align technical solutions with organisational goals, user experience and ROI.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering or related field.
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree or relevant Salesforce certifications (Platform Developer I/II, Platform App Builder, etc) and continuing professional development.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Software Engineering
Information Systems
Cloud/CRM Development

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
3‑5 years of hands‑on Salesforce platform development including Apex, LWC, integrations and declarative customization.
Preferred:
5+ years of Salesforce development experience, involvement in end‑to‑end implementation, mentoring others, leading releases and driving architecture or technical strategy.