Required Skills & Experience
Must haves:
- Experience serving as a Salesforce Administrator working with Kindsight Ascend or Affinaquest AdvancementRM, in a higher education or nonprofit environment.
- Experience managing vendor relationships, integrations, audits, and institution-wide system changes.
- Experience managing CRM platforms in partnership with functional business owners.
Nice to Have Skills & Experience
- Salesforce Administrator certification (or equivalent experience) preferred.
- Experience using the following tools and technologies: Agile Accelerator, Power BI
Job Description
This position serves as the institutional Application Administrator and IT System Administrator for University Advancement’s Kindsight Ascend CRM, built on Salesforce. The role partners closely with Advancement Operations, frontline fundraisers, and campus stakeholders to translate fundraising and engagement needs into scalable, secure, and well-governed CRM functionality.
System administrators exercise independent technical authority while following institutional and regulatory standards. This position is accountable for lifecycle management, technical enablement, system availability, security, access management, configuration, data integrity, integrations, and compliance for applications with division-wide and institution-wide impact. Failures or security issues associated with the systems administered by this role may escalate to executive IT leadership (CIO/CISO), making this position accountable for audit findings, continuity of operations, and risk mitigation. This position owns privileged access and security design for enterprise applications assigned to it, including user roles, administrative permissions, and access reviews in alignment with institutional audit and compliance requirements. This position is accountable for protecting sensitive data through appropriate access controls, configuration management, and vendor security coordination. This position ensures that system configurations, upgrades, and integrations adhere to University standards and do not introduce audit risk, data exposure, or compliance failures (e.g., FERPA, HIPAA, SOX, PCI, or other applicable regulations). This position maintains operational continuity and availability of enterprise systems by proactively managing system performance, capacity, and user-impacting behaviors. This role plans upgrades and designs integrations, evaluating vendor releases, patches, and roadmap changes to ensure availability and stability for all users, and serves as the primary escalation point for production incidents and system failures, coordinating response activities with vendors, infrastructure teams, and integration partners. This position ensures coverage is in place to mitigate institutional risk during staff absences or turnover by providing cross-training and system and process documentation. This role also supports continuous improvement efforts across the systems it administers.
Key Responsibilities and Essential Duties
- Application Administration, Configuration, and Support (30%) ○ Serves as a person responsible for the health of the suite, managing configuration, security, and core system setup. ○ Designs and maintains workflows, automation, and data standards to support business processes. ○ Leads ongoing improvements to streamline processes, reduce manual work, and improve data quality and user experience. ○ Analyzes business needs and configures the system to support consistent, efficient processes across departments. ○ Ensures system changes do not negatively impact integrations or downstream systems. ○ Provides end-user support, troubleshooting, and guidance on system functionality. ○ Ensures input devices / hardware components are installed and functioning per specifications ○ Develops reports and dashboards and supports data-driven decision-making. ○ Works with stakeholders to ensure the application supports key metrics and business goals. ○ Serves as backup administrator for other applications, as assigned.
- Change Management and Communication (20%) ○ Evaluates updates, patches, and enhancements for system and integration impact. ○ Assesses risks and ensures changes align with institutional standards. ○ Communicates changes, coordinates testing, and minimizes disruption to users and business processes.
- Documentation, Training, and Knowledge Transfer (20%) ○ Maintains clear documentation for system configuration, procedures, and user guidance. ○ Ensures cross-training and knowledge sharing to support continuity. ○ Develops and delivers training for users and stakeholders.
- Integrations and Vendor Coordination (15%) ○ Manages integrations between service platform(s) and enterprise systems (e.g., SSO, ERP/SIS, data platforms). ○ Works with technical teams to resolve dependencies and issues. ○ Serves as the primary contact for vendors, including support, upgrades, and roadmap planning.
- Security, Audit, and Compliance (15%) ○ Supports audits by maintaining documentation of access, configuration, and controls. ○ Addresses audit findings and ensures timely remediation.
Manages user access in accordance with institutional policies and security best practices.