Salesforce is an impressive company. They pretty much invented the SaaS model, and are the fastest-growing enterprise software company ever. In addition, they consistently get voted as one of the best places to work around the globe. It’s rare that you don’t see Salesforce grabbing the #1 spot, or at least a close second or third.
If you’ve ever been inside a Salesforce office (or Tower!), you will know why. They put a huge emphasis on employee well-being. This doesn’t just include the free snacks and plush offices, but also an emphasis on work-life balance, physical and mental health. Of course, a part of becoming one of the best places to work is also paying well, and boy do Salesforce pay well! This article includes some of the most common jobs inside Salesforce, including respective salaries and bonuses.
Salesforce Salaries 2022
These figures have all been sourced from Glassdoor, and we’ve focused on roles that have the highest number of salary reports, so we can be sure the numbers are pretty accurate. To keep things simple, we’ve used salaries from the USA, but you will find most of these jobs globally, and the salaries and roles will be relative.
Account Executive
Salesforce Account Executives are the Salesforce sales team army, and they are charged with managing Salesforce’s 150,000 customers. Account Execs will manage a varying number of accounts depending on the size of the customer – this could range from 50 smaller accounts to a single account like Coca-Cola.
Account Executives are typically paid on a 50% split of annual basic salary, with 50% made up by commission. These are the guys and gals that close the deals!
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account Executive | $85,000 | $85,000 | $170,000 |
| Senior Account Executive | $133,000 | $134,000 | $267,000 |
| Enterprise Account Executive | $138,000 | $138,000 | $276,000 |
| Strategic Account Executive | $160,000 | $161,000 | $321,000 |
Business Development Representative
Business Development Reps, often abbreviated to BDRs, are the people responsible for generating Leads for Salesforce. This could come in many forms such as phone calls, email, social networking, etc. Once BDRs have a bite, they will qualify the Lead and pass it onto an Account Executive to take them through the full sales cycle and close the deal.
BDRs are typically paid commission on the qualified Leads they pass over to AEs, not on the closing of a deal.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| BDR | $70,000 | $40,000 | $110,000 |
Sales Development Representative
SDRs and BDRs can often have interchanging roles from company to company. However, in Salesforce, they are charged with qualifying inbound Leads. These Leads could come from Salesforce’s website, events, or webinars.
SDRs will qualify the Lead, and then pass it to an Account Executive. Typically you will only find SDRs in the smaller customer segments.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | $67,000 | $56,000 | $123,000 |
Solution Engineer
Solution Engineers are Account Executives’ best friends. An AE is in charge of relationship building and actually closing the deal, and a Solution Engineer is the technical product expert. They are in charge of gathering the customer’s requirements, digesting the pain points, and creating a fancy demo to show the customer the power of Salesforce.
SEs are paid a fair chunk of commission as well, but this is usually based on team performance (not individual).
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solution Engineer | $110,000 | $45,000 | $155,000 |
| Senior Solution Engineer | $128,000 | $53,000 | $181,000 |
| Lead Solution Engineer | $148,000 | $63,000 | $211,000 |
| Principle Solution Engineer | $176,000 | $74,000 | $250,000 |
Product Manager
Salesforce has a huge team of Product Managers who all work on different products and features on the platform. Product Managers are responsible for guiding the success of a product or feature, improving and updating it based on customer feedback.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Manager | $138,000 | $42,000 | $180,000 |
| Senior Product Manager | $159,000 | $51,000 | $190,000 |
| Director of Product Management | $172,000 | $78,000 | $250,000 |
Software Engineer
Salesforce Software Engineers are the people that make it all happen. Working behind the scenes, the engineers are building, maintaining, and upgrading the platform that we all know and love.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | $142,000 | $15,000 | $157,000 |
| Senior Software Engineer | $161,000 | $24,000 | $185,000 |
| Lead Software Engineer | $195,000 | $31,000 | $226,000 |
| Principle Software Engineer | $236,000 | $47,000 | $283,000 |
| Software Architect | $276,000 | $68,000 | $344,000 |
QA Engineer
Working alongside software engineers, Quality Assurance engineers are responsible for testing the Salesforce products.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA Engineer | $136,000 | $12,000 | $148,000 |
| Senior QA Engineer | $153,000 | $23,000 | $176,000 |
Architecture
Architects in Salesforce work across a variety of job functions.
Technical Architects could be working on the pre-sales of a deal, helping some of the more complex deals close. Whilst Program Architects work in the customer success function, helping some of Salesforce’s biggest customers maximize their investment with Salesforce.
Most roles are advisory, where they are tasked with the client’s most complex challenges.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Architect | $148,000 | $58,000 | $173,000 |
| Solution Architect | $173,000 | $24,000 | $197,000 |
| Program Architect | $163,000 | $58,000 | $221,000 |
| Enterprise Architect | $185,000 | $83,000 | $268,000 |
Customer Service
Customer Service helps Salesforce customers after they’ve signed the contract. This could be in customer success roles that help Salesforce users maximize their investment by working closely to align their Salesforce products and features to the client’s goals. Or, technical support to help solve technical issues on the platform.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Success Manager | $110,000 | $47,000 | $157,000 |
| Customer Success Director | $145,000 | $49,000 | $194,000 |
| Tier 2 Support | $46,000 | $26,000 | $72,000 |
Recruitment
To help hire Salesforce’s vast amount of employees (currently over 70,000!), Salesforce has recruiters all around the world to help with networking, interviewing, and sealing the deal.
| Job Title | Annual Basic | Bonus | Average Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruiting Co-ordinator | $63,000 | $19,000 | $82,000 |
| Recruiter | $69,000 | $41,000 | $110,000 |
| Senior Recruiter | $110,000 | $54,000 | $164,000 |
Summary
It’s pretty common for Salesforce to hire from within the very ecosystem they have built. I’ve seen many friends and colleagues from AppExchange partners and Salesforce consultancies move to the ‘mothership’, and I can’t blame them!
With Salesforce earning the spot of one of the best companies to work for on earth (with salaries that will set you up for life), it can feel like an easy decision.
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