Associate Director, Global CRM (Salesforce)

International Rescue Committee•New York, NY

4d•Remote

About The Position

The International Rescue Committee’s Salesforce platform supports a multi-million-dollar fundraising operation, serves around 500 staff, and operates as a single global, GDPR-compliant org built on a heavily customised Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). IRC is evaluating a potential move to Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and exploring responsible uses of AI, including Agentforce and integrations with external models such as Claude. The Associate Director will lead this next phase, owning the platform’s strategy, roadmap and architecture and shaping how Salesforce evolves across the organisation. Reporting to the Senior Director, Marketing Technology, the Associate Director leads and develops the CRM team and holds contractors and delivery partners to standards for quality, security and supportability. The role combines Salesforce architecture and technical leadership with an understanding of how a global nonprofit raises and manages income. It is a hands-on leadership position: most time is expected to be spent on strategy, architecture and team leadership, while also designing solutions, reviewing work and building when needed. During the first year, the postholder will develop an in-depth understanding of the existing NPSP org, its customisations, integrations, technical debt and users; agree a platform roadmap and delivery governance with stakeholders across External Relations, Finance and programme teams; identify worthwhile and responsible applications of AI; and shape the team structure, working practices and partner model for the platform’s next phase. The role is fully remote and open to candidates with the right to work in the United States, United Kingdom or Kenya, where IRC operates. Successful candidates will be hired on a local employment contract and paid according to the relevant local salary scale. Travel is expected 3–5 times per year for in-person team time and learning and development.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, business systems or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
Significant experience leading an enterprise Salesforce platform in a complex, multi-country organisation, including architectural judgement to design and govern a large, heavily customised org.
Experience as a product or platform owner, including developing roadmaps, governing demand and prioritising investment.
Deep knowledge of Salesforce architecture, including data models, automation, security, integrations and application lifecycle management.
Hands-on fluency in declarative and programmatic Salesforce development sufficient to guide and review developers’ work.
Proven experience managing and developing technical professionals and overseeing contractors, consultants or delivery partners.
Understanding of how nonprofits or comparable organisations raise and manage income, including individual and recurring giving, gift processing and donor data, and how CRM supports these activities.
Experience overseeing platform operations, including incident, change and release management.
Experience with APIs, ETL processes, integration platforms and cross-system data flows.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, including explaining technical options and risks to senior and non-technical audiences.
Experience with Agile delivery and tools such as Git-based source control and Jira.
Strong analytical thinking, judgement, problem-solving ability and customer service orientation.
Ability to work in the United States, United Kingdom or Kenya, in a location where IRC operates, under a local employment contract.
Adherence to IRC Way standards of Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability, and related professional conduct and safeguarding policies.

Nice To Haves

Salesforce Architect-track certifications such as Application Architect or System Architect, Nonprofit Cloud Consultant, Advanced Administrator, Platform App Builder, or Platform Developer I/II.
Hands-on experience with Nonprofit Success Pack and Nonprofit Cloud, ideally including an NPSP-to-Nonprofit Cloud evaluation or migration.
Experience delivering technology for fundraising, marketing, advocacy or supporter engagement teams.
Familiarity with Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot), Data Cloud, Agentforce or comparable marketing, data and AI platforms.
Experience with enterprise architecture, DevOps, business intelligence, data warehousing or integration technologies.
Experience working with an international nonprofit, humanitarian or mission-led organisation.
Experience running a CRM across multiple countries and currencies, including under GDPR and other data protection regimes.
Experience contributing to supplier management, procurement, licensing, budgeting and technology business cases.
Hands-on development experience with Apex, SOQL and Lightning Web Components.

Responsibilities

Act as global product and platform owner for IRC’s Salesforce ecosystem, setting its direction and making the case for investment.
Develop and maintain a prioritised CRM roadmap aligned with fundraising, supporter engagement, finance and programme objectives, and run a fair, transparent process for managing demand.
Lead IRC’s evaluation of Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, including the business case, options appraisal and, if approved, the migration strategy and plan.
Evaluate and guide responsible adoption of AI in the CRM ecosystem, including Agentforce and integrations with external AI models, in line with data protection, security, ethical AI and governance requirements.
Assess AppExchange and other third-party products and recommend which to adopt, retain or retire.
Own the Salesforce platform’s solution architecture, including its data model, automation, security, integrations and managed packages.
Set design and development standards for declarative and programmatic work, including Flow, Apex, Lightning Web Components and APIs, and review work by the team and partners.
Reduce technical debt in the customised org and ensure new work is simpler to support and prepared for future platform changes.
Oversee integrations with donation platforms, finance systems, the data warehouse and reporting tools, ensuring reliable and well-documented data flows.
Prototype, configure and build solutions when doing so will unblock the team or prove an approach efficiently.
Lead, coach and develop Salesforce administrators, developers and a business analyst, including recruitment, performance management, career development and workload planning.
Build a team culture focused on sound engineering practices, clear documentation and service to platform users.
Manage contractors, implementation partners and suppliers; hold them accountable for quality, cost and delivery; and contribute to procurement, licensing and budgeting.
Own platform governance, including access management, security, audit controls, data quality, business continuity and compliance with GDPR and other data protection requirements across countries.
Oversee incident, problem, change and release management, including readiness for Salesforce’s three annual releases and managed-package updates.
Oversee user support, testing and defect resolution delivered by the team and partners.
Ensure reports and dashboards provide leaders with accurate, trusted information.
Build relationships with fundraising, finance, data and programme leaders and understand how IRC raises, processes and stewards income in different countries.
Explain technical options, risks and trade-offs clearly to senior and non-technical stakeholders.
Collaborate with internal stakeholders across External Relations, Resettlement, Asylum and Integration, Information Technology, Communications, Finance, Data and Analytics, and other teams that rely on the CRM platform; work with external suppliers, partners, consultants, contractors and service providers.