What Is a Salesforce Administrator? And How to Become One

Key takeaways

• A Salesforce administrator is someone who has successfully completed a certifying exam, qualifying them for advisory roles involving the Salesforce platform.

• Salesforce administrator jobs entail creating dashboards, maintaining the platform, automating processes, training users, and building reports.

• Earning a Salesforce administrator certification requires passing an exam that tests your skills in areas such as configuration and setup, sales and marketing applications, and data management.

The median total Salesforce administrator salary is $100,000 [1]. Learn more about being a Salesforce administrator and how you can work toward a career in this role. If you’re ready to get your start, consider earning a Salesforce Sales Development Representative Professional Certificate, where you can gain valuable experience with the Salesforce platform and develop skills such as sales prospecting, business writing, business correspondence, and more.

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is a company that designs cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software to help businesses generate more leads, close more deals, drive sales, track and analyze data, and offer superior customer service. Salesforce offers a suite of products called Customer 360 that connects sales, service, marketing, information technology (IT), and commerce under one system so that everyone within an organization can access customer information and use it to perform duties.

Did you know?

Salesforce reported $10 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting 8 percent year-over-year growth [2]. Statista predicts that CRM software will reach $103.51 billion in revenue in 2026 [3].

What is a Salesforce administrator?

A Salesforce administrator is someone who has passed a certifying exam and is qualified to function as an advisor for getting the most out of the Salesforce CRM platform. Salesforce administrators typically work with company stakeholders to customize the platform, support users within the company, and forge a connection between business and technology.

As a Salesforce administrator, you can be an asset to the organizations you work for, providing advice on how the platform works and enabling teams to access customer data and complete business processes with ease.

What does a Salesforce administrator do?

A Salesforce administrator’s role is multifaceted. Below, find a list of tasks you may be responsible for as a Salesforce admin:

• Creating dashboards for individual users to help them visualize key data

• Staying current on new Salesforce tools, capabilities, and updates so that companies can remain competitive in their niche markets

• Maintaining the platform by updating user profiles, changing sharing privileges, and improving reporting settings

• Fixing bugs

• Training users

• Building reports

• Automating processes

• Setting up workflows

• Integrating third-party apps

Salesforce administrator salary and jobs

The Salesforce platform has a wide range of uses, and Salesforce administrators can work in a variety of industries, including health care, legal services, construction, insurance, human resources, nonprofit organizations, and government.

Glassdoor reports that the Salesforce administrator median total pay in the US is $100,000, ranging from $80,000 to $125,000 [1]. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation. As of July 2026, Glassdoor lists more than 200 Salesforce admin job openings in the US [4].

Roles related to Salesforce administrator include:

• Salesforce architect: Partners with businesses to translate their needs into a technical solution and design data models for integrating Salesforce

• Salesforce developer: Writes software on the Salesforce platform and is responsible for building and modifying applications

How to become a Salesforce administrator

If you’re ready to explore Salesforce administrator career opportunities, follow the steps below to unlock more possibilities along your career path.

1. Gain experience using Salesforce.

Gaining experience with this platform can enhance your skills and demonstrate your job readiness to employers. Gain Salesforce experience by:

• Taking Salesforce programs, such as the Salesforce Sales Operations Professional Certificate

• Getting a Salesforce internship or entry-level job

• Joining an online Salesforce community, such as Trailhead, Salesforce’s learning platform, and connecting with other Salesforce professionals

2. Obtain Salesforce administrator certification.

To qualify for most Salesforce administrator positions, you will need to pass the Salesforce certification exam. This exam tests your skills in [5]:

• Configuration and setup (15 percent)

• Using the object manager and Lightning app builder (15 percent)

• Sales and marketing applications (10 percent)

• Service and support applications (10 percent)

• Productivity and collaboration (10 percent)

• Data and analytics management (17 percent)

• Automation (15 percent)

• Agentforce (8 percent)

Read more: Data Analytics: Definition, Uses, Examples, and More

3. Apply for Salesforce administrator jobs.

As you gain experience and become a Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator, the next step is to look for jobs and start applying. Start by identifying your career goals and the kind of lifestyle you want in order to focus your efforts.

Then you can scour job sites like Glassdoor and Indeed to discover job openings. Review each Salesforce administrator job description carefully to discover if the tasks, responsibilities, required qualifications, and salary align with your career goals.

Make sure your resume is up to date with your experience, certifications, and skills, and spend some time building interviewing skills so that you can approach employers with confidence.

Explore our free resources for Salesforce administrators

Get helpful job preparation tips through Career Chat, Coursera’s weekly LinkedIn newsletter. Learn more about the role of a customer representative and how generative artificial intelligence (AI) can facilitate your day-to-day work with the following learning resources:

• Watch on YouTube: Career Spotlight: Customer Service Representative

• Hear from a pro: How to Use GenAI in Your Job: Insight from Coursera’s Former CEO

• Learn more: Which Digital Marketing Course Should You Take? Find Out in 1 Minute

Accelerate your career growth with a Coursera Plus subscription. When you enroll in either the monthly or annual option, you’ll get access to over 10,000 courses.

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