Salesforce Platform Developer (Kindsight Ascend) - (CEMI)

Salesforce Platform Developer (Kindsight Ascend) - (CEMI)

This is a 3 year term appointment which may be ended or extended based on organizational needs, funding availability, and performance.

About the Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative and Donor Engagement and Experience Project

The Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI) is a multi-year program designed to improve the experience of students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, patients, and partners by unifying and enhancing administrative systems and processes across all Cornell University locations. Its name CEMI is said as "See Me" because the focus is on you: the people who use Cornell's systems and data to accomplish your goals.

CEMI Donor Engagement and Experience Project (DEEP) is a major, multi-year effort to modernize and unify development and engagement technology across Cornell's Ithaca and Cornell Tech campuses, Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), and the Lab of Ornithology.

What Will You Do?

The Salesforce Platform Developer (Kindsight Ascend) plays a critical role within the Cornell Enterprise Modernization Initiative (CEMI), with primary responsibility supporting the Donor Engagement and Experience Project (DEEP)—a major, multi‑year effort to modernize and unify development and engagement technology across Cornell's Ithaca and Cornell Tech campuses, Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), and the Lab of Ornithology.

Cornell seeks a highly skilled Salesforce Platform Developer with experience supporting Kindsight Ascend and its associated data model to contribute to a large‑scale, multicampus transformation that consolidates‑ development and engagement capabilities on a single Salesforce platform. The CEMI DEEP Salesforce Platform Developer works closely with fundraising, engagement, and operations teams across all campuses, as well as Salesforce Operations, the DEEP project team, campus stakeholders, and the system integrator responsible for Kindsight Ascend implementation. In collaboration with these partners, the developer supports and evolves the solution by extending managed packages, designing integrations, enabling data unification and marketing activation capabilities, and validating platform functionality—all while ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, security standards, and business requirements.

Within Development Information Technology, the CEMI DEEP Salesforce Platform Developer contributes to Salesforce platform architecture and solution design, applying sound architectural principles, established design patterns, and enterprise governance standards. This role partners with functional and technical stakeholders to identify pain points and deliver innovative, scalable solutions that enhance the user experience while ensuring the Salesforce platform remains secure, maintainable, and aligned with Cornell's long-term‑ technology strategy.

The CEMI DEEP Salesforce Platform Developer brings deep experience working with complex Salesforce managed packages and associated data models, with Kindsight Ascend serving as the core managed package around which additional packages, integrations, and customizations are designed. The role supports enterprise fundraising, donor engagement, and reporting needs by delivering high-quality‑, scalable Salesforce solutions and integrations.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to Salesforce platform architecture and solution design, including data architecture, integration strategy, environment design, and release management approaches.
• Design and implement scalable Salesforce solutions using sound architectural principles, enterprise design patterns, and platform governance standards.
• Develop and maintain Salesforce applications, custom components, and workflow logic using Apex, Lightning Web Components (LWC), Flows, and declarative automation.
• Configure and extend Kindsight Ascend and other Salesforce managed packages, ensuring compatibility with custom solutions and enterprise requirements.
• Design and maintain scalable custom data models that integrate seamlessly with managed package architectures.
• Develop and support opportunity-based fundraising and engagement workflows leveraging‑ Sales Cloud and Service Cloud capabilities.
• Design and implement Salesforce integrations using APIs, middleware, and other integration technologies to support internal and external systems.
• Build advanced reports, dashboards, and analytics to support fundraising, engagement, and operational decision making‑.
• Configure and maintain role-based‑ security, permissions, and access controls in alignment with institutional governance and compliance requirements.
• Design, deploy, and support secure, user friendly Experience Cloud solutions that enable guided workflows and ‑self-service‑ engagement.
• Support Salesforce org development and administration, including environment management, testing, release coordination, and deployment activities.
• Provide technical support through issue triage, troubleshooting, root cause‑ analysis, and resolution.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of emerging enterprise capabilities, including Data360 (data unification and activation) and Salesforce Agentforce (AI assisted‑ workflows).
• Ensure all Salesforce solutions comply with institutional and regulatory requirements governing HIPAA regulated medical data, FERPA‑ protected‑ student data, confidential information, and personally identifiable information (PII), including HIPAA, FERPA, and GDPR where applicable.
• Collaborate with technical teams and stakeholders across the university to align Salesforce solutions with broader information management and modernization strategies.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for Salesforce development,‑ leveraging Kindsight Ascend, supporting ongoing platform modernization and evolution.

This is a 3 year term appointment which may be ended or extended based on organizational needs, funding availability, and performance.

While position responsibilities vary, every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative, collaborative, open, and welcoming; showing respect, compassion, and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Five (5)+ years of hands-on Salesforce development experience in complex, enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated experience working with multiple Salesforce managed packages, with a strong preference for Kindsight Ascend and fundraising and engagement industry experience. Strong hands-on experience with the Salesforce platform and core data models, including development using Apex, Lightning Web Components (LWC), Flows, declarative automation, validation rules, security and sharing models, and overall Salesforce application configuration and customization.
• Experience designing scalable Salesforce solutions, including data models, integrations, and platform design patterns, and contributing to Salesforce platform architecture and solution design in alignment with enterprise architecture standards.
• Experience designing and supporting Salesforce integrations with external systems using APIs, integration middleware, and related technologies.
• Experience working within structured environment strategies, release management processes, and platform governance frameworks, and participating in architecture reviews and technical design discussions to support platform scalability, stability, and long-term sustainability.
• Experience working with sensitive and regulated data, including HIPAA-regulated medical data, FERPA-protected student data, confidential data, and PII, in compliance with privacy and security requirements.
• Experience supporting Salesforce Experience Cloud solutions and user-facing workflows.
• Experience translating business requirements and user stories into technical designs, implementing solutions, testing, and deployments.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive working relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community members.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working and supporting large ‑ scale, multi ‑ year enterprise implementations, particularly in higher education, healthcare, nonprofit, or similarly complex environments
• Experience working with emerging Salesforce capabilities, including Data360 (data unification and activation), Salesforce Agentforce, and other AI ‑ assisted or next ‑ generation platform features
• Experience supporting Salesforce analytics and reporting solutions, such as CRM Analytics, TableauNext, or advanced reporting frameworks
• Experience integrating Salesforce with Marketing Cloud, including preference and consent management, audience activation, and engagement data synchronization
• Salesforce certifications such as Platform Developer I or II, Salesforce Certified System Architect, Integration Architecture Designer, Data Architecture and Management Designer, Salesforce AI Specialist, or equivalent
• Experience operating within formal governance structures, including data governance, security review, architecture review boards, and enterprise change management processes
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across multiple business units, balancing standardization with local requirements. Experience partnering with system integrators and external vendors in complex delivery models
• Experience contributing to platform modernization initiatives, including technical debt reduction, adoption of new Salesforce features, and continuous improvement practices

Application Information

• A resume is required for further consideration for this position. A cover letter expressing alignment with Cornell's mission and this role is strongly encouraged. When applying through our system