Principal Architect - Salesforce Platform

Principal Architect & Salesforce Practice Lead (India)Location : India - Noida / Bengaluru / Hyderabad / MumbaiModel : Hybrid / Offshore Delivery ModelExperience : 10+ years of overall experience in enterprise CRM, digital transformation, and Salesforce architecture, with significant experience in consulting, delivery leadership, and team enablement.About the Role : We are looking for a seasoned, client-facing Principal Architect & Salesforce Practice Lead to join our leadership team in India. This is a high-impact role for a senior Salesforce professional who can combine deep architectural expertise with strong practice-building capability. The ideal candidate will be a hands-on architecture leader with proven experience in leading complex Salesforce transformation programs, guiding enterprise clients through solution decisions, and building high-performing delivery teams. In addition to driving architecture and delivery excellence, this individual will play a critical role in enabling, mentoring, and scaling the Salesforce practice in India. This role requires a strong balance of strategy and execution. The selected candidate is expected to dedicate approximately 50% of their time to active project delivery as a lead architect, while also supporting practice development through capability building, solutioning, hiring, pre-sales support, and team enablement.Key Responsibilities : - Lead architecture and solution design for complex Salesforce transformation programs across enterprise clients.- Analyze business challenges through discovery, assessment, and stakeholder engagement, and translate them into scalable, future-ready Salesforce solutions.- Bring clarity and structure to client decision-making by presenting solution options, trade-offs, architecture recommendations, and transformation roadmaps.- Provide deep technical leadership across the Salesforce platform, including solution architecture, integrations, security, governance, scalability, and enterprise design best practices.- Act as a hands-on architect on strategic engagements, contributing directly to architecture definition, governance, design reviews, and delivery oversight.- Drive solution architecture across key Salesforce capabilities including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Salesforce Industries (any), OmniStudio, Platform customizations, and Integrations.- Build and strengthen the Salesforce practice in India by establishing standards, reusable assets, governance frameworks, and delivery best practices.- Mentor architects, developers, and consultants, and help create a strong internal talent pipeline through coaching, training, and capability development.- Partner with leadership, sales, and delivery teams on pre-sales support, proposals, solutioning, staffing strategy, and strategic growth initiatives.- Drive continuous improvement across delivery quality, technical standards, innovation, and team readiness.Required Skills & Experience : - 10+ years of experience in Salesforce, CRM, enterprise applications, or digital transformation programs.- Proven experience as a Salesforce Architect, Principal Architect, or Senior Solution Architect in a consulting or services-led environment.- Strong expertise in Salesforce architecture, enterprise solution design, integrations, platform governance, security, and large-scale implementations.- Hands-on experience with OmniStudio, including OmniScripts, FlexCards, DataRaptors, and Integration Procedures.- Strong knowledge of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, and custom platform development.- Demonstrated ability to lead complex transformation initiatives while remaining hands-on in architecture and execution.- Experience in building teams, mentoring talent, and enabling practice growth in an offshore delivery model.- Strong client-facing consulting capability with the ability to engage senior stakeholders and lead strategic conversations.- Good understanding of delivery models, effort estimation, pre-sales support, and solution shaping.- Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.Industry Experience : Experience in one or more industry domains will be a strong advantage, especially : Communications, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Insurance, Banking/Financial Services, Retail, or High Tech. Candidates with prior experience architecting Salesforce-led transformation programs in these industries will be highly preferred.Desired Certifications : - Salesforce Certified Application Architect- Salesforce Certified System Architect- Salesforce Certified OmniStudio Developer and/or OmniStudio Consultant- Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II- Any Industry Cloud Accredited Certification is a plus- Agentforce Specialist- DataCloud ConsultantWhat Were Looking For : We are looking for a leader who can operate with credibility at both the client and delivery level - someone who can architect complex solutions, influence enterprise stakeholders, mentor teams, and help build a scalable Salesforce capability in India. The ideal candidate will be strategic, execution-focused, and passionate about building strong teams while staying close to delivery. (ref:hirist.tech)