Description:
The Salesforce Administrator is a full-time administrative professional position on the Innovation Technology, Education and Analytics team within CSU Foundation. This position provides critical support for the underlying Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system used by The CSU Foundation and its partners to facilitate fund- and friend-raising initiatives. This position has front-line responsibility for maintaining, configuring and evolving the Salesforce platform, the Kindsight Ascend managed package, and auxiliary products such as Marketing Cloud, Blackthorn Events, Conga and other native or integrated solutions to best serve the needs and efficiencies of CSU Foundation. The Salesforce Administrator partners with a diverse range of users across the division to gather requirements, understand process and pain points, design best practice solutions, and work in a hands-on technical role to achieve desired outcomes. The position also proactively collaborates with other technical staff to identify opportunities for innovation and growth, evaluate potential add-ons and implement enhancements in a timely and seamless manner. This position works independently with a high level of decision-making and self-direction and has the seasoned authority to make decisions regarding the CRM infrastructure.
Position Information
-
Position Title: Salesforce Administrator
-
Organization Name: Colorado State University Foundation
-
Reports To: Director of Information Systems
-
Employment Type: Full-time
-
FLSA Status: Exempt
-
Location: Fort Collins
-
Salary Range: $80,000 – $95,000 annually
-
priority consideration Date: 06/18/2026
Organizational Overview
Located in the beautiful town of Fort Collins, Colorado, Colorado State University is a premier land-grant institution with world-class programs in education, outreach, and research. CSU has a student body of over 34,000 students, 7,400 employees, 258,000 living alumni, and annual research expenditures exceeding $498 million. Fort Collins is known as “The Choice City” because of its proximity to the beautiful Rocky Mountains, excellent schools, 300+ days of sunshine yearly, thriving arts scene, eclectic shops and restaurants, and miles of walking and biking paths.
The Colorado State University Foundation is in the midst of exciting growth as the University Advancement division of CSU transitions to the Foundation. This merger will allow us to more effectively serve our donors, alumni, and stakeholders with a more unified structure, strengthen accountability, and build the capacity to scale our fundraising enterprise. With one of the leading development teams in the country, we most recently achieved our highest fundraising year to date in 2025.
Innovation Technology, Education and Analytics supports the technical, educational, and analytical framework that surrounds the CSU Foundation’s core systems processes. This team is responsible for the reporting, application, development, training, data analysis, system integration and end-user support related to the enterprise-level Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system (e.g., alumni, donors, friends, companies, etc.)
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
-
Create, maintain and thoroughly document Salesforce configuration changes including but not limited to custom object/fields, complex flows, page layouts, permissions, custom metadata, validation rules, apps, and other custom settings
-
Proactively research and recommend emerging trends and technologies within the Salesforce platform and within the higher-ed / advancement space therein
-
Manage and document data model, including familiarity with existing / OOTB structures and creation of custom objects/fields/relationships to meet business needs
-
Proactively manage the Salesforce three-release cycle (Spring, Summer, Winter) and optional upgrades of other apps (Ascend, Blackthorn Events, etc.), identify potential risks & impacts, advise & collaborate with others on approach, mitigate risks and apply upgrades in a formalized, cascading manner
-
Own the Sandbox-to-Production pipeline—ensuring no changes are "built in production" and that all automation is thoroughly tested in a staging environment first to prevent downtime
-
Monitor data health, quality and integrity within the system, including analyzing usage, storage, deduplication strategy, errors, obsolete processes and so forth, and participate in formal data governance activities / committees
-
Collaborate on new projects with university partners, work with a wide range of staff to identify potential improvements, collect specifications, design/test/implement/document proposed solutions and communicate throughout the process.
-
Engage with on-campus Salesforce peers and colleagues on the same/similar platform in Advancement offices at other universities, as well as with representatives from key vendors
We are committed to supporting the holistic health and well-being of our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, vision and retirement plans; generous paid time off; and a robust Employee Assistance Program.
CSU Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) it is our policy to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless such accommodation would cause undue hardship.
Requirements:
Required Qualifications
-
Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in a technical or information related field, or equivalent
-
A minimum of four (4) years’ professional experience including data management, reporting and analysis
-
Two (2) years of experience working closely with CRMs, including maintenance, configuration, permissions, program logic / workflow and relational data models, and at least one (1) year of administrator experience directly in Salesforce
-
Salesforce Administrator Certification
Preferred Qualifications
-
Advanced Salesforce Certification(s)
-
Excellent relationship-building skills and ability to liaise with stakeholders at all levels
-
Work experience in higher education, particularly in fundraising
-
Direct experience working with Salesforce, Kindsight Ascend, Marketing Cloud, Blackthorn Events and/or other native or integrated Salesforce applications
-
Strong oral and written communication skills, particularly the ability to traverse technical and non-technical audiences
-
Well-refined analytical and problem-solving skills
-
Strong work ethic, perseverance and flexibility
-
Demonstrated knowledge of, and relevant ability with, culturally diverse communities among potential target and constituent populations.
