Principal Software Engineer/Lead — Salesforce

Principal Software Engineer/Lead — SalesforceOur client, a waste disposal company, is looking for a Principal Software Engineer/Lead for their Windsor, CT/Hybrid location. Responsibilities include:Technical LeadershipServe as the principal technical authority for the Salesforce platform.Define and govern Salesforce architecture standards, engineering practices, and development frameworks.Lead architectural reviews and technical decision-making across Salesforce initiatives.Establish platform roadmaps aligned with business and technology objectives.Provide technical leadership for large-scale transformational programs and platform enhancements.Mentor senior engineers, technical leads, solution architects, and senior administrators.Document and defend significant decisions through Architecture Decision Records and design documentation.Salesforce Architecture & Solution DesignDesign scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions across the Salesforce ecosystem.Establish enterprise architecture patterns for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, and custom platform solutions.Lead data modeling, security architecture, sharing and visibility strategy, and platform governance.Own org strategy — single-org versus multi-org, environment topology, and metadata ownership boundaries.Define the decision framework for declarative versus programmatic solutions and enforce it consistently across teams.Architect for scale within platform constraints — governor limits, large data volumes, ownership and lookup skew, and query performance.Define integration architectures between Salesforce and enterprise applications.Evaluate new Salesforce capabilities and determine adoption strategies, including build-versus-configure-versus-buy assessments for AppExchange solutions.Platform Engineering & DevelopmentLead development using Apex, Lightning Web Components, Flows, Platform Events, and platform services.Drive reusable framework development, shared component libraries, and engineering standardization.Ensure adherence to secure development and code quality standards, including meaningful test assertions rather than coverage compliance alone.Guide engineering teams through complex technical challenges and production escalations.Promote scalable development practices, bulkification discipline, and performance optimization.Establish standards for the maintenance and retirement of legacy Visualforce, Aura, and deprecated automation frameworks.Enterprise IntegrationDesign and govern integration solutions using APIs, event-driven architectures, middleware platforms, and messaging technologies.Define enterprise integration patterns, API strategy, and canonical data contracts.Ensure reliable and secure data exchange between Salesforce and enterprise systems, including policy administration, claims, billing, data warehouse, and identity platforms.Design for API limit management, error handling, idempotency, replay, and reconciliation across integration boundaries.Collaborate with enterprise architects to align platform integrations with broader technology strategy.Data Architecture & GovernanceOwn the Salesforce data model, master data alignment, and system-of-record definitions with enterprise Data Management.Define data quality, retention, archival, and large volume strategies.Govern data migration and consolidation programs, including cutover and reconciliation approach.Evaluate and guide Salesforce Data Cloud adoption and its relationship to the enterprise data platform, if applicable.Platform Modernization & InnovationLead platform modernization initiatives and technical debt reduction programs.Drive migration of retired automation frameworks (Workflow Rules, Process Builder) to Flow, and Aura components to Lightning Web Components.Drive adoption of modern Salesforce capabilities and development frameworks.Evaluate emerging capabilities — including Einstein, Agent force, Data Cloud, automation, and advanced analytics — and define adoption, guardrail, and evaluation strategy.Establish standards for responsible use of AI-assisted development tooling, including review, security, and intellectual property considerations.Recommend architectural improvements that enhance business agility and platform scalability.DevOps & Operational ExcellenceEstablish Salesforce DevOps standards, branching strategy, and deployment practices.Drive CI/CD automation, automated regression testing, and release management improvements.Promote source-driven development, sandbox and environment strategy, and test data management.Own seasonal release readiness — assessing the three annual Salesforce releases for impact, coordinating regression testing, and managing critical update remediation.Improve platform observability, reliability, and operational supportability, including event monitoring and proactive limit alerting.Partner with Security and Infrastructure teams to ensure compliance and governance requirements are met.Security, Risk & ComplianceOwn the Salesforce security architecture — profiles and permission sets, sharing model, field-level security, and least-privilege access design.Ensure solutions satisfy applicable regulatory and audit obligations.Partner with Information Security on encryption strategy, event monitoring, access certification, and third-party/AppExchange package risk review.Contribute to business continuity planning, including backup, recovery, and data restoration strategy — recognizing that native platform recovery capabilities are limited.Vendor, Licensing & Cost ManagementProvide technical input into Salesforce license planning, entitlement optimization, and contract renewal cycles.Govern AppExchange and third-party package evaluation, security review, and lifecycle management.Manage the technical relationship with Salesforce account, architect, and support teams, and with systems integration partners.Provide technical oversight of partner and offshore delivery quality against defined standards.Cross-Functional CollaborationPartner with Product Owners, business stakeholders, enterprise architects, and engineering leaders.Translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions, and technical trade-offs into business terms.Influence platform investment decisions and technology strategy.Communicate complex technical concepts to technical and business audiences, up to and including executive leadership.Requirements include:Technologies & CapabilitiesSalesforce Platform (Core)Salesforce Clouds (Core)Integration (Core)DevOps & Engineering (Core)Architecture (Core)Supporting / ContextualRequired QualificationsPreferred QualificationsPreferred CertificationsWhy Should You Apply?Health BenefitsReferral ProgramExcellent growth and advancement opportunities