CRM Support Specialist in Newton, Massachusetts at The University of Massachusetts Foundation Inc

II. Position Summary

The CRM Support Specialist is responsible for managing and triaging the incoming Salesforce and data support case queue for the UMass Foundation, serving as the first point of response for end-user requests, system issues, and data-related tickets. This position is central and critical to the Foundation's ability to resolve day-to-day Salesforce and data issues quickly while ensuring more complex work is properly identified, scoped, and routed.

The role requires working knowledge of the Salesforce platform, including how development, test/sandbox, and production environments relate to one another, and comfort using Jira, Git, Gearset, and Own Backup to track, deploy, and safeguard changes. The Specialist must also understand how data is structured and managed within Salesforce and how it connects to the Foundation's data warehouse (Snowflake), in order to triage and resolve data-related cases.

The CRM Support Specialist is a hybrid position that is expected to be onsite at the UMass Foundation office location in Newton 1 – 2 days per week, depending on end-user demand requirements. This role may occasionally require working during evenings and weekends to support the needs of the Foundation.

III. Essential Functions

Case Queue Management and Triage

• Monitor and manage the Salesforce and data support case queue, prioritizing incoming requests; tier 1 help desk lead and support.
• Triage each case quickly: resolve straightforward issues immediately; determine what clarification or additional work is required to move forward.
• Follow up directly with requesters to gather missing details needed to complete or scope a case; ask team members for support when needed.
• Identify when a case requires deeper development, data, or specialized work and communicate that clearly to the broader team; collaborate with the team to determine customer facing communications needed.
• Keep the queue moving and minimize case aging and idle time; continue to make progress with goals to close or move to deeper development sprint cycle.

Salesforce Configuration and Support

• Perform Salesforce configuration changes, fixes, and troubleshooting to resolve cases directly; permissions, sharing settings, adding columns to list views, making fields visible on page layouts, etc.
• Understand and work across development, test/sandbox, and production environments, following proper change management practice; Agile methodologies preferred.
• Use Cases and Jira to track and document work, and Git and Gearset to manage and deploy changes between environments.
• Use Own Backup to support data recovery and backup-related requests.

Data Support and Management

• Investigate and resolve data-related cases, including data quality issues, updates, and troubleshooting.
• Understand how data is structured and behaves within Salesforce and how it flows to and from the Foundation's data warehouse.
• Coordinate with data warehouse and other technical staff on cases that require cross-system data work.

Communication and Documentation

• Communicate case status, resolution, and next steps clearly to the internal team as well as stakeholders.
• Document case resolutions, workarounds, and recurring issues for future reference.
• Identify patterns across cases and recommend process or system improvements.
• Communication on level of effort and timing expectations is critical.

Project Management and Other

• Other duties as assigned.
• Understand and practice Agile and Agile methodologies.

IV. Other Functions/Responsibilities

• Attends periodic staff meetings and training sessions.
• Complies with proper paperwork procedures, prompt follow-up communications and departmental policies.
• Off-hours and on-call support may be required for this position to support Foundation projects and initiatives, as well as to respond to time-sensitive case escalations or organizational IT related incidents.
• This job description is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities. Special projects and other duties as required.

V. Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience)

• 4 to 6 years of experience administering or supporting Salesforce or another cloud-based CRM platform.
• Experience triaging and managing a case or ticket queue in a help desk, support, or similar environment.
• Understanding of how development, test/sandbox, and production environments relate to one another and how changes safely move between them.
• Working knowledge of Jira, Git, and Gearset (or comparable deployment/comparison tools), and backup/recovery tools such as Own Backup.
• Understanding of how data is structured and managed within Salesforce, and how it relates to a data warehouse environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly for following up on incomplete or unclear requests.
• Ability to quickly assess a problem, prioritize, and determine the appropriate next step with minimal supervision.
• Strong customer service orientation and ability to work effectively with people across the organization.
• Ability to be successful with minimal supervision.

VI. Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience)

• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or fundraising settings.
• Salesforce certifications, such as Administrator or Platform App Builder.
• Experience with Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or Education Cloud.
• Familiarity with data warehouse concepts or business intelligence/reporting tools.
• Experience working within Agile or Scrum methodologies.

VII. Working Conditions

• This role is hybrid.

VII. Organizational Relationships

Reports to (Title):

Product Owner and Enablement Lead

Position No./Supervisor ID:

Supervisory Responsibilities:

none; no direct reports