Salesforce Project Manager salaries are a hot topic in the ever-growing Salesforce economy. Professionals with emotional intelligence, and the right approach to upskilling and career progression will find themselves in a good position.
With this in mind, how much do Salesforce Project Managers make? Read on to find out – plus which factors influence your earning potential, and tips on how to improve it.
Jump to: Which factors influence Salesforce Project Manager salaries?
Jump to: How to improve your Salesforce Project Manager salary
Salesforce Project Manager Salary Averages
The data in this section is from the Mason Frank Salary Survey, based on self-reported information from 2,500+ Salesforce professionals, spanning a range of job titles, industries, and geographic locations.
North America
| Junior | Senior | Contract | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US ($) | $127,750 | $152,125 | $127.50 p/h |
| Canada (C$) | C$105,750 | C$125,875 | C$126 p/h |
Europe
| Junior | Senior | Contract | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK (£) | £74,625 | £94,125 | £809 p/d |
| Ireland (€) | €61,750 | €78,625 | €649.50 p/d |
| Italy (€) | €41,750 | €54,250 | €575 p/d |
| France (€) | – | €65,750 | €740 p/d |
| Germany (€) | – | €93,875 | €932 p/d |
| Spain (€) | €41,500 | €53,500 | – |
| Switzerland (CHF) | 108,750 Fr. | 133,250 Fr. | – |
| Netherlands (€ – monthly) | €4410 | 5510+ | – |
| Belgium (€ – monthly) | €3930 | – | – |
Asia-Pacific
| Junior | Senior | Contract | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (AU$) | AU$153,375 | AU$180,750 | AU$1458.50 p/d |
| Japan (¥) | ¥8,475,000 | ¥13,205,000 | – |
| Singapore (S$) | S$88,000 | S$127,625 | – |
Factors that Influence Salesforce Project Manager Salary
One single salary figure can be misleading, without context. Certain factors at play can result in differences between one professional’s salary, to the next. We will dive into the following factors in this guide:
- Experience (Seniority)
- Certifications and credentials
- The company you work for
- Location
Experience (Seniority)
As with any profession, the more experience and responsibility you take on, the higher your salary expectations should be.
We defined Project Manager career progression based on experience and project size (as an indicator of complexity) – as opposed to time in the role.
Project management is a profession that is part technical knowledge, and part emotional intelligence. Experience on projects will trump any other factors, and it’s the only way to properly earn your seniority.
You will be asked questions about your project experience in any interview for a Salesforce Project Manager role, which will demonstrate your tenacity and expertise more than your resume.
Certifications and Credentials
Salesforce professionals love gaining certifications – they are a milestone in your career that prove that you know what you are talking about. Certifications can potentially be used as leverage if you are looking for a more senior position internally, or looking for a job in another company.
In the annual career survey, respondents were asked if they experienced an increase in their salary after earning (any) certification:
- 67% did, reporting an average salary increase of 21%,
- 33% did not, their salaries remained the same.
Note: In the report’s previous edition, the split was 63% did, 37% did not. While the positive % is higher, the average salary increase has dropped from 26% to 21%.
The chance that your salary could increase the more certifications you earn can’t be ignored but should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’ alongside the other factors.
In talking with Salesforce Project Managers, there are no ‘mandatory’ certifications you will need in order to fulfill the role; however, as mentioned, the more technical the project manager the more in demand they will be when pursuing a role in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Anyone looking to strengthen their resume should pursue these five baseline Salesforce certifications: Admin, Advanced Admin, Platform App Builder, Sales Cloud Consultant, and Service Cloud Consultant. These certifications demonstrate the person has a deep understanding of the core Salesforce product suite.
In addition, most firms pursue either pure Agile or “Agile-like”; therefore, completing a Scrum Master certification will be beneficial, as often the project manager will energize this role in a typical implementation.
It is not unheard of that a project manager with no experience in Salesforce applies to a Salesforce Project Manager role – at its core, project management is a skill set that transfers between industries. However, without a core understanding of the product it will be a difficult transition.
The Company You Work For
The correlation between what type of company you work for and your salary expectations isn’t strict – but there certainly can be an influence.
Take Salesforce consultancies (the services arm of the partner ecosystem). The size of the consultancy, the day rate they charge their clients, and their target industries* all contribute to how they set salary benchmarks.
*For example, a consultancy targeting Financial Services clients in London is likely to set their rates higher than other industries in other regions.
As we have seen, having a project manager involved is necessary the more complex the project becomes. Most Salesforce consulting partners will have project managers on their teams to oversee each project, which counts as an additional resource, increasing the cost of the implementation (usually added to the statement of work as a % on top of the cost to implement the technical requirements).
Location
Salary figures are influenced by location, due to the differences in the cost of living between countries – and within countries (the US is a good example of this economic influence).
Converting all the salaries into US$ makes the geographic comparison easier. Senior Project Managers in the US reported an average salary of around $152K. The UK Project Managers on average earn $112.6K, in Spain $54.3K, and in Japan, the figure is $96.8k.
Geographic location plays an influence where demand is greater than the supply of professionals in-region. Let’s not ignore the fact that there will naturally be differences within countries, too. While the pandemic hybrid/remote working models have democratized location vs. earning potential, there will naturally still be some variation.
How to Improve Your Salesforce Project Manager Salary
If you want to increase your salary, this section is for you. First, familiarize yourself with what an entry-level, mid-level, and senior Project Manager does.
2023 will be a great opportunity to jump onto a Salesforce specialization. Aside from that, here are our picks from the pack.
- Know Your Team Roles
- Manage Risk Proactively
- Hold Project Debriefs
- Observe Complex Salesforce Projects
- Get Salesforce Certified
1. Know Your Team Roles
We’ve already highlighted that gaining a solid understanding of the Salesforce Consultant’s role is important – after all, you need to know what you can expect from these key team members, and what you should delegate to other specialists.
Then, there are other project resources you need to get familiar with:
- The differences between Functional Salesforce Consultants and Technical Salesforce Consultants.
- Where Salesforce Architects fit into the picture.
- Which requirements developers should take on, where the solution cannot be delivered with declarative (point-and-click) functionality.
2. Manage Risk Proactively
Risk management plays a key part in how project managers keep control of projects so that they are delivered on time, and within budget. It’s all about anticipating what could go wrong, and knowing how to deal with issues appropriately when they arise.
Anyone who works on a project-basis will know that they aren’t always ‘plain sailing’. Projects exist to bring about change in an organization. While process and technology-centric, they all have one element in common – human interaction.
The difference in risk management between an entry-level PM and a more experienced one is a) at what point they are able to identify the risk, and b) how to reach a resolution.
Proactive risk management involves putting measures in place to mitigate risk – in other words, to prevent the risks from happening before they’ve even happened. This future-looking view will come with experience, as a senior PM will be able to call upon their own past experience (and others) to make these risk predictions.
When starting out as a PM, there will be plenty of risks you would not have encountered previously, especially when you start working on projects that involve a greater number of Salesforce products.
3. Hold Project Debriefs
A PM can scale-up their experience by reflecting on what went well (and what did not) when a project completes – risks and how the risks were managed is one part. It’s a great opportunity to learn from the consultants ‘on the ground’, and hear about tensions you perhaps didn’t hear about when the project was in full-swing.
In addition, you can analyze past project logs and pull reports from your project management tool to see what went well in other projects – think of it like learning case law!
4. Observe Complex Salesforce Projects
Projects can be classified as complex for a number of reasons, including (but not restricted to) integrations with other platforms (external to Salesforce), multiple business units (a cross-departmental client project), or play a significant part in the client’s digital transformation (high stakes!).
Participation, such as listening in on meetings, will enable you to one day lead projects at this scale and scope. When observing, question the choices senior project managers made to understand why they took a specific action in certain scenarios; this will help you develop your own independent thinking.
5. Get Salesforce Certified
Salesforce certifications may not always be required ‘on paper’ (i.e. on job descriptions), they are beneficial when looking to increase your earning potential.
At a basic level, certifications prove you have a certain level of knowledge of the Salesforce platform. A project manager who is proficient in the Salesforce platform is likely to earn more when starting out, compared to a project manager with platform-agnostic knowledge because managers at Salesforce consultancies are likely to feel more confident in their ability to lead projects.
Furthermore, sealing your knowledge with a certification will give you a confidence boost and will help you to become more self-sufficient.
Summary
There’s no doubt that the Salesforce Project Manager salary is deserved – they oversee Salesforce implementation projects end-to-end on a variety of Salesforce “Clouds’” and levels of complexity. Their priority is to ensure the project is delivered on time and within budget.
The Salesforce ecosystem is an incredibly diverse and exciting career path. A strong project manager is one of the key factors for a successful Salesforce implementation regardless of the size of the project.
In our opinion nothing beats experience, especially when it comes to such a subjective role. It will take time and experience in a variety of project types and sizes to be able to predict potential issues and know how to best support the implementation team. While having an understanding of the product will give you a leg up (you will more-or-less understand the implement steps that are required), project issues will vary per client and each phase of the project will come with unique challenges.
However, don’t be discouraged. Start out with smaller projects to get acquainted with the different phases and challenges that are unique to Salesforce projects. Issues that are present in smaller projects are still present with large, multi-phase implementations.
It’s not possible to cover all the nuances of this role in a collection of guides, but if you are looking to make the leap to Salesforce Project Management, we encourage you to take the advice shared on board. Then, reach out to the Salesforce partners in your region to better understand the organization’s implementation method, and how to best tailor your experience for the role.
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