Since 2017, 10K has uncovered key trends in the Salesforce job market, compiling information across the year for their annual Salesforce ecosystem report. This detailed analysis provides Salesforce professionals with important insights to help navigate the rest of the year while strategizing job opportunities in the ecosystem for the year ahead.
This year’s report will certainly raise some eyebrows – we’re seeing some serious ups and downs as demand for roles fluctuates across the board. Certain regions are thriving with a surge in demand, while others are experiencing a noticeable dip. Here are 10 key insights from the 2024 report that highlight the current state of the Salesforce job market.
1. Supply for Salesforce Talent Is Recovering After COVID Headwinds
Every year, Salesforce professionals – such as admins, business analysts, and consultants – are analyzed by 10K to see how the talent pool is shaping up. This analysis highlights where certain roles have struggled before and signals where they could be going next.
Since COVID, supply has been a bit unpredictable, especially with layoffs and market saturation. But in 2023, the talent pool bounced back with a 28% growth. This year, growth is still positive at 19%, although it has slowed down compared to last year.
Developers, in particular, make up a lot of the supply, making up 47% of the Salesforce workforce, and have enjoyed YoY growth, increasing by 24% compared to last year.
10K believes that this shift is likely due to many Salesforce Administrators upskilling to become developers. Admins are currently struggling with both supply and demand, so we could see this trend continue on through next year. (Note: We will discuss this later in the article.)
2. Global Demand for Salesforce Talent Continues to Drop
As mentioned, COVID certainly shook things up in the ecosystem – the global demand for talent reached a whopping 364% increase in 2021 and has dropped significantly as companies continue to consolidate, making it extremely difficult for Salesforce professionals to find jobs.
In 2023, demand dropped to a 46% decrease, and the downward trend continues this year with a 37% decrease.
Despite the continued decrease, 10K are optimistic that we should see a turn in 2025 and quoted a Redditor saying: “Salesforce is a behemoth of a platform. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Jobs will be more plentiful once companies loosen the purse strings. My guess is that people who are Flow specialists or know a lot about Einstein and AI will be in high demand.”
3. Demand for Salesforce Talent Rises in India
Marc Benioff recently sang the praises of India’s current Salesforce market, announcing the beginning of the “Indian era” for Salesforce and highlighting the country’s growing importance in the global economy.
This coincides with some of the trends in this year’s report. Despite a drop in demand for Salesforce talent globally, India has enjoyed a 13% YoY increase – a huge jump from the 23% decrease India faced last year.
Overall, India saw increases across the board, with admins (16% YoY), consultants (25% YoY), developers (25% YoY), and business analysts (1% YoY) all enjoying significant growth.
Recent offshoring opportunities in India have also helped scale the Indian Salesforce job market, providing more roles and subsequently increasing domestic wages, with 46% of participants noticing an increase in salaries (per our salary survey). Also, according to the Economic Times, Salesforce in India is set to create 1.8 million jobs and $88.6M in revenue by 2028.
India’s Salesforce presence is certainly strengthening, making it a positive job market to be in ahead of what will be an important year if we’re to go off of Benioff’s sentiment.
4. Admins Continue to Struggle – Time to Upskill?
The admin role is often considered the first step into a Salesforce career, serving as a solid foundation for people seeking to establish themselves in the Salesforce ecosystem.
The supply rate of admins over the past few years has shot in all different directions, decreasing by a dramatic 19% in 2022, rising back up to 25% YoY in 2023, and steadying at a 17% YoY increase in 2024.
The demand for admins, however, is the lowest out of all the established roles in Salesforce. Demand has decreased 22% globally, and the role only makes up 8% of all job listings. With such low demand for the role, many experts advise that it’s time for admins to “diversify” and potentially upskill to give themselves a better chance in the Salesforce job market.
10K quoted a Redditor who owns a Salesforce consulting firm saying: “My recommendation to you all who are looking for a job is to learn more about what it means to be a business analyst. This is a big part in my opinion of each admin’s role – understand requirements, what’s the hole, what is the process. When you are being interviewed, show something you create that describes the business side.”
This leads nicely into our fifth insight…
5. Business Analysts: 2025’s Rising Stars?
A Salesforce Business Analyst plays an important role in day-to-day operations, connecting business teams to make sure businesses adapt to the platform quickly and maintain good performance levels.
In this year’s report, BAs were the only role within established markets that saw an increase in growth rate at 7%, with India’s talent supply for the role enjoying a 45% growth YoY. However, the global demand for BAs decreased down to -38% YoY growth as all roles faced a significant drop.
Despite this, 10K predicts that the role could see an uptick in 2025 as companies look for more “well-rounded Salesforce talent” – in essence, those who have a strong understanding of both the business and technical aspects of the Salesforce platform.
This preference for versatility could benefit aspiring BAs as more companies notice the value of someone who can wear multiple hats – an asset that, in the long-term, may be more attractive to employers over simply being an admin.
6. Are Technical Architects Too Expensive?
Technical architects are considered native Salesforce experts capable of overseeing any aspect of Salesforce implementation and rank among the highest-paid roles in the ecosystem. According to our Salesforce Ben Salary Survey, technical architects on average earn $182,000, with a high-level TA earning $222,000.
This may be the reason behind such a high YoY drop in TA demand this year, with growth decreasing by 41%. 10K believes a reason for a drop in demand across the board is companies becoming more budget-conscious, and technical architects have certainly felt the brunt of that. It is possible that Salesforce companies are looking for affordable alternatives, such as developers, to consolidate budget constraints.
As mentioned in our first insight, developers are also more plentiful in supply, making up 47% of Salesforce talent supply this year compared to TAs staggering 1%. Not only are TAs expensive, but they’re also difficult to source.
With the Salesforce platform continually evolving and becoming more complex, the demand for TAs may very well rebound in the future. However, businesses will need to assess their budget priorities if they want to accommodate these highly skilled professionals.
7. Solution Architect Supply Rises in North America
Salesforce Solution Architects are the brains behind the top-notch, reliable solutions that we see in the Salesforce ecosystem. As the need for skilled professionals who can tackle multi-cloud projects rises, it’s no surprise that the demand for these architects continues to grow.
They make up 13% of job listings and are enjoying a supply increase in North America. There has been a 23% growth YoY in this area – the highest growth out of all the roles in NA.
Generally, companies work with SAs through Salesforce consulting partners, meaning most clients don’t hire them full-time and rather tap into their expertise when needed. Only large companies with bigger budgets can afford full-time SAs, with their average salary coming in at $162,000 as per our salary survey.
This means that the demand for high-quality, part-time SAs has significantly increased as companies turn to a flexible structure that doesn’t require them to pay full salaries.
8. Consultants Face Supply and Demand Decrease in 2024
Salesforce Consultants play a crucial role in helping businesses make the most out of Salesforce. They are the first port of call when it comes to Salesforce implementation. However, this year saw a surprising 10% drop in consultancy supply growth within established markets, even flatlining in North America’s usually talent-rich market.
This also aligns with a significant decrease in global demand. Consultants took a significant 43% nosedive this year – the biggest drop among all roles. The demand shrinkage has impacted partners too, who are the primary employers of Salesforce Consultants.
10K claims in their report that although this decline may raise concerns, it doesn’t necessarily spell bad news for the role. India’s demand for Salesforce talent is reflective of a promising increase of consultants in the region, with a 12% growth rate and a 24% increase YoY.
Similarly to admins, it may be time to consider upskilling and diversifying their expertise to remain attractive to potential employers.
9. Number of Salesforce Consulting Partners Rises by 20%
Although there may be an ongoing demand drought, consulting partner growth continues to make strides in the ecosystem with a huge 20% YoY increase, totaling to nearly 3,000 partners. In the last five years, the number of Salesforce partners has shot up by 137%!
The top five partners – Accenture, Deloitte, Cognizant, Capgemini, and Infosys – have all been expanding their certified expert teams. Deloitte leads the group with 14% YoY growth, while Cognizant grew the least at 3% YoY. Accenture reigns supreme over other partners, boasting nearly 25,000 certified experts.
Despite the growth of these big firms, the talent concentration among the top five has dipped 5% in five years, though they still hold 35% of all certified partner talent. As of July 2024, 60% of certified partner experts work for the top 1% of partners, while over half of partners have ten or fewer certified experts. Mid-size firms have enjoyed massive growth, however, skyrocketing by 613% over the last five years.
With talent dispersing across different partners, Salesforce customers are currently stuck choosing between a large partner or navigating thousands of smaller ones to find a perfect consulting fit.
10. Africa and South America Have Highest Talent Supply Growth
The Salesforce ecosystem is enjoying an influx of new talent across the globe, and it’s especially growing in South America. This region stands out this year as the only area where the talent pool grew at a higher rate than last year – jumping up to a 29% increase compared to last year’s 26%.
In addition to South America, Africa, and Asia are two other emerging markets that are seeing significant growth rates that have surpassed regions such as North America.
Supply in Africa, in particular, may continue to grow over the next few years as the continent looks to expand Salesforce offerings beyond their primary South Africa hub.
In an interview with TechCentral, Zuck Mwaba, the South Africa MD and Africa VP at Salesforce, shared his ambitions for expanding across the continent:
“We do have ambitions to cover more territory across the African continent, and we’ve started that journey. Outside of South Africa, there are other areas (in Africa) where we’ve got customers and partners, and we are making significant strides in those areas.”
This trend opens up significant opportunities to source a large range of untapped talent in different regions and will shape a more dynamic and globally connected ecosystem.
Final Thoughts
There are so many fascinating insights into the current Salesforce job market – it was hard to choose just ten focus points. If you want to take a deeper look at 10k’s report, make sure to sign up here.
What do you think is the most significant talking point from this year’s report? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
The post 10 Crucial Facts and Figures About the Salesforce Job Market in 2024 appeared first on Salesforce Ben.