Systems Administrator - CRM (Salesforce)

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity. Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. We connect. We inspire. The Role The British Council is seeking a CRM Administrator (Salesforce) to provide technical leadership for its globally deployed Salesforce CRM and marketing automation ecosystem. The role is responsible for the day-to-day administration, configuration, automation, governance, and continuous improvement of the platform, ensuring it remains secure, scalable, and aligned with the organisation's digital transformation agenda. Working across Salesforce, marketing automation platforms, integration tools, in-house applications, and third-party systems, the successful candidate will contribute to platform administration, release management, CI/CD activities, access governance, security enhancements, and audit readiness. As the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, the British Council reaches more than 20 million people face-to-face and over 500 million people online each year. Salesforce is a globally deployed Unlimited Edition CRM platform supporting more than 2,000 users across Customer Service, Cultural Engagement, IELTS, English Teaching, B2B/G, and Legal & Contract Management functions, enabling millions of customer interactions annually. This role carries significant technical responsibility and requires the ability to make risk-aware decisions independently while effectively communicating complex technical concepts to both technical teams and senior non-technical stakeholders. Main responsibilities Own the day-to-day administration, configuration, and governance of the global Salesforce platform across all environments, including user management, permission sets, field-level security, sharing rules, and platform settings. Act as the technical escalation point, driving root cause analysis, resolution, and documentation within agreed SLAs. Manage sandbox environments, release cycles, and change management in line with British Council governance standards, and maintain comprehensive technical documentation including system architecture guides, integration field mappings, and standard operating procedures. Lead administration of Salesforce integrations and automation capabilities, maintaining Azure AD SSO/MFA configurations, GDPR-compliant data retention and anonymisation processes, and the HubSpotSalesforce native connector. Partner with business stakeholders across regions and functions to translate requirements into scalable Salesforce solutions, advising on technical options and risks. Ensure service delivery consistently meets agreed SLAs and KPIs, reporting on platform health and performance to senior leadership. Role specific skills * Deep proficiency in Salesforce platform administration including user management, profiles, roles, permission sets, field-level security, sharing rules, and OWD configuration across multi-cloud environments. * Strong expertise in Salesforce automation using Flow Builder (record-triggered, scheduled, and screen flows), including automation stack auditing and adherence to governor limit best practices. * Proven ability to configure, administer, and troubleshoot Salesforce integrations including SSO/MFA via Azure AD SAML 2.0, REST/SOAP API connections, and marketing automation connectors such as the HubSpotSalesforce native connector. * Hands-on experience with Salesforce data management: Data Loader, Demand Tools, SOQL, bulk operations, deduplication, and GDPR-compliant data retention and anonymisation. * Proficiency in Salesforce environment and release management: sandbox strategy, change sets, deployment pipelines, and CI/CD participation aligned to formal change governance. * Clear written and verbal communication in English; able to translate complex Salesforce concepts for non-technical audiences at all organisational levels. Role specific knowledge and experience Minimum/essential * Minimum 5 years of hands-on Salesforce administration experience including complex multi-cloud implementations (Sales Cloud and Service Cloud mandatory); proficiency in Flow Builder, validation rules, custom objects, permission sets and sharing rules. * Experience administering Salesforce at enterprise scale (500+ users) including Person Accounts, Agentic AI, Email-to-Case and Territory Management; ability to conduct automation stack audits and understand SOQL governor limits. * Proven experience managing Salesforce integrations with third-party platforms and formal change governance. * Experience with enterprise CRM data management: data quality, deduplication, bulk data operations (Data Loader / Demand Tools), GDPR-compliant data retention We