Software Engineering Architect at Salesforce in San Francisco, CA

Software Engineering Architect Location: California - San Francisco To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts. Job Category Software Engineering Job Details About Salesforce Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all. Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce. Overview of the Role: Spiff, a strategic part of Salesforce Sales Cloud, is a leader in Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) software that drives commissions automation at scale within the world's leading CRM platform. As a Software Engineering Architect focusing on Spiff, you will be the key technical leader defining and guiding the most critical architectural initiatives for Spiff's platform, from the core Commission Engine and reusable calculation frameworks with enterprise features (PPA, BCF) to database, infrastructure architecture, performance optimization, and Data Cloud connectivity. Own and drive the LRP and north star architecture and designs in these areas. Responsibilities: AI-Native ICM Application Services & Infrastructure Architect: We are seeking an Architect to design high-scale, agentic systems that move beyond static logic into probabilistic, data-driven workflows. The ideal candidate must demonstrate deep expertise in agentic system design and modern infrastructure—including vector database scaling and token-efficient caching—with a proven ability to leverage Claude Code or Codex for rapid prototyping, multi-file refactoring, and automated system evaluation. You will be responsible for orchestrating AI "pair-architect" workflows to accelerate delivery while implementing rigorous governance, observability, and safety guardrails across the entire stack. Commission Engine & Calculation Architecture: Lead the design of a reusable calculation engine framework that enables the integration of external business domains while maintaining accuracy, auditability, and extensibility. Evolve Spiff's core Commission Engine to support complex ICM calculation workflows, while handling enterprise-scale transaction volumes with industry-leading performance and functionality. Define API contract standards, versioning strategies, and integration patterns that enable headless ICM workflows and ensure ICM managers have intuitive UI workflows, robust API access, and flexible data connection options to configure and manage compensation plans. Define performance optimization strategies (query tuning, caching, async processing) to address calculation bottlenecks and ensure sub-second response times for ICM operations. Data Integration & Analytics: Partner with Salesforce Data Cloud teams to design secure, high-throughput data connectivity patterns that enable admin users to seamlessly sync compensation data with Salesforce's unified data layer. Evolve an advanced analytics architecture leveraging Data Cloud and embedded analytics frameworks to surface proactive incentive insights, trend analysis, and commission forecasting for ICM managers and reps. Integrate Spiff's intelligent services with the Salesforce Agentic Framework using techniques including Knowledge Graphs, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and Vector Databases. Own and drive the data architecture of Spiff and choose the right Databases for the long term success. Drive roadmap, migration architecture and customer migrations. Infrastructure & Guardrails: Architect infrastructure management patterns including automated guardrails, health monitoring (Pulse), and proactive customer and internal alerting to ensure platform reliability and SLA compliance. Establish cell architecture patterns and deployment strategies to support Hyperforce integration and global data residency requirements. Establish database-tier scaling strategies (sharding, partitioning, cell architecture) and application-tier patterns to support multi-tenant enterprise customers with millions of transactions and complex plan hierarchies. Architect service management patterns for zero-downtime database scaling, schema migrations, and traffic routing across cell-based infrastructure. Own and drive CTS optimizations… deliver right outcomes, at right security, availability, quality infra and at the right cost. Required Qualifications: 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years as a Software Engineering Architect for large-scale SaaS platforms. Demonstrated success architecting high-performance calculation engines, workflow systems, or financial transaction platforms at enterprise scale. Proven ability to design and implement cell-based or multi-tenant architectures with robust data isolation, scaling strategies, and service management patterns. Extensive experience with database design, optimization, migration strategies, and distributed system performance tuning. Strong background in API design, contract management, and building developer-facing platform services. Experience architecting analytics pipelines, data integration patterns, or business intelligence platforms. Preferred Qualifications: Direct experience with Salesforce architecture, Sales Cloud, Data Cloud, or Hyperforce infrastructure. Expertise in Ruby on Rails, Elixir, and related technologies within the Spiff stack. Prior work on incentive compensation management (ICM), billing systems, or complex calculation engines. Experience with Spiff ICM or Xactly ICM or CaptivateIQ ICM or any ICM system is a big plus. Experience with ML/AI model deployment and machine learning operations (MLOps) for production-grade systems. Demonstrated ability to lead technical strategy across multiple highly technical engineering teams. Core Technologies: Languages & Frameworks: Ruby on Rails, Elixir/Phoenix PostgreSQL (advanced: sharding, partitioning, performance tuning) JavaScript/TypeScript (React ecosystem) Distributed Systems & Infrastructure: Cell-based architecture and tenant isolation Microservices, containers (Docker/Kubernetes) Message queues (Sidekiq, Redis, Kafka) Caching strategies (Redis, Memcached) Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) Salesforce Platform: Hyperforce infrastructure and deployment patterns Salesforce Data Cloud integration Sales Cloud APIs (REST, Bulk, Streaming, Platform Events) Salesforce security and multi-tenancy models LI-Y* Unleash Your Potential When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance andbe your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you cando your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world. Accommodations If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form. Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options. Posting Statement Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education. In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions. The typical base salary range for this position is $218,400 - $365,200 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $263,200 - $401,400 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable. Additional Locations: Washington - Bellevue