Job Title
CRM Transformation & Delivery Assurance Lead (20 month fixed term contract)
Department
Client Specialist Services-BG-UK
Overview of Department
Client Department Operations
Purpose of Role
The Firm is replacing a legacy CRM platform of nearly two decades with Salesforce. Given the scale, irreversibility, and strategic importance of this change, this role exists to act as the Firm’s delivery assurance and platform stewardship lead.
This role acts as a key central role between our technical delivery teams and business specialists by providing independent challenge, risk visibility, and deep Salesforce expertise, while leaving day-to-day delivery execution and planning firmly with the core project roles.
This is a fixed-term, outcome-focused role created to ensure the successful end-to-end implementation of Salesforce CRM across the Firm, sponsored by the Clients Department. The role exists to strengthen delivery quality, protect long-term platform value, and ensure the Firm extracts the best outcomes from both the implementation partner and the Salesforce platform.
Cloud SaaS Design & Architecture Expectations:
This role exists in the context of implementing Salesforce as a multi-tenant, cloud-based SaaS platform, not as a bespoke or on-premise system replacement. The CRM Transformation & Delivery Assurance Lead is expected to set and uphold clear expectations that all design, architecture, and delivery decisions reflect cloud SaaS best practice, alongside specialists from the Architecture and Delivery function.
Specifically, the role will ensure that:
• Salesforce is implemented as a standardised, upgrade-safe cloud SaaS platform, not customised to replicate legacy CRM behaviour.
• Configuration is the default approach, with customisation only where explicitly justified against business intent.
• Architectural decisions remain loosely coupled, API-led, and aligned to Salesforce release cadence and roadmap
• Integration patterns avoid brittle point-to-point dependencies and favour platform-native capabilities
• Cloud operational realities (release cadence, environment strategy, security, data residency, and cost model) are considered early.
This role does not replace solution or enterprise architects from the Architecture and Delivery function, but acts as the Firm-side guardian of cloud SaaS integrity, ensuring architectural choices are sustainable, supportable, and aligned to how Salesforce is designed to operate.
The guiding principle is simple: we are adopting a cloud platform, not recreating a legacy system in the cloud.
Responsibilities
Implementation Partner Challenge & Leverage
1. Act as senior Firm-side counterpart to the implementation partner
2. Challenge scope assumptions, estimates, and delivery approaches
3. Ensure design artefacts are reusable, partner-agnostic, and well documented
4. Guard against scope fragmentation and incremental commercial drift
Salesforce Platform Stewardship
5. Ensure Salesforce is implemented as a cloud SaaS platform using configuration-first principles
6. Govern configuration vs customisation decisions based on functional intent and long-term impact
7. Protect upgradeability, scalability, and alignment with Salesforce roadmap
8. Engage Salesforce Customer Success / Signature Success where appropriate
Business Readiness & Adoption Enablement
9. Ensure business requirements are translated into platform-appropriate outcomes
10. Challenge unnecessary recreation of legacy behaviours
11. Support readiness across relationship, servicing, and leadership user groups
12. Enable sustainable internal Salesforce capability alongside the Product Owner
Data, Analytics & Migration Oversight
13. Ensure data readiness is treated as a first-class workstream
14. Surface Firm-side data ownership, quality, and remediation effort early
15. Support pragmatic migration scoping decisions
16. Ensure analytics is treated as decision enablement rather than reporting replication
Risk, Governance & Executive Visibility
17. Maintain oversight of the CRM risk register and RAG status
18. Highlight risks requiring executive attention
19. Provide clear options and trade-offs to sponsors and SteerCo
20. Ensure success is defined by value realised, not just go-live
AI, Security & Non-Functional Readiness
21. Gate AI adoption through policy alignment, data maturity, and commercial transparency
22. Promote phased, value-led AI adoption
23. Ensure performance, resilience, and compliance requirements are validated early
End-to-End Delivery Assurance
24. Has awareness of the overall delivery plan and provides CRM specialist support where required
25. Confirm legacy CRM decommissioning is planned and achievable
26. Surface delivery risks early, before they crystallise into delays or rework
Your knowledge and experience:
Essential:
27. Proven experience delivering large-scale Salesforce CRM implementations end-to-end
28. Strong understanding of cloud SaaS delivery models and SDLC discipline
29. Experience challenging top-tier implementation partners
30. Background in Asset Management, Financial Services, or regulated environments
31. Ability to bridge business, technology, and commercial considerations
Desirable:
32. Experience with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
33. Experience with complex data migration and integration estates
34. Exposure to AI, analytics, or data-driven CRM capabilities
35. Salesforce certifications (Administrator, App Builder, Consultant)
The type of candidate that we're looking for:
The ideal candidate is a senior Salesforce CRM delivery expert who can act as the firm‑side guardian of a major cloud CRM transformation, ensuring that Salesforce is implemented as a true cloud SaaS platform rather than a recreation of legacy systems. They bring independent challenge, delivery assurance, architectural discipline, and business–technology translation skills to a high‑stakes programme.
Critical skills:
36. Digital effectiveness (including AI)
37. Enabling others
38. Improvement mindset
39. Systems thinking
40. Team working
Closing Date
February 12, 2026
If you are currently working at Baillie Gifford as an employee or contractor please apply to this job from the firm's Workday internal career site.