Functional Consultant — owns business analysis, requirements, solution design. Bridge between business and technical team. Drives Discovery, writes SDD, runs UAT. Sometimes called Business Analyst (BA) on smaller projects.
Solution Architect — owns the technical architecture. Approves data model, security model, integration patterns, deployment strategy. Reviews developer designs. Senior than the dev team.
Technical Architect (TA) — even more senior. Often a Certified Technical Architect (CTA). Engaged on enterprise / complex projects. Owns the org's strategic technical direction.
Salesforce Developer — implements custom code (Apex, LWC, integrations). Reports to architect. May also do declarative work.
Salesforce Admin — implements declarative configuration (objects, fields, flows, page layouts, permissions, reports). Typically owns the org post-go-live for ongoing changes.
QA / Tester — designs and executes test cases (functional, regression, integration). Reports defects, validates fixes. May also automate testing (Provar, Selenium, Cypress).
Project Manager (PM) — runs the project: timeline, budget, resourcing, risk, status reporting. Coordinates with the client's PM.
Scrum Master (in agile setups) — facilitates sprints, retros, removes blockers. Sometimes the PM also plays Scrum Master.
Product Owner — client-side role. Owns the backlog, prioritises stories, accepts work. Critical for agile success.
Change Management Lead — handles training, communication, adoption metrics. Often underestimated; great projects have this role explicit.
Data Migration Specialist — niche but critical. Owns the move from legacy to Salesforce. Often a developer with migration tooling expertise.
Integration Specialist / Mulesoft Developer — for integration-heavy projects.
Typical team size:
- Small project: 1 Consultant + 1 Admin + 1 Developer + 1 PM = 4 people.
- Mid project: + Architect + QA + Change Mgmt = 7 people.
- Enterprise: + multiple Devs + multiple QAs + TA + Integration + Data + Industry SME = 10-20+ people.
Senior consultants help clients think about which roles they need internally vs hire externally. The handoff to ongoing operations needs at least one client-side admin who can take over.