Innovation Architect - Commerce Cloud

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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.

About Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Join Salesforce Commerce Cloud, the platform powering transactions for thousands of the world's leading brands. As the essential system of engagement for global retailers, Commerce Cloud is constantly evolving to deliver the next generation of intelligent shopping experiences. This strategic role is chartered to ensure we lead the market in innovation, defining the future of commerce by building and validating concepts before they become mainstream.

Role Description

We are seeking a visionary and highly-technical Innovation Architect to join the Commerce Cloud team. This strategic role is defined by its mission to ensure Salesforce is at the absolute forefront of market and technological innovation in the commerce space. You will act as the internal "futurist" and hands-on technical evangelist, continuously scanning the competitive landscape, identifying emerging technologies, and rapidly building compelling proof-of-concept (POC) demonstrations that define the next generation of our platform.

Your success will be measured by your ability to anticipate and demonstrate the innovations that will excite our customers and partners, ensuring we are the leaders, not the followers.

Your Impact

• Define the Innovation Pipeline: Proactively research and analyze emerging technologies, market trends, competitive product releases, and community discussions to identify high-leverage innovation areas for Commerce Cloud.

• Art-of-the-Possible Prototypes: Architect, develop, and present rapidly prototyped, high-fidelity technical demos that illustrate novel product capabilities and prove the technical feasibility of future-state ideas. These prototypes will be used to secure executive investment and influence the product strategy.

• Competitive and Technical Intelligence: Establish a continuous process for competitive analysis, providing regular, concise technical reports to senior leadership and product teams detailing where competitors are investing and suggesting preemptive counter-strategies.

• Technology Scouting and Advocacy: Evaluate and champion the adoption of new, bleeding-edge technologies, frameworks, and tools (especially around Generative AI, real-time data processing, and headless architecture) that could dramatically accelerate our development or unlock new product categories.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner closely with Product Management, Core Engineering Leadership, and Architecture teams to translate visionary concepts into concrete, actionable technical roadmaps and product themes for the Business Unit.

• Mentorship and Standards: Act as a technical authority, mentoring senior engineers and guiding decision-making on emerging architectural patterns, distributed systems design, and best practices for delivering cutting-edge, scalable features.

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in a highly technical role (e.g., Principal Engineer, Technical Architect) with a proven track record of directly influencing product direction through research and hands-on demonstration.

• Demonstrated ability to identify and successfully advocate for new technology investment that resulted in market-leading product features.

• Expert-level Full Stack development and architecture experience with proficiency in multiple modern programming languages (e.g., Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Go) and extensive hands-on experience designing and building scalable, distributed systems.

• Deep and current knowledge of key industry trends in AI/ML, Real-time Data Streaming, Microservices, and Cloud Native Architectures.

• Exceptional communication and technical storytelling skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical visions to both executive and engineering audiences through compelling demos and presentations.

• Highly self-directed, entrepreneurial, and comfortable working in an ambiguous, future-focused environment with limited initial definition.

• Direct experience with the Salesforce platform ecosystem, including Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud, and Agentforce.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in the competitive landscape of commerce platforms, customer data platforms (CDP), or enterprise AI software.

• Familiarity with Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) and the deployment of predictive or generative AI features into customer-facing environments.

• Prior experience acting as a Technical Evangelist or presenting complex technical concepts at major industry conferences.

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 and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do 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.

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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 $211,500 - $351,800 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $230,800 - $384,100 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.