Development Data & Systems Analyst

Location: US IL Remote

At The Obama Foundation, our mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. We seek to build an active democratic culture where people are equipped and motivated to make change in the communities where they live, work, and play. Right here on the South Side of Chicago, we’re building a home for this vision, a global center for change with a range of opportunities - coordinated programming, community outreach events, educational moments, and more - that invite visitors from down the block or across the globe to turn hope into action.

Achieving our ambitious goals starts with an exceptional team built on our Hope to Action Values - Courage, Empathy, Integrity, Accountability, Community, Inclusivity, Pragmatism, Resilience, Imagination, and Hope. A Framework that anyone, anywhere, can use to build trust, activate participation, and expand opportunity in their community.

Purpose of the Role

Reporting directly to the Manager of Development Data, the Development Data & Systems Analyst is a critical technical role responsible for optimizing, maintaining, and innovating within the Foundation’s Salesforce CRM ecosystem. As the Foundation expands its Principal Gifts function, this role ensures our data architecture, donor recognition tracking, and reporting pipelines run with peak efficiency.

The Analyst serves as the primary technical lead for the Development division's internal data ticketing system, fulfilling custom report requests, troubleshooting user issues, and delivering technical support to frontline fundraisers. Additionally, this role co-designs and tests new Salesforce workflows - specifically for duplicate management, activity tracking, and complex grant reporting - while performing regular database quality control audits. While not a primary gift processor, the Analyst maintains cross-training in gift intake to serve as strategic backup during peak fiscal thresholds and PTO coverage.

Core Job Responsibilities

Division Ticketing Lead & Technical Support

Help Desk Management: Take direct ownership of the Development team’s Salesforce ticketing system. Receive, prioritize, triage, and resolve incoming data, reporting, and system access requests from frontline fundraisers and operations staff within established SLAs.

Frontline Technical Support & Training: Provide technical guidance and user support across the team. Assist in drafting technical documentation, SOPs, and user guides, co-leading quarterly database training sessions for development analysts and lead onboarding Salesforce training for new Development staff.

Salesforce Systems Optimization & Custom Tracking

Recognition & Benefit Tracking: Partner with the Manager to design, build, and enforce standardized Salesforce workflows to accurately track donor naming opportunities, physical/digital recognition, and bespoke benefit fulfillment for OPC and Principal Gift donors.

Grants & Gift Reporting Architecture: Build custom tracking frameworks, reports, and dashboards in Salesforce to capture the full lifecycle, financial milestones, and reporting triggers for complex institutional gifts and grants.

QA Testing & System Enhancements: Conduct rigorous quality assurance (QA) testing in the Salesforce sandbox environment for new features, bug fixes, third-party integrations, or automation flows that are deployed to production.

Data Hygiene, Auditing & Quality Assurance

Data Integrity & Auditing: Execute regular data cleanup initiatives, quality control queries, mass data uploads, and duplicate record merges to maintain a pristine CRM database.

Workflow Automation & Documentation: Identify manual, repetitive data entry pain points across the department and recommend automated solutions. Maintain comprehensive, up-to-date documentation of database configurations and data standards.

Cross-Functional & Revenue Backup

Gift Processing Backup: Cross-train on all gift processing, lockbox, wire transfer, and batching procedures under the guidance of the Gift Acceptance team, serving as vital cross-functional surge backup during fiscal year-end and peak fundraising cycles.