Senior Zoho CRM Developer (Canvas & Deluge) – Elite Remote Firm

We are a boutique, elite technology services firm seeking a world-class Senior Zoho CRM Developer to take ownership of the build layer on a sophisticated, in-production CRM optimization engagement. The strategy, process design, and advisory direction are already set by our team — what we need is a deep technical operator who can translate that direction into precise, production-grade changes inside Zoho CRM. This is a hands-on implementation role, not a consulting one. You will be the person who actually redesigns the screens, writes the scripts, and ships the changes. The Zoho instance you will be working in was originally built by another vendor and is, frankly, a mess in places — so a meaningful part of this work is diagnosing what is broken beneath the surface and remediating it cleanly, without disrupting a live sales force that depends on the system every day. You will operate with high autonomy as the final technical authority on how changes get implemented in Zoho. We expect a deep, intuitive command of the platform: not just where the settings live, but how Canvas, Deluge, client scripts, layouts, and the underlying data model interact when you push them past the no-code ceiling. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES - Screen & UI Redesign (Canvas): Rebuild record detail pages, list views, and form views using Zoho Canvas — restructuring cluttered layouts so the sales team sees the right fields, related-module data, and conditional styling that fits how they actually work. - Platform Scripting (Deluge): Author and maintain custom functions, workflow logic, validation rules, and API-driven automations in Deluge, with clean, well-documented, upgrade-safe code. - Client-Side Behavior: Implement client scripts and embedded widgets (HTML/CSS/JS) to deliver dynamic on-screen behavior the standard configuration cannot express. - Instance Remediation: Diagnose and repair foundational issues left by the prior build — misconfigured layouts, fields, modules, and automations — that undermine the screen and UX layer. - Safe Deployment Discipline: Build and test in sandbox, deploy to production responsibly, and respect that this is a live system supporting an active sales org. No cowboy changes against production. - AI-Assisted Delivery: Leverage AI agents and LLM-assisted workflows to accelerate implementation throughput and improve the quality of what you ship. - Technical Documentation: Document what you change and why, so the work stays maintainable by us and legible to the client after handoff. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Technical Mastery - Demonstrated Zoho CRM Depth: Expert-level, hands-on experience customizing production Zoho CRM instances. Zoho certification (CRM Developer / Creator) is favored but not required if the work speaks for itself. - Canvas Fluency: Proven experience designing record detail pages, list views, and form views in Zoho Canvas, including Canvas rules and conditional styling. - Deluge Command: Strong, practical Deluge skills — custom functions, automations, and API calls — not just isolated snippets. - Client Scripts & Widgets: Comfortable extending the UI with client scripts and embedded widgets when Canvas alone will not get there. - Data Model Intuition: Solid grasp of Zoho's layouts, modules, fields, and how the underlying structure constrains what is possible at the UI layer. - Integrations & APIs: Working knowledge of Zoho's REST APIs and connecting Zoho CRM to external systems. - AI-Assisted Workflows: Practical use of AI agents or LLM tooling to raise your engineering output. Professional Attributes - Root-Cause Mindset: You do not paper over a bad build with more workarounds — you find what is actually wrong and fix it properly. - Production Discipline: You treat a live system with the caution it deserves and never gamble with a client's sales operation. - Craftsmanship: Clean, documented, upgrade-safe work. You assume the next person to open this instance is watching. - Elite Communication: Fluent in English, able to explain technical trade-offs clearly to our team. - Autonomous & Predictable: You manage your own time, hit deadlines, and flag timeline risk early rather than going quiet. HOW TO APPLY To ensure we only consider the most serious and qualified candidates, please follow this process carefully. Generic applications, or those without the requested video, will be archived. 1. In the first line of your cover letter, write: "Deluge holds no secrets for me." 2. Instead of a traditional cover letter, record a short Loom video (max 5 minutes) with your camera on. Introduce yourself and answer these three questions: - Inheriting a Bad Build: Describe a time you took over a poorly-implemented Zoho CRM instance. How did you assess what was wrong, and how did you remediate it without disrupting the people relying on it day to day? - Canvas in Practice: Walk us through how you would redesign a cluttered record detail page for a sales team that is not adopting the CRM. How do you decide what to surface, what to hide, and when conditional styling or related-module data earns its place on the screen? - Going Past No-Code: Tell us about the most complex thing you have built in Deluge (or with client scripts/widgets). What was the problem, how did you approach it, and where — if at all — did AI tooling factor into how you built it? 3. Include the link to your Loom video at the top of your proposal.