Compensation Manager

My client is a rapidly growing, data-driven technology organization serving enterprise, government, and commercial customers across multiple markets. As the company continues to scale, variable compensation remains one of the most important drivers of revenue performance, sales productivity, and organizational growth.The RoleThe Senior Manager, Sales Compensation & Incentive Operations will lead all aspects of the organization's sales compensation function. This role is responsible for administering complex commission plans, forecasting compensation expense, overseeing monthly payout cycles, maintaining compensation systems, and providing strategic recommendations that influence plan design and sales behavior.You will serve as the primary subject matter expert for incentive compensation and act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership regarding plan effectiveness, cost management, quota performance, and compensation strategy.This position reports into Revenue Operations and works closely with Finance, Human Resources, and executive leadershipKey ResponsibilitiesOwn the forecasting, tracking, and reporting of incentive compensation expense against budget and annual operating plans.Provide executive leadership with actionable insights regarding plan effectiveness, attainment trends, compensation costs, and sales performance.Analyze proposed compensation plan changes and model their financial impact, including accelerators, SPIFFs, quotas, territories, crediting rules, and performance thresholds.Manage the monthly commission process from data validation and crediting through calculation, approvals, payroll submission, and financial accruals.Ensure all commission payments are accurately reconciled to compensation plans, payroll records, and financial reporting requirements.Administer and maintain the organization's incentive compensation platform, ensuring accurate configuration of compensation plans, quotas, territories, and employee assignments.Partner with Sales Operations and Human Resources to support new hires, promotions, territory changes, plan amendments, and annual compensation rollouts.Serve as the primary escalation point for compensation inquiries, disputes, and exception requests.Maintain compensation governance, documentation, policies, procedures, and audit-ready records.Support annual compensation plan launches, including documentation, communication materials, quota assignments, and system readiness.Develop and maintain reporting and dashboards that provide visibility into earnings, attainment, quota performance, and commission expense.Partner with systems and operations teams to ensure data integrity across CRM, HRIS, payroll, and compensation platforms.Identify opportunities to automate processes, improve controls, and leverage technology to increase efficiency and accuracy.Prepare executive-level presentations and recommendations for leadership review, compensation committees, and planning discussions.