Director, Sales Compensation Strategy

Your work days are brighter here.We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.About the TeamThe GTM Incentive Compensation team designs and delivers innovative, data-driven incentive compensation plans that align performance and pay to Workday’s strategic objectives and drive sustainable revenue growth. We lead the global strategy, design, planning, enablement, communication, and analysis of Workday’s incentive compensation plans for all GTM functions, including Sales, Services, Support, and Customer Experience roles.About the RoleIn this role, you will lead a team of incentive designers, establish overarching design frameworks and governance, and own ongoing optimization of sales incentive programs across our global sales organization to align compensation with strategic growth objectives and financial discipline. You will partner closely with Sales, Finance, Revenue Operations. To be successful, you will leverage strong stakeholder and program management skills, seek continuous process improvement, and enhance the team’s analytical and AI capabilities to model outcomes, monitor performance metrics, and translate complex variable compensation mechanics into clear, actionable guidance for senior leadership. You will:Lead end-to-end design of annual and in-year compensation plans for direct sellers and overlay roles.Align compensation structures with Workday's GTM priorities, including new business, expansion, retention, and AI offerings.Design pay curves, accelerators, and performance levers that incent the right behaviors while managing financial risk.Partner with Finance and Revenue Operations on quota-setting methodology and deployment.Ensure compensation mechanics align with territories, quotas, and fiscal planning.Support governance processes for true-ups, exceptions, and complex deals.Identify sales performance gaps and design targeted incentives such as SPIFFs and pilots.Measure incentive effectiveness and iterate based on data and results.Build and maintain compensation analytics to model outcomes before rollout and monitor performance during the year.Own dashboards that track attainment, payouts, risk, and variance.Partner with data teams to ensure reliable and scalable compensation data infrastructure.Play a key role in Workday's Compensation Governance processes.Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders in Sales, Finance, and Revenue Operations.Translate complex compensation concepts into clear, actionable insights.Continuously improve processes across the full sales comp lifecycle. Partner with activation teams to land compensation enablement and change management for the global Sales team, including AI-assisted communications, FAQ generation, and plan-acceptance workflows.Partner with the Compensation Administration and Operations Teams to ensure design intent translates into accurate, auditable payouts.VISA Sponsorship is not available for this roleAbout YouBasic Qualifications (Required)Minimum of 10 years’ experience in sales or GTM functionsMinimum of 8 years in sales compensation plan design (annual and in-year) for direct sellers and overlay rolesMinimum of 3 years managing peopleOther Qualifications:Strong executive communication and advisory skills, with the ability to simplify complex compensation mechanics for senior leadershipProficiency in directing analytical and AI adoption initiativesDeep knowledge of compensation and quota governance frameworksExperience architecting new metrics, including for consumption and AI monetization modelsExperience leading Executive Steering Committee meetings and driving key decision narrativesExperience delivering cross-functional initiatives across Finance, HR, IT, Product, and GTMWorkday Pay Transparency StatementThe annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.Primary Location: USA.CA.Home Office Bay AreaPrimary Location Base Pay Range: $207,000 USD - $310,600 USDAdditional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $174,800 USD - $310,600 USDAdditional Considerations: If performed in Colorado, the pay range for this job is $184,000 - $276,000 USD based on min and max pay range for that role if performed in CO.The application deadline for this role is the same as the posting end date stated as below:10/22/2026Our Approach to Flexible WorkWith Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law. Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email View email address on click.appcast.io, as far in advance as possible.Are you being referred to one of our roles? If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!At Workday, we value our candidates’ privacy and data security. Workday will never ask candidates to apply to jobs through websites that are not Workday Careers. Please be aware of sites that may ask for you to input your data in connection with a job posting that appears to be from Workday but is not.In addition, Workday will never ask candidates to pay a recruiting fee, or pay for consulting or coaching services, in order to apply for a job at Workday.SummaryLocation: USA.CA.Home Office Bay Area; USA, UT, Salt Lake City; USA, CA, San Francisco; USA, IL, Chicago; USA, NY, New York City; USA, CO, Denver; USA, TX, Austin; USA, CA, PleasantonType: Full Time