Senior Manager Compensation

Senior Manager, Sales Compensation & Incentive Operations

Remote (U.S.) |

About the Opportunity

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.

This opportunity is ideal for an experienced sales compensation professional who thrives at the intersection of finance, operations, analytics, and sales strategy. The individual selected will own the end-to-end administration, governance, forecasting, and optimization of the company's incentive compensation programs while partnering closely with executive leadership, Revenue Operations, Finance, Human Resources, and Sales leadership.

The Role

The 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 leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Own 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.

Qualifications

Required Experience

• 6+ years of experience in Sales Compensation, Revenue Operations, FP&A, Commercial Finance, or a related analytics-focused discipline.
• Hands-on experience administering incentive compensation software such as CaptivateIQ, Xactly, Spiff, Everstage, Varicent, or similar platforms.
• Demonstrated experience managing commission programs and variable compensation budgets in a high-growth or technology-driven environment.
• Strong background running monthly commission cycles with responsibility for calculations, approvals, payroll coordination, and financial reconciliations.
• Experience evaluating compensation plans and making data-driven recommendations that improve business outcomes.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, including forecasting, scenario analysis, and compensation cost modeling.
• Ability to balance strategic planning responsibilities with detailed operational execution.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present findings and recommendations to senior executives while effectively supporting front-line sales teams.
• High level of integrity and discretion when working with confidential compensation data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting both commercial and government-focused sales organizations.
• Knowledge of Salesforce reporting, CRM administration, and system integrations.
• Experience administering multi-region or multi-currency compensation programs.
• Exposure to audit, compliance, and SOX-controlled compensation environments.
• Familiarity with compensation analytics, incentive design methodologies, and revenue performance management best practices.

First Few Months:

• Successfully assume ownership of the monthly incentive compensation cycle with minimal oversight.
• Validate and reconcile year-to-date commission results, identify discrepancies, and resolve outstanding issues.
• Establish clear compensation governance practices, reporting cadences, and operational documentation.
• Deliver executive-level analysis of compensation expense, attainment trends, and plan effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities for process improvements, automation, and system enhancements.
• Build trusted relationships with Sales Leadership, Finance, Human Resources, and Revenue Operations stakeholders.