Director, Sales Commission

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, which manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Director, Sales Commission based in the United States. We are seeking a strategic, hands-on leader to oversee global sales incentive compensation programs and ensure they align with business objectives, revenue targets, and organizational performance. In this executive-facing role, you will lead compensation plan design, financial modeling, commission operations, and performance analytics across recurring and non-recurring revenue business models. Working closely with Finance, HR, Revenue, Sales Operations, and executive leadership, you will translate company goals into effective incentive structures while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and operational efficiency. You will also oversee commission systems, strengthen data integrity, and deliver actionable insights to senior leaders on sales performance and compensation expenses. This position combines strategic decision-making with hands-on execution and team leadership in a distributed, global environment. It offers an opportunity to modernize compensation operations, leverage emerging AI tools, and shape how sales incentives drive sustainable business growth.

Global Compensation Strategy: Lead the annual sales compensation planning process across B2B SaaS recurring revenue and non-recurring revenue business models. Translate company objectives and sales targets into effective incentive structures, role-based metrics, and comprehensive compensation plan documentation. Executive Alignment and Plan Design: Develop financial models and compensation scenarios, present recommendations to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and lead iterative discussions to secure executive approval of final plans. Compensation Governance: Establish and maintain clear policies governing variable compensation, including leaves of absence, guarantees, ramp periods, plan exclusions, exceptions, disputes, and mid-year quota adjustments. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with HR, Revenue, and Sales Operations to gather business requirements, align performance metrics, incorporate quotas and territories, and ensure effective plan implementation and consistent policy enforcement. Commission Operations: Oversee the complete calculation and execution of variable compensation plans through Everstage, ensuring accurate payouts, timely processing, and clear communication with employees to maintain confidence in the compensation process. Payroll Validation: Review, validate, and approve monthly and quarterly global commission and bonus payroll workbooks across US and international schedules before submission to Payroll. Systems and Data Integrity: Audit and optimize commission workflows within Everstage. Collaborate with HR Operations and HRIS teams to manage and monitor Workday-to-Everstage data integrations, identify data quality issues, and resolve discrepancies related to new hires, promotions, transfers, and other employee changes. Sales Systems and Deal Analysis: Maintain a strong understanding of Salesforce CPQ configurations, deal structures, and quote-to-cash processes. Resolve complex commission questions involving stepped pricing arrangements, multi-year accelerators, early renewals, and customized contract terms. Exception and Dispute Management: Serve as the primary decision-maker for initial compensation exceptions, disputes, and policy interpretations, developing consistent, data-backed recommendations and escalating complex matters when appropriate. Executive and Board Reporting: Develop performance dashboards, quota attainment metrics, compensation plan effectiveness analyses, and commission expense insights. Prepare board-level reporting inputs and present quarterly performance results to the CFO during Finance Operations Quarterly Business Reviews. Data and Analytics Partnerships: Work with Enterprise Data teams to define business requirements, improve data accuracy, and maintain reporting models across the data warehouse and analytics platforms, including Snowflake and Tableau. Financial Planning and Accounting: Collaborate with Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and Accounting to provide reliable commission expense forecasts, month-end and quarter-end accruals, and inputs for capitalized commissions. Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and mentor a distributed team of two commission analysts based in the United States and London. Establish clear performance expectations, support professional development, and promote accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Technology and Process Innovation: Experiment with AI tools, including Gemini and Claude, to streamline analytics, automate recurring operational tasks, improve efficiency, and encourage broader team adoption of emerging technologies. Requirements At least eight years of progressive experience in sales compensation, incentive management, or a related discipline, including five or more years of direct people management experience. Deep expertise in designing, implementing, and administering sales incentive plans in B2B SaaS and recurring revenue environments, with additional experience supporting non-recurring revenue models. Direct experience with commission management platforms, preferably Everstage, or equivalent Sales Performance Management (SPM) systems such as CaptivateIQ, Spiff, or Xactly. Advanced Excel skills, including financial modeling, scenario analysis, and compensation calculations. Experience working with HRIS systems and data integrations, with Workday-to-Everstage integration experience strongly preferred. Familiarity with data warehousing, business intelligence, and reporting platforms; experience with Snowflake and Tableau is an advantage. Strong operational knowledge of Salesforce CPQ, sales deal structures, quote-to-cash processes, and complex contractual arrangements, including multi-year agreements and stepped commission structures. A hands-on leadership approach that combines strategic planning with a willingness to perform detailed analysis, investigate discrepancies, and manage day-to-day operational execution. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex financial models, defend compensation plan designs, and present performance insights to executive stakeholders, including the CFO, CRO, and senior vice presidents. Strong business judgment and analytical capabilities, with the confidence to independently assess exception requests, interpret policies, and deliver well-reasoned recommendations. Proven coaching, mentoring, and performance management skills, particularly within distributed or remote teams. A continuous improvement mindset and enthusiasm for experimenting with emerging technologies and AI platforms to improve productivity, analytics, and operational workflows. Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and a commitment to compensation accuracy, data integrity, transparency, and sound financial controls. Benefits Annual base salary: $174,000–$200,000. Remote work arrangement. The opportunity to lead global sales compensation strategy and operations in a collaborative, international environment. Significant influence over executive-level compensation decisions, financial planning, and sales performance management. Opportunities to drive process innovation, automation, and AI adoption across commission operations. The opportunity to lead and develop a distributed team while partnering closely with senior Finance, HR, and Revenue leaders. A culture emphasizing customer outcomes, transparency, integrity, innovation, accountability, and collaboration. Professional growth opportunities within a global technology-focused business.