ABOUT THE ROLE: 

The Director, Sales Compensation & Planning is responsible for the design, governance, and continuous improvement of Trace3's sales incentive compensation programs. This includes commissions, SPIFFs, overrides, accelerators, and other variable pay programs across the sales organization. The role leads annual incentive plan design, quota and target-setting support, territory planning alignment, and the development of analytics that measure plan effectiveness against Trace3's growth, profitability, and value-capture objectives.

This leader partners closely with GTM Strategy & Operations, Revenue Operations, Finance, and Sales Leadership to ensure compensation programs support business priorities and drive pay-for-performance outcomes across all go-to-market segments. The Director also leads and develops a team of compensation analysts, providing strategic direction, governance, and operational oversight of sales compensation programs.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Design, document, and maintain annual and in-year sales incentive plans, including commissions, SPIFFs, overrides, accelerators, and MBO components, across all sales segments and roles.
• Lead the incentive plan governance process, including plan approval workflows, exception handling, plan change control, and maintenance of a complete audit trail for plan decisions.
• Define and document sales compensation policies, crediting rules, and plan terms. Maintain the sales incentive plan document library and participant plan agreements.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, and GTM leadership on quota and target-setting methodologies, territory and account coverage planning, and segment-level capacity models.
• Model plan costs, payout curves, and pay-for-performance outcomes. Conduct scenario analysis to evaluate potential plan changes and business impacts prior to implementation.
• Build and maintain incentive compensation analytics and reporting that measure attainment distribution, plan effectiveness, participant behavior, and return on incentive spend.
• Lead the annual sales compensation planning cycle, ensuring incentive designs align with segmentation strategy, value-capture priorities, and revenue growth objectives.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for sales incentive compensation programs and provide guidance to Sales leadership on plan interpretation, governance, and crediting-rule matters.
• Partner with compensation administration, payroll, finance, and systems teams to ensure incentive plans are accurately configured and operationalized in downstream systems. This role is accountable for plan design and governance and does not calculate, process, approve, or disburse individual payments.
• Establish plan effectiveness metrics and lead recurring business reviews with GTM and Finance leadership to evaluate program performance and recommend enhancements.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of compensation analysts, setting priorities, reviewing work product, and building analytical and business partnership capabilities.
• Maintain documentation, controls, and governance practices to support internal and external audits of sales incentive compensation programs.

QUALIFICATIONS & INTERESTS:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Human Resources, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 8+ years of experience in sales compensation, sales operations, revenue operations, finance, compensation, or related analytical disciplines.
• 3+ years of experience leading and developing professional-level employees and/or teams.
• Deep knowledge of sales incentive plan design, including commissions, SPIFFs, overrides, accelerators, quotas, and crediting rules.
• Strong financial modeling and analytical skills with the ability to evaluate plan cost, payout scenarios, and business impacts and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Experience with CRM, ERP, and Sales Performance Management (SPM) platforms; advanced Microsoft Excel skills required.
• Working knowledge of quota setting, territory planning, account coverage models, and go-to-market segmentation.
• Strong governance and controls mindset with exceptional attention to detail, documentation, and process discipline.
• Proven ability to build effective partnerships across Sales, Finance, Revenue Operations, and executive leadership while balancing competing business priorities.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex compensation concepts to senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Experience within a technology, value-added reseller (VAR), distribution, or similar sales-driven environment preferred.