Sales Compensation Business Partner - Director

Company Description

It all started in sunny San Diego, California in 2004 when a visionary engineer, Fred Luddy, saw the potential to transform how we work. Fast forward to today — ServiceNow stands as a global market leader, bringing innovative AI-enhanced technology to over 8,100 customers, including 85% of the Fortune 500®. Our intelligent cloud-based platform seamlessly connects people, systems, and processes to empower organizations to find smarter, faster, and better ways to work. But this is just the beginning of our journey. Join us as we pursue our purpose to make the world work better for everyone.

Job Description

About the Role

We are seeking a Director - Sales Compensation Business Partner to design and optimize incentive programs that drive performance and support the strategic objectives of our sales organization. A key focus of this role is supporting M&A activities, including compensation due diligence, plan harmonization, and integration of acquired sales teams. In this role, you will partner closely with Sales Leadership, Revenue Operations, Finance, and HR to ensure our sales compensation plans are competitive, aligned to business goals, and effectively motivate desired sales behaviors.

This is a highly visible, strategic role ideal for someone who combines strong analytical capability with practical sales understanding and the ability to influence stakeholders across the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, evaluate, and refine sales compensation plans (commission, quota-based incentives, accelerators, SPIFs) that align with business strategy and sales motions.
• Analyze sales performance and compensation data to assess plan effectiveness, identify trends, and recommend improvements.
• Partner with Sales Leadership and Finance to set quotas, territory structures, and incentive plan parameters that support organizational revenue targets.
• Lead annual and mid-year compensation planning cycles, including modeling, communications, and rollout.
• Develop clear and compelling documentation and training to ensure Sales teams understand how their plans work and how to maximize earnings.
• Ensure compliance and governance across compensation programs, including policy adherence and audit readiness.
• Stay current on industry benchmarks and market trends to ensure competitiveness and relevance of compensation structures.
• Support M&A activities from a sales compensation perspective, including due diligence on acquired sales compensation plans, retention incentives for key sales talent, and integration of acquired sales teams into existing compensation frameworks.
• Conduct compensation benchmarking and gap analysis for acquired entities, developing transition plans that balance retention risk with cost considerations and internal equity.

Qualifications

Required:

• 5+ years of experience in Sales Compensation, Sales Operations, Total Rewards, or Consulting focused on sales incentive design.
• Strong proficiency in Excel (pivot tables, lookups, statistical analysis, modeling).
• Experience working with sales performance and CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot).
• Proven ability to translate data insights into recommendations that influence leadership decisions.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to simplify complex compensation concepts.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, HR, Economics, or related field (or equivalent work experience).

Preferred:

• Experience with Sales Compensation management software (e.g., Xactly, CaptivateIQ, Performio, Varicent).
• Prior experience supporting quota-setting, territory planning, or revenue operations workflows.
• Familiarity with subscription / SaaS business models and sales motions.
• Consulting experience or experience supporting a high-growth or transformational environment.
• Experience supporting M&A integration activities, including compensation due diligence, plan harmonization, and retention strategy development for acquired sales populations.
• Familiarity with change management principles and ability to manage sensitive communications during organizational transitions.

Key Competencies

• Analytical Rigor: Able to build models, interpret trends, and use data to solve business problems.
• Influence & Partnership: Confident in working with senior l