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Salary: USD 114,000 - 182,000 / annual
Motive is seeking a Senior Commissions Forecasting & Sales Compensation Program Lead to own the end-to-end commissions modeling, forecasting, and sales compensation program design for a global SaaS organization serving nearly 100,000 customers across transportation, logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, and other industries.
This is a high-impact individual-contributor role sitting at the intersection of FP&A, Sales, GTM Strategy, Operations, Finance, People, Legal, Payroll, and Business Technology. You will turn complex business objectives into reliable, explainable commissions forecasts and scalable, auditable compensation programs.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own the commissions forecasting process end-to-end: forecast calendar, model architecture, assumptions, run-rate methodology, headcount and plan-change inputs, source-data validation, forecast submissions, actuals-to-forecast analysis, and executive commentary.
- Produce monthly, quarterly, and annual commissions forecasts and explain variances by segment, role, plan component, headcount movement, attainment, and timing.
- Assist in designing and evolving sales compensation plans across multiple segments, roles, geographies, and pay periods.
- Translate GTM strategy into measurable compensation mechanics including quotas, crediting rules, accelerators, kickers, draws, SPIFFs, MBOs, ramping structures, and exception frameworks.
- Build models and scenario analyses to evaluate plan outcomes, behavioral incentives, fairness, payout volatility, cost implications, and implementation complexity.
- Partner with Sales Leadership, GTM Strategy, Finance, People, Legal, Payroll, and Business Technology to align on requirements, tradeoffs, approvals, and timing.
- Convert approved design decisions into clear business requirements, decision logs, process documentation, test cases, and implementation specifications.
- Review system outputs and reporting for alignment to policy and intended plan behavior; identify root causes when results are inaccurate or difficult for sellers to understand.
- Establish practical governance for plan changes, exceptions, approvals, and effective dates with clear audit trails.
- Create and deliver enablement for sales leaders, managers, and compensation partners; explain complex mechanics clearly.
- Develop recurring performance reporting on attainment, payout behavior, plan participation, exception themes, forecast accuracy, and compensation-program effectiveness.
- Support audit and IPO-readiness activities by ensuring plan logic, approvals, controls, and evidence are complete and reusable.
- Mentor analysts and collaborate with systems and operations partners without formal people-management responsibility.
Requirements:
- 6+ years of experience in FP&A, sales compensation, incentive compensation, sales operations, revenue operations, finance, or closely related analytical discipline, including meaningful ownership of commissions or variable-compensation forecasting.
- Demonstrated experience designing or materially changing sales compensation plans in a complex, multi-segment organization.
- Strong FP&A, analytical, and financial-modeling skills; able to work comfortably with large datasets and build transparent forecast, bridge, variance, and scenario models.
- Deep understanding of compensation mechanics such as quota allocation, attainment, crediting, accelerators, kickers, draws, ramping, clawbacks, SPIFFs, and exception handling.
- Experience partnering with FP&A and senior stakeholders and building consensus across Sales, Finance, Operations, People, and Technology.
- Ability to write clear policy language, business requirements, process documentation, and executive-ready recommendations.
- Strong systems orientation and experience with an incentive compensation management platform such as Xactly, Varicent, CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Anaplan, or equivalent.
- Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, including ability to explain complex compensation mechanics to non-specialists.
- High ownership, attention to detail, sound judgment, and comfort operating in ambiguous, high-change environments.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting a global SaaS, technology, or subscription business.
- Experience with Salesforce, Workday, Snowflake, SQL, or business-intelligence tools.
- Experience designing compensation for both new-logo and account-management organizations.
- Experience creating enablement programs, compensation hubs, FAQs, or self-service resources.
