Workday · 3 days ago
Director, Sales Compensation Strategy
Chicago, IL
Full-time
Hybrid
Director/Executive
$184K/yr - $276K/yr
8+ years expWorkday is a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. The Sales Compensation Director will lead the design and optimization of sales incentive programs, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and financial discipline while collaborating closely with Finance and Revenue Operations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud ComputingEnterprise SoftwareHuman ResourcesSaaSSoftware
Responsibilities
Lead end-to-end design of annual and in-year compensation plans for direct sellers and overlay roles
Align compensation structures with Workday’s GTM priorities, including new business, expansion, retention, and AI offerings
Design pay curves, accelerators, and performance levers that incent the right behaviors while managing financial risk
Partner with Finance and Revenue Operations on quota-setting methodology and deployment
Ensure compensation mechanics align with territories, quotas, and fiscal planning
Support governance processes for true-ups, exceptions, and complex deals
Identify sales performance gaps and design targeted incentives such as SPIFFs and pilots
Measure incentive effectiveness and iterate based on data and results
Build and maintain compensation analytics to model outcomes before rollout and monitor performance during the year
Own dashboards that track attainment, payouts, risk, and variance
Partner with data teams to ensure reliable and scalable compensation data infrastructure
Play a key role in Workday’s Compensation Governance processes
Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders in Sales, Finance, and Revenue Operations
Translate complex compensation concepts into clear, actionable insights
Qualification
Required
8+ years experience in end-to-end sales compensation plan design (annual and in-year) for direct sellers and overlay roles
8+ years experience aligning compensation structures with GTM strategies (e.g., new business, expansion, retention, AI offerings)
8+ years experience partnering with Finance and Revenue Operations on quota-setting methodologies and compensation mechanics
3+ years of in a people management role
Strong analytical skills with experience building and maintaining compensation analytics, modeling outcomes, and owning performance dashboards
Experience identifying sales performance gaps and designing targeted incentives (SPIFFs, pilots)
Excellent communication and advisory skills, capable of translating complex compensation concepts into actionable insights for senior leaders
Familiarity with governance processes for compensation and quota management
Benefits
Workday Bonus Plan
Annual refresh stock grants
Company
Workday
Workday provides SaaS-based enterprise solutions for a company's human resources and financial management activities.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Workday has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (331)
2024 (388)
2023 (262)
2022 (503)
2021 (290)
2020 (229)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$2.23BKey Investors
Elliott Management Corp.Bezos Expeditions,Janus Capital Group,Morgan Stanley,T. Rowe PriceNew Enterprise Associates
2025-09-16Post Ipo Equity· $2B
2012-10-12IPO
2011-10-24Series F· $85M
Leadership Team
Aneel Bhusri
CEO and Co-Founder
Peter Bailis
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
2026-02-06
2026-02-06
Company data provided by crunchbase