Director, Global Sales Incentive Strategy

Workday; Pleasanton (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 311,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday seeks a leader to drive end-to-end design of incentive compensation for global GTM teams, aligning plans with strategic priorities and AI initiatives. You will oversee framework governance, advanced analytics, and cross-functional collaboration across Sales, Finance, and Revenue Operations.

You will guide annual and in-year plans, establish performance levers, and ensure accurate payouts while managing risk.

Qualifications

• Strong executive communication and advisory skills, with the ability to simplify complex compensation mechanics for senior leadership
• Proficiency in directing analytical and AI adoption initiatives
• Deep knowledge of compensation and quota governance frameworks
• Experience architecting new metrics, including for consumption and AI monetization models
• Experience leading Executive Steering Committee meetings and driving key decision narratives
• Experience delivering cross-functional initiatives across Finance, HR, IT, Product, and GTM

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.
• Continuously improve processes across the full sales comp lifecycle.
• Partner with activation teams to land compensation enablement and change management for the global Sales team, including AI-assisted communications, FAQ generation, and plan-acceptance workflows.
• Partner with the Compensation Administration and Operations Teams to ensure design intent translates into accurate, auditable payouts.

Skills

Executive communication

AI adoption

GTM governance

Stakeholder management

Job description

Workday seeks a leader to drive end-to-end design of incentive compensation for global GTM teams, aligning plans with strategic priorities and AI initiatives. You will oversee framework governance, advanced analytics, and cross-functional collaboration across Sales, Finance, and Revenue Operations.

You will guide annual and in-year plans, establish performance levers, and ensure accurate payouts while managing risk.