Manager, Sales Compensation & Incentives

Relevant-Industrial; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Relevant Solutions is seeking a Manager, Sales Compensation & Incentives to design and administer compensation plans and cross-sell crediting rules aligned with margin and growth objectives. The role reports to the VP, Commercial Excellence and owns quota and territory setting, payout governance, and incentive modeling.

The role functions as the behavior lever of the commercial operating system, ensuring pay-for-performance drives the desired seller actions.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of experience in sales compensation, incentive design, or sales operations
• Strong financial modeling skills and experience with Incentive Compensation Management tools
• Ability to partner across HR, Finance, and Sales and communicate plans clearly to the field

Responsibilities

• Design compensation plans, mechanics, accelerators, and SPIFs aligned to strategy
• Set quotas and territories in partnership with Sales and Commercial Analytics
• Oversee payout governance, accuracy, disputes, and audit of payouts
• Model plan cost and budget neutrality; analyze pay-for-performance and plan effectiveness
• Governance and compliance with HR/Total Rewards, Finance, and policy alignment

Skills

Financial modeling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, HR, or related field

Tools

ICM tools

Job description

The Manager, Sales Compensation & Incentives designs and administers the compensation plans and cross-sell crediting rules that align seller behavior with margin and growth objectives. Reporting to the VP, Commercial Excellence, this role owns quota and territory setting, payout governance, and incentive modeling.

This role is the behavior lever of the commercial operating system—ensuring that what the company pays for is what it wants sellers to do. Plans are designed to be budget-neutral to current spend while sharpening incentives for margin and cross-pillar selling.

Core Areas of Focus

Compensation Plan Design

• Design role-based plan structures, mechanics, accelerators, and Sales Performance Incentive Funds (SPIF) aligned to strategy
• Own the two-sided cross-sell crediting rules that reward originators and closers
• Define crediting mechanics for exception-triggered reassignments (e.g., opportunity redeploy after seller inaction), distinct from standard two-sided cross-sell crediting

Quota & Territory Setting

• Establish quota methodology and territory definitions in partnership with Sales and Commercial Analytics & Reporting
• Balance fairness, attainability, and growth ambition

Payout Governance & Administration

• Ensure sales crediting accuracy, resolve disputes, and administer payout calculation and audit
• Maintain plan documents, terms, and approval records

Modeling & Effectiveness

• Model plan cost and budget neutrality; analyze pay-for-performance and plan effectiveness
• Recommend annual plan changes based on outcomes

Governance & Compliance

• Partner with HR/Total Rewards and Finance on governance, funding, and pay equity; ensure compliant, well-documented plans

Key Internal Partnerships

• HR / Total Rewards — Compensation governance, pay equity, and policy alignment
• Finance & Payroll — Payout funding, accrual, and budget-neutrality validation
• Line Sales & Pillar Leaders — Quota and territory setting and plan communication
• Commercial Analytics & Reporting — Attainment reporting and sales crediting inputs
• Commercial Systems — Source data for sales crediting and attainment tracking

Requirements

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of experience in sales compensation, incentive design, or sales operations, preferably in industrial/B2B
• Demonstrated ownership of comp-plan design and administration with measurable behavior/margin impact
• Strong financial modeling skills; experience with Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) tools
• Working knowledge of quota/territory methodology and crediting logic
• Ability to partner across HR, Finance, and Sales and to communicate plans clearly to the field
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, HR, or related field required

Relevant Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform essential job functions.