Senior Manager, Sales Compensation

Cohesity, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 201,000 - 223,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Health and wellness programs

401(k) retirement plan

Equity grants

Job summary

Cohesity, Inc. is seeking a seasoned Senior Director of Sales Compensation to own payroll, system administration, and analytics across the sales organization. You will partner with Sales, Finance, and Payroll to optimize compensation plans that align with Cohesity's strategic goals.

The role requires 7+ years in sales compensation operations, hands-on experience with SAP Callidus or Xactly, and a proven ability to lead teams while leveraging AI tools to improve processes and forecast expenses.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant experience in sales compensation, finance, or accounting operations, including prior people management or team lead experience.
• Hands-on experience with sales compensation or commission systems (SAP Callidus, Xactly, or similar) and SOX/business controls.
• Experience in a high-tech or B2B SaaS environment preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end monthly, quarterly, and annual sales compensation payroll process, ensuring commission payments to plan participants are accurate, timely, and properly reconciled with Payroll and Accounting.
• Manage the Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM) system (SAP Callidus Commissions), including participant setup, plan configuration, and rollout of plan changes and new system features.
• Lead the Sales Compensation team in the administration of compensation plans, participant data management, and resolution of commission calculation questions and disputes.
• Partner with sales leadership to design and optimize sales compensation plans that align with Cohesity's go-to-market strategy and financial objectives.

Skills

Sales comp ops

SOX compliance

Team leadership

AI enablement

Excel

BI/Analytics

Data analysis

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA or equivalent experience

Tools

SAP Callidus

Xactly

Salesforce

Workday

Anaplan

Tableau

Job description

Cohesity is a leader in AI-powered data security and management. Aided by an extensive ecosystem of partners, Cohesity makes it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data - across the data center, edge, and cloud. Cohesity helps organizations defend against cybersecurity threats with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, monitoring for malicious behavior, and rapid recovery at scale. We’ve been named a Leader by multiple analyst firms and have been globally recognized for Innovation, Product Strength, and Simplicity in Design. Join us on our mission to shape the future of our industry.

HOW YOU'LL SPEND YOUR TIME HERE:

Payroll & Compensation Administration

• Own the end-to-end monthly, quarterly, and annual sales compensation payroll process, ensuring commission payments to plan participants are accurate, timely, and properly reconciled with Payroll and Accounting.
• Manage the Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM) system (SAP Callidus Commissions), including participant setup, plan configuration, and rollout of plan changes and new system features.
• Lead the Sales Compensation team in the administration of compensation plans, participant data management, and resolution of commission calculation questions and disputes.
• Partner with sales leadership to design and optimize sales compensation plans that align with Cohesity's go-to-market strategy and financial objectives.

SOX Compliance & Controls

• Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual SOX and business controls program for sales compensation, ensuring system accuracy, data integrity, and audit readiness.
• Develop and maintain policies, procedures, and documentation that support internal control compliance and consistent recordkeeping across the compensation lifecycle.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for internal and external auditors on sales compensation controls and processes.

Process Improvement & AI Enablement

• Identify and lead process improvement initiatives across compensation administration, controls, and reporting, with a focus on scalability as the sales organization grows.
• Operationalize AI-native tools and automation (e.g., AI assistants, scripting, workflow automation) to streamline repetitive commission processing, controls testing, and reporting workstreams.
• Build and maintain compensation analytics, dashboards, and predictive models - leveraging AI to surface anomalies, forecast commission expense, and assess plan effectiveness.
• Continually evaluate and evolve sales compensation systems and processes, championing best practices and change management across Finance and Sales.

Team Leadership & Business Partnership

• Lead, coach, and develop Sales Compensation Analysts, including performance management, prioritization, and workload distribution across the team.
• Build strong relationships with cross-functional partners in Sales Operations, HR, Payroll, and Accounting to ensure clean, consistent participant and compensation data.
• Prepare and present clear compensation analytics, forecasts, and plan performance updates to Finance and Sales leadership.

WE'D LOVE TO TALK TO YOU IF YOU HAVE MANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

• Proven experience managing sales compensation operations, including commission system administration (SAP Callidus, Xactly, or similar) at a management level.
• Demonstrated ownership of SOX and business controls processes, with the judgment to identify and remediate control gaps.
• A track record of leading and developing a team, with the ability to balance hands-on execution with people leadership.
• Comfortable using AI assistants (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) and automation/scripting to eliminate manual work, build resilient models, and accelerate reporting - a genuine 'future-of-finance' mindset.
• Strong analytical skills, including complex scenario modeling and analysis of large participant and commission datasets.
• Advanced Excel skills, with experience in Salesforce, Workday, Anaplan, NetSuite, and Tableau (or equivalent) applications.
• Ability to distill complex compensation data into clear, concise recommendations for financial and non-financial leaders.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the agility to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, scaling environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting to executive and sales leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and support decision making.

Your Experience

• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent experience a plus.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in sales compensation, finance, or accounting operations, including prior people management or team lead experience.
• Hands-on experience with sales compensation or commission systems (SAP Callidus, Xactly, or similar) and SOX/business controls.
• Experience operationalizing AI tools or automation to improve finance or operations workflows strongly preferred.
• Experience in a high-tech or B2B SaaS environment preferred.

Disclosure Pursuant to Applicable State Equal Pay Transparency Laws - This position has a starting pay range as listed below. Actual salary depends upon many factors, including a candidate’s skills, qualifications and experience, location, and salary expectations, and therefore a starting salary at the low end, high end, or even above the stated range may be offered. This position may also be eligible for bonus compensation, commission (if in a sales function), and/or equity grants. Additionally, full-time employees are eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefits framework, including health and wellness benefits, vacation, paid holidays and refresh days, 401(k) retirement plan, life and disability insurance coverages, and other benefits the Company may offer from time to time. Pay Range : $200,700.00-$223,000.00 The compensation noted above is based on an annualized hourly rate assuming normal full-time employment. Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates: For information on personal data processing, please see our Privacy Policy. Equal Employment Opportunity Employer (EEOE) Cohesity is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or nationality, ancestry, age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, veteran status or any other category protected by law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact us at 1-855-9COHESITY or [e-mail] for assistance.

In-Office Expectations

Cohesity employees who are within a reasonable commute (e.g. within a forty-five (45) minute average travel time) work out of our core offices 2-3 days a week of their choosing.

We strongly prefer candidates who are currently located in or near the designated job location. Candidates outside the area should apply only if they are committed to relocating prior to their start date and have the legal right to work in the job location.