Sales Incentive Compensation Plan Design Director

Our sellers are key to how customers and partners understand Microsoft’s products and strategies, but how do we align the conversations of thousands of sellers with each other and with the company’s strategy?  Making sure that the sellers are having the right conversations at the right time is key to the company’s success, and the Incentive Compensation team connects strategy to seller behavior in one of the most important ways:  by determining how sellers get paid.

The Plan Design Team is a part of the Sales Design & Incentives group.  The group’s mission is to Enable Strategy, Motivate Sellers, Reward Results.  In pursuit of this mission, the team designs and implements variable incentive-based compensation plans for more than 40,000 sellers, sales leaders and consultants across Microsoft. We are experts in Incentive Compensation at Microsoft, responsible for aligning incentive plans and targets (quotas) to motivate seller behavior and drive the company's strategies. 

The Sales Incentive Compensation Plan Design Director will focus on several key seller roles and businesses.  You will work with the sales and marketing leaders for these businesses, especially the corporate role owners who define the job requirements and behaviors that we expect from our sellers. Your job is to understand the needs of the business and design compensation plans and incentive programs that support the business strategies.  In addition to the corporate leaders, you will work with sales managers and field leaders to understand which programs are working well to motivate sellers.

• Annual planning – determining the compensation plans for the next fiscal year.
• Incentive programs – deciding which special programs are needed to emphasize certain products or outcomes on a short-term or long-term basis.
• Sales contests – for any “on top” bonus programs that are proposed, you will evaluate the merits and approve or modify the proposals.
• Partner with HR to align roles to plans, to evaluate pay mix (i.e., what percent of a seller’s pay should be base pay vs. variable pay), to evaluate incentive mix (i.e., what percent of a seller’s variable pay should be based on quantitative metrics vs. qualitative evaluations of the manager), and to manage sales force transitions.
• Partner with finance to understand the revenue goals, the relative weighting of products in the budgets and in the compensation plans, and the impact of incentive programs.
• Partner with business leaders, not only for the annual planning cycle but also for quarterly and ad hoc reviews to monitor performance and respond to changes in the product strategy or market environment.
• Partner across the Enablement & Operations team to ensure that your designs are implemented well and are achieving the desired outcomes; make mid-course corrections as needed.

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Economics, or related field AND 10+ years experience in compensation, business management and operations, finance, marketing, or sales strategy or equivalent experience

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Master of Business Administration Degree or Master's Degree in Finance, Computer Science, Data Science Engineering, or related field
• 7+ years experience working in a large or highly matrixed organization, preferably in the technology industry.
• Knowledge of internal finance rhythms and tools preferable.
• Communication skills – both written and verbal.
• Proven ability to impact results even under difficult or ambiguous circumstances

Sales Compensation IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $277,200 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $165,600 - $303,600 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.