Go-To-Market Compensation Lead
Perplexity · Austin, Texas · New York City, New York · San Francisco, California
We’re looking for a Go-To-Market Compensation Lead to build and scale the incentive compensation programs that support our revenue growth. You’ll lead compensation design in partnership with the Head of Revenue Operations and GTM and Finance leadership, translating business priorities into plans that are clear, motivating, and financially sound.
You’ll own commission operations end to end, including our incentive compensation management (ICM) system. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can move from strategic recommendations to detailed execution, operate independently through ambiguity, and take extreme ownership of both the numbers and the employee experience.
What you’ll do
- Lead compensation design: Partner with the Head of Revenue Operations and GTM and Finance leadership to develop and evolve incentive plans across GTM roles. Recommend performance measures, payout structures, accelerators, and crediting rules that align incentives with company goals.
- Model business impact: Build scenarios to assess compensation cost, earnings opportunities, and incentive alignment. Evaluate plan performance and recommend changes as our products, pricing, and go-to-market motion evolve.
- Own commission operations: Run the full commission cycle, from source-data validation and crediting through calculations, reconciliation, approvals, and payroll handoff. Deliver accurate, on-time payouts and resolve questions and disputes with clear, consistent reasoning.
- Own the ICM system: Lead system configuration, plan implementation, testing, administration, and ongoing improvements. Partner with systems and data teams to maintain reliable integrations and reduce manual work.
- Build scalable processes and controls: Establish documentation, approval workflows, and audit trails for plans, exceptions, and adjustments. Create consistent processes for new hires, role changes, departures, and territory or account changes.
- Make compensation understandable: Lead plan communications and enablement so employees and managers understand how incentives work. Be the trusted point of contact for compensation questions and complex edge cases.
- Partner with Finance: Provide reliable payout reporting, accrual inputs, forecasts, and variance analysis. Maintain visibility into compensation spend and proactively flag risks or discrepancies.
WHAT YOU BRING
- Relevant experience: 4+ years of GTM compensation experience in SaaS or another high-growth industry, with meaningful ownership of both plan design and commission operations.
- Autonomy and extreme ownership: A track record of setting priorities, identifying gaps, making sound recommendations, and driving work to completion without close supervision. You surface risks early and stay accountable through resolution.
- Exceptional attention to detail: A rigorous approach to validating data, testing calculations, documenting decisions, and catching errors before they affect payouts.
- Hands-on systems expertise: Experience administering an ICM platform and working with the CRM, finance, and payroll data that feed commission processes.
- Strong analytical judgment: Advanced spreadsheet and financial modeling skills, with the ability to evaluate trade-offs and turn complex analysis into practical recommendations.
- Clear communication and partnership: The ability to influence senior stakeholders, explain complex compensation mechanics simply, and handle sensitive information with discretion.
- Tact and sound judgment: The ability to handle exception and clarification requests from Sales tactfully, balancing responsiveness with consistent application of compensation policies. You know when to resolve requests independently and when to escalate to senior leadership with clear context and a recommendation.
- AI perspective and drive: A strong perspective on how AI is changing traditional commissions and compensation plan processing, and a passion for putting that perspective into practice across the business while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and controls.
NICE TO HAVE
- Evolving business models: Experience with consumption-based, usage-based, or hybrid subscription models.
- Systems implementation: Experience implementing or migrating an ICM platform and automating compensation workflows.
- Technical fluency: SQL or BI skills to investigate data issues and improve reporting.