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.

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The Plan Design Team is a part of the Worldwide Incentive Compensation 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 25,000 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.

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The Role

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The Director of Sales Compensation Design 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. You will help us 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.

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Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

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Responsibilities

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• Annual planning – determine the compensation plans for the next fiscal year.
• Incentive programs – decide 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, 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.
• Other- embody our culture and values.

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Qualifications

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Required/Minimum Qualifications

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• 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 and analytics, human resources and people analytics, marketing, or sales strategy
• OR equivalent experience.

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

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• 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.
• 5+ years program leadership/management experience.
• Proven ability to impact results under difficult or ambiguous circumstances. 
• Knowledge of finance rhythms and tools.

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Sales Compensation IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $124,800 - $266,800 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 $159,000 - $292,200 per year.

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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

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Microsoft will accept applications for the role until May 20, 2024.

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#EOJOBS

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Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.