Sales Compensation Manager

Microsoft

About The Position

Worldwide Incentive Compensation (WWIC) is the team responsible for the design, implementation, and operations of sales and incentive plans across Microsoft, impacting more than 40,000 employees. Our vision is to deliver best-in-class, end-to-end incentive compensation that inspires sales professionals to maximize their success and rewards while enabling sustainable growth, market share, and customer success. Within WWIC, the Operations & Regional Delivery (ORD) team supports a positive seller experience by delivering end-to-end operational excellence for incentive compensation at global scale. Through effective cross-functional partnerships, disciplined execution, and scalable solutions, ORD translates strategy and change into reliable operations that sellers and leaders can trust. Regional Engagement supports execution by translating global incentive compensation design into accurate, localized operational outcomes for sellers worldwide. Aligned by segment and geography, the Regional Engagement team partners directly with sales leaders and their extended leadership teams to resolve operational issues and help ensure sellers are paid correctly and on time. By combining deep knowledge of regional realities with consistent operational rigor, Regional Engagement closes the loop between global program intent and seller experience—surfacing insights, mitigating risk, and driving operational excellence where it matters most. The Sales Incentives Compensation Manager plays a key role in enabling global execution excellence and serves as a trusted partner to stakeholders in delivering insights, supporting growth, and developing solutions. You will partner with regional leadership within your portfolio, manage key objectives, and represent the organization through collaborative partnerships. 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.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Economics, or related field AND 7+ years' experience in compensation, business management and operations, finance and analytics, human resources and people analytics, marketing, or sales strategy
OR equivalent experience

Nice To Haves

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree or Master's Degree in Finance, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or related field.
5+ years of experience working in a large or highly matrixed organization, preferably in the technology industry.
Prior experience with incentive compensation processes, including quota setting and related upstream inputs such as territory planning, segmentation, and account alignment.
3+ years of project or program leadership/management experience
Executive presence with experience influencing and partnering with stakeholders across the business.
Proven success navigating ambiguity, ramping quickly on new processes and business data, and resolving unstructured problems.
Experience communicating incentive compensation updates and plan changes clearly to drive understanding and action at all organizational levels.
Maintain effectiveness while managing shifting priorities and multiple concurrent deadlines.

Responsibilities

Field Leaders Engagement
Build and maintain trusted partnerships with regional sales leaders by orchestrating quarterly business reviews, monthly check‑ins, and providing hands‑on support for plan rollover and onboarding throughout the fiscal year.
Drive always‑on engagement with sales leaders by providing end‑to‑end support on compensation health and helping land in‑year strategy changes that may impact quota issuance.
Partner with internal stakeholders to resolve issues, questions, and exceptions, serving as the primary point of contact for business helpdesk escalations within your assigned Segment or Region.
Partner with the WWIC Change Management team to support the Fiscal Year Roll Over (FYRO) process and land clear, easy‑to‑understand guidance that helps leaders and sellers better understand their compensation plans.
Operational Excellence through AI‑Powered Innovation
Support sales leaders in improving seller attainment by using AI‑driven solutions, including leading the development and adoption of Agentic AI experiences and building AI‑enabled dashboards.
Automate manager communications and create proactive prompts that improve seller data health, acting as a “customer zero” for new AI capabilities.
Improve operational excellence by reviewing new incentive compensation processes for unintended impacts, streamlining escalation workflows, and tracking escalations and feedback to improve the sales leader experience.
Program Management
Own the end‑to‑end incentive compensation exception management program by designing documented workflows, orchestrating exception review boards, ensuring compliant implementation, and communicating clear, auditable decisions to sellers, leaders, and WWIC implementation teams.
Other
Embody our culture and values