Sr. Associate - Sales Effectiveness

Marsh McLennan•Atlanta, GA

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sales Effectiveness Senior Associate is part of Mercer’s People & Investments practice, helping commercial leaders improve go-to-market effectiveness, sales productivity, and profitable growth. The work spans go-to-market strategy, sales organization and role design, coverage and deployment, sales performance management, and sales incentive compensation. In this client-facing consulting role, the Senior Associate translates business challenges and quantitative analysis into practical recommendations. They independently manage defined projects or major workstreams, develop client-ready deliverables, facilitate working sessions, and guide Analysts and Associates. The role calls for hands-on sales compensation consulting experience and the ability to connect incentive design to broader commercial strategy and operating model decisions. The position is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and follows a hybrid model requiring at least three days per week in the office or onsite with clients. Travel to client sites and internal meetings may be required as business needs dictate, sometimes on short notice.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, finance, or a related field.
At least five years of relevant professional experience, including external client-facing consulting experience at a professional services firm.
Hands-on experience assessing or designing sales incentive compensation programs; experience solely administering plans or calculating commissions does not meet this requirement.
Working knowledge of sales effectiveness topics such as coverage models, sales role design, quotas, territories, sales productivity, and/or go-to-market operating models.
Strong analytical and financial modeling capabilities, including advanced Excel skills and the ability to interpret imperfect datasets and translate findings into recommendations.
Demonstrated ability to independently manage consulting workstreams, develop high-quality client deliverables, and communicate findings to client stakeholders.
Strong problem-solving, presentation, collaboration, and project management skills.
Ability and willingness to travel to client sites and internal meetings as business needs require.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a sales effectiveness, commercial strategy, or management consulting firm, with exposure to both incentive compensation and upstream go-to-market strategy and/or sales organization design.
Experience with customer segmentation, sales coverage and capacity modeling, role specialization, sales process design, and/or sales transformation.
Ability to connect sales incentive recommendations to business strategy, selling motions, commercial economics, and seller behavior.
Proficiency with advanced analytical tools or AI-enabled tooling.
Industry-specific experience or expertise.
MBA or other relevant advanced degree.

Responsibilities

Manage defined client projects and complex workstreams, including workplans, staffing estimates, milestones, budgets, deliverables, and proactive issue escalation.
Diagnose sales effectiveness challenges through stakeholder interviews, data analysis, industry research, and assessment of current commercial practices.
Evaluate go-to-market and sales coverage models, including customer segmentation, sales roles and responsibilities, account ownership, territory deployment, capacity, and organizational interfaces.
Design sales incentive compensation programs, including eligibility, target pay positioning, pay mix, leverage, measures, crediting, mechanics, thresholds, and payout curves.
Analyze sales performance, productivity, quota attainment, compensation outcomes, and plan costs; build models to evaluate design alternatives and implementation trade-offs.
Support quota-setting, territory design, and sales performance management approaches, linking recommendations to business priorities and available data.
Develop clear, client-ready presentations and recommendations connecting quantitative findings to commercial implications, decisions, and implementation considerations.
Lead client interviews, project updates, analysis readouts, and design workshops; build productive working relationships with sales, sales operations, HR, and finance stakeholders.
Delegate and review work produced by Analysts and Associates, providing coaching, quality control, and actionable feedback.
Collaborate with Principals and Partners on proposals, methodologies, thought leadership, and development of the Sales Effectiveness team.
Travel to client sites and internal meetings as business needs require, including occasional travel on short notice.