Senior Manager, Sales Commission

About the role

The role defines and governs sales compensation to align with business objectives. The position partners with finance and sales teams to support a remote-first organization in Canada.

Sales roles connect a company's product with the customers who need it. Representatives research accounts, run demos, handle objections, and close deals. The work is quota driven and moves quickly. Strong sellers combine listening skills with product knowledge and steady follow through. Sales roles reward consistent activity and honest qualification of deals. Most companies use a defined sales process, and reps are trained on it before being left on their own.

Key facts

Requirements

Bring 7+ years of experience in sales compensation, revenue operations, sales operations, finance, or a related function, ideally within high-growth ad-tech or SaaS environments.

Demonstrate strong understanding of sales compensation plan design, commission mechanics, governance, and policy development.

Show 2+ years of experience managing or mentoring others and building a high-performing, scalable team.

Have hands-on experience with commission or sales performance management tools such as CaptivateIQ, Xactly, Anaplan, or similar platforms.

Exhibit a strong automation and systems mindset to improve workflows, reduce manual processes, and partner with technical teams on implementation.

Apply strong analytical skills to interpret compensation data, identify trends, and translate insights into clear business recommendations.

Experience building reporting, dashboards, or self-serve resources that support Sales, Finance, and leadership stakeholders.

Communicate complex compensation concepts clearly and influence cross-functionally with strong stakeholder management skills.

Operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment where priorities shift and scalable processes must be built as the business grows.

Nice to have

Experience in an ad-tech or SaaS environment with complex sales compensation structures.

Background in managing compensation programs for large, distributed sales organizations.

Familiarity with global compensation regulations and compliance considerations.

Skills & tools

Core platforms: CaptivateIQ, Xactly, Anaplan, and related sales compensation systems.

Analytics and reporting: dashboards, data visualization, and self-serve resource creation.

Collaboration tools: cross-functional coordination with Sales, Finance, Legal, RevOps, and Systems.

Practical notes

This is a remote-first role open to candidates located across Canada.

Typical interview steps

Sales hiring often includes a role play, a discovery call simulation, and a presentation. Candidates may be asked to pitch a product to a panel or handle a tough objection. Behavioral questions focus on past quota attainment and deal history. Energy and preparation matter. Interviewers often simulate the job in the interview itself, so be ready to run a short discovery call or demo. Practicing your own sales pitch out loud helps.

Good to know

The role involves designing, governing, and optimizing sales compensation programs for a large, global workforce.

Primary tools include compensation management platforms such as CaptivateIQ, Xactly, and Anaplan.

The position requires strong analytical skills, cross-functional collaboration, and experience driving automation.

This role focuses on compensation strategy, policy design, system optimization, and stakeholder enablement.

Questions to ask

Worth asking in any interview: how the team measures success, who the role works with daily, what the onboarding looks like, and what the company is trying to achieve this year. Asking what past hires did well is a strong final question. Keep the list short and pick the questions that matter most to you.

Career growth

Sales careers can move from SDR or associate to account executive, senior AE, manager, and director roles. Some sellers move into partnerships, account management, or revenue operations. Compensation typically mixes a base with commission tied to results. High performers in sales typically move into larger accounts, team leadership, or sales operations. Quota history and references carry the most weight in promotion.