Incentive Compensation Manager

ABOUT THE ROLE As an Incentive Compensation Manager at GitLab, you will play a critical role in shaping the company's compensation strategy and driving revenue growth objectives. You will be responsible for designing, implementing, and managing incentive compensation programs across the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) organization, including Sales, Customer Success, Professional Services, and Channel/Partnerships roles. WHAT YOU'LL DO As an Incentive Compensation Manager, your key responsibilities will include: - Leading the development of annual compensation plans in partnership with CRO, Sales Leadership, Customer Success, and Finance, translating business objectives into effective incentive structures. - Designing role-specific compensation frameworks, including base/variable splits, quota-to-OTE ratios, accelerators, decelerators, thresholds, and performance tiers aligned to role expectations and market standards. - Developing compensation governance frameworks, including plan approval workflows, exception handling, change management protocols, and ongoing plan maintenance processes. - Modeling compensation scenarios to optimize the balance between motivational impact, cost efficiency, competitive positioning, and predictability. - Partnering with People/Total Rewards to ensure CRO compensation programs align with GitLab's overall compensation philosophy, internal equity principles, and total rewards strategy. - Designing incentive mechanisms that drive strategic behaviors, including new logo acquisition, expansion, consumption revenue growth, multi-year deals, product mix, and customer retention. - Creating SPIFs, contests, and accelerator programs to address short-term business priorities and accelerate specific outcomes. - Developing compensation analytics frameworks to track plan effectiveness, cost efficiency, and business impact. - Tracking key compensation metrics, including average earnings, payout ratios, cost-per-dollar-sold, plan leverage, and quota attainment distribution. - Modeling the impact of compensation changes on representative behavior, company costs, revenue outcomes, and team morale. - Conducting ongoing plan performance reviews, comparing actual results against design intent, and recommending mid-year adjustments when warranted. - Leveraging AI to provide visibility into compensation spend, attainment trends, and plan performance against objectives. - Performing ROI analysis on compensation investments, including SPIFs, accelerators, and special programs. - Partnering with Sales Analytics to integrate compensation data with broader revenue performance analytics. - Serving as a trusted advisor to stakeholders and Sales Leadership on all compensation-related matters, including plan design, policy decisions, and individual situations. - Presenting compensation recommendations to Sales leadership, Finance leadership, and Incentive Compensation Committee. - Leading annual compensation communication campaigns, including plan rollouts, training sessions, manager enablement, and field team Q&A. - Managing compensation inquiries from field teams, providing clear explanations of plan mechanics, policies, and individual situations. - Partnering with Sales Enablement to incorporate compensation understanding into onboarding and ongoing training programs. WHAT YOU'LL NEED To be successful in this role, you will need: - A unique combination of strategic thinking, analytical rigor, operational excellence, and change management expertise. - Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to partner with executive leadership, Sales Leadership, and cross-functional teams. - Experience with compensation design, implementation, and management, including sales compensation philosophy and policy. - Proficiency in AI-powered tools and automation, with the ability to leverage these technologies to streamline