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Head of Sales Compensation

Gusto

Gusto

Sales & Business Development
Multiple locations · Arizona, USA · Scottsdale, AZ, USA · Denver, CO, USA · Orlando, FL, USA · Detroit, MI, USA · Las Vegas, NV, USA · Austin, TX, USA · Chicago, IL, USA · Nebraska, USA · Omaha, NE, USA
Posted on Feb 3, 2024


About Gusto

Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 300,000 businesses nationwide.

Our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life, and it starts right here at Gusto. That’s why we’re committed to building a collaborative and inclusive workplace, both physically and virtually. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

We’re looking for a Head of Sales Compensation to join Revenue Operations as a dynamic, strategic leader and advisor to our Revenue leadership teams.

About Gusto

Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 200,000 businesses nationwide.

Our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life, and it starts right here at Gusto. That’s why we’re committed to building a collaborative and inclusive workplace, both physically and virtually. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

In this role, you will manage the end-to-end strategy, design, and operationalization of incentive compensation plans across Sales and the broader Revenue organization. This Leader will apply their experience, analytical skills, and passion to improve how we engage sales talent and align incentives with revenue growth and strategic objectives.

Candidates should align with our company values, be highly self-motivated to drive results, and have an insatiable desire to learn and grow to solve the business problems they face.

Here’s what you’ll do day to day:

Strategic thought leadership to Revenue and Finance across incentive strategy and plan design to incentivize behaviors aligned with revenue growth and strategic objectives

  • Lead the end-to-end sales compensation program including plan design (curves, components, weightings), implementation (Xactly, SFDC), training, and daily administration
  • Establish and manage cadences inclusive of annual/semi-annual planning (job architecture, plan refresh), quarterly processes (quotas), and monthly business reviews
  • Drive operational excellence by documenting, optimizing, socializing, and automating processes spanning quotas and targets, comp plan issuance, crediting and attainment reporting, and timely resolution of disputes/exceptions/inquiries

Ensure internal compliance by designing, implementing, and monitoring compensation process controls including educating cross-functional partners on the business rationaleTrack comp program effectiveness including capacity (plans, participants), budget adherence, error rate (on-time, accurate commissions), case management/SLA (volume, TAT, resolution rates), and program ROI (achieving desired outcomes)Improve sales engagement and productivity in partnership with Revenue, Finance, and People teams to successfully recruit, reward, and retain top talent

Here’s what we’re looking for:

  • 10+ years of sales compensation design experience (designing and operationalizing compensation plans), with 2+ years in a SaaS company
  • Dynamic leader with strong leadership skills, who also excels as an individual contributor with exceptional analytic abilities. The ideal candidate should be capable of leading in the design and strategy of the program, but also the implementation and administration of the day to day processes.
  • Experience in analyzing and optimizing comp plan design, commissions processes, and automation (experience with SFDC and Xactly required)
  • True passion for sales: you creatively find ways to make sales teams more productive
  • Persuasive communicator - you’re a natural storyteller, using data to back up your recommendations
  • Adaptable; you flex naturally between influencing leadership, inspiring those you empower to think big, and rolling up your sleeves to get things done
  • Hyper-organized with strong attention to detail; effective stakeholder and project management is the bare minimum and is part of your secret sauce
  • You enjoy working with high octane growth companies, where things move fast, people are smart, and processes are quick to evolve - in fact, you’re often the one who moves them

Our cash compensation range for this role is $167,000 to $200,000 in Denver & most remote locations, and $192,000 to $230,000 in San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.

Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at accommodations@gusto.com.


Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.

When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required.


Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.

Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you require assistance in filling out a Gusto job application, please reach out to candidate-accommodations@gusto.com.