Sales Compensation Policy and Governance Principal

Your work days are brighter here.
We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.
About the Team
The Incentive Compensation Design team designs innovative, data-driven incentive compensation plans that align performance and pay to Workday’s strategic objectives and drive sustainable revenue growth. We lead the global strategy, design, planning, enablement, communication, and analysis of Workday’s incentive compensation plans for all GTM functions, including Sales, Services, Support, and Customer Experience roles.
About the Role
As Sales Compensation Policy and Governance Principal, you will play a pivotal role in maintaining the integrity, compliance, and strategic alignment of our global incentive compensation programs. You will serve as the primary owner for the Sales Compensation Plan General Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) and oversee the governance framework for incentive exceptions. To be successful, you will need to partner closely with Legal, Finance, People & Purpose (P&P), and Sales Operations to ensure our policies are consistent, defensible, and reflective of our incentive philosophy.
Own the Global Policy Framework: Define, maintain, and update the annual Sales Compensation Plan General Terms and Conditions. Ensure all policies remain consistent with Workday’s global standards and reflect changes in regional regulations or business strategy.
Program Manage the Compensation Exception Committee: Lead the end-to-end exception governance process. This includes facilitating review cycles, tracking exception precedents to ensure fairness and consistency, and providing clear reporting on exception trends to leadership.
Policy Interpretation and Guidance: Serve as the subject matter expert for Sales Leadership and the broader Compensation team regarding policy interpretation, ensuring accurate application of plan documents during disputes or complex deal structures.
Ensure Compliance and Risk Management: Partner with Legal and Finance to ensure all compensation plans and policies adhere to SOX compliance requirements, local labor laws, and internal audit controls.
Audit and Precedent Tracking: Maintain a centralized repository of exception precedents, policy decisions, and historical plan adjustments. Use this data to identify gaps in policy and recommend proactive updates.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Sales Ops and Systems teams to translate policy changes into actionable requirements for downstream systems (e.g., Xactly) and ensuring policy language aligns with what is executable in our toolstack.
Strategic Policy Development: Proactively identify areas where policy is ambiguous or outdated. Drive the development of new or updated policies to support emerging business motions, such as new product go-to-market strategies or changes in sales territory models.
VISA Sponsorship is not available for this role.
About You
Basic Qualifications (Required)
Minimum of 11 years of experience in incentive compensation design, policy development, legal operations, or contract management
Minimum of 5 years of experience managing complex governance processes, policy lifecycles, or exception committees in a global enterprise technology company
Other Qualifications
Solid experience in global, enterprise technology companies
Demonstrate strong ability to partner with cross-functional stakeholders including Legal, Finance, and HR
Excellent legal/technical writing skills with the ability to translate complex business rules into clear, contractual language
Analytical mindset with the ability to identify trends in exception data and proactively mitigate issues
A consistent track record of managing competing priorities and stakeholders with varying viewpoints
Self-motivated with strong organizational skills and high attention to detail
Ability to act as an objective mediator when interpreting policies in sensitive compensation disputes
Workday Pay Transparency Statement
The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.
Primary Location: USA.CA.Home Office
Primary Location Base Pay Range: $158,300 USD - $237,500 USD
Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $143,300 USD - $254,500 USD
Our Approach to Flexible Work
With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.
Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.
Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.
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