Operate / Roles

Roles in a Commission Program

Who designs the plan, who approves it, who runs the cycle, who answers disputes - and what their leverage and OTE typically look like.

Quota-Carrying

Account Executive (AE)

Closes the deal. Owns pipeline from qualified opportunity to contract signature.

OTE$130K-$320K depending on segment
Pay mix50/50 standard, 60/40 inside
Responsibilities
  • Manage pipeline through buying-cycle stages
  • Negotiate pricing and commercial terms
  • Coordinate SE / specialist resources
  • Forecast accurately in CRM
  • Hit quarterly and annual quota
Pipeline Generation

SDR / BDR

Creates qualified pipeline through outbound prospecting and inbound triage.

OTE$80K-$95K
Pay mix70/30 typical
Responsibilities
  • Outbound prospecting (cold + warm)
  • Inbound lead qualification (MQL → SQL)
  • Discovery call quality scoring
  • Hand-off to AE with documented context
  • Promote-out timeline 18-24 months
Retention + Expansion

Customer Success Manager (CSM)

Drives net retention through adoption, value realization, and expansion sales.

OTE$100K-$180K
Pay mix80/20 with NRR + expansion split
Responsibilities
  • Quarterly business reviews
  • Adoption playbook execution
  • Renewal forecasting and execution
  • Expansion / upsell sourcing
  • Churn prevention and at-risk-account management
Pre-Sales Technical

Sales Engineer (SE)

Owns the technical buyer journey - demos, proofs-of-concept, technical objections.

OTE$180K-$250K
Pay mix75/25 with team-pool components
Responsibilities
  • Discovery + technical qualification
  • Custom demos and POC scoping
  • Technical RFP and security questionnaires
  • Architecture and integration design
  • Hand-off to post-sales technical resources
Player-Coach

Sales Manager (First-Line)

Coaches a team of AEs to hit aggregate quota through deal review, ride-alongs, and forecasting discipline.

OTE$200K-$280K
Pay mix60/40 with quota-rollup
Responsibilities
  • Weekly 1:1s and pipeline review
  • Deal-level coaching and ride-alongs
  • Forecast accuracy
  • Hiring and ramp
  • Plan calibration and feedback to leadership
Sales Leadership

VP of Sales

Owns the GTM motion - segmentation, capacity, manager development, and aggregate revenue.

OTE$350K-$600K+
Pay mix60/40 with corporate attainment + MBO
Responsibilities
  • Segmentation and territory strategy
  • Capacity planning and quota-setting
  • Manager-level coaching
  • Cross-functional GTM alignment
  • Plan philosophy + comp committee participation
Indirect Sales

Channel / Partner Manager

Sources and nurtures partner-attached and partner-sourced revenue.

OTE$180K-$240K
Pay mix70/30 with partner-sourced commission
Responsibilities
  • Partner recruitment and onboarding
  • Joint go-to-market planning
  • Partner-attached deal registration
  • Channel conflict resolution
  • Partner enablement
Systems + Process

RevOps / SalesOps

Owns systems, data, and process for revenue - including the commission cycle.

OTE$150K-$230K (mostly base)
Pay mix90/10 - small variable component
Responsibilities
  • CRM administration and data quality
  • ICM platform ownership
  • Commission cycle execution
  • Plan modeling and effectiveness reporting
  • SOX / ASC 606 controls
Comp Operations

Sales Compensation Analyst

Specialized RevOps role that runs the calculation cycle, dispute queue, and plan analytics.

OTE$110K-$160K
Pay mix90/10
Responsibilities
  • Monthly cycle execution
  • Dispute triage and resolution
  • Plan-effectiveness analytics
  • Cross-functional partnership with Finance + HR
  • Audit support and SOX walkthroughs
Plan Design

Compensation Strategy / Sales Comp Director

Owns plan philosophy and annual plan-design cycle in partnership with leadership and the comp committee.

OTE$220K-$320K
Pay mix80/20
Responsibilities
  • Annual plan design and modeling
  • Plan-philosophy stewardship
  • Comp-committee partnership
  • External benchmarking and competitive analysis
  • Cross-functional alignment with Finance + HR + Sales