Principal Sales Compensation and Revenue Operations

Principal Sales Compensation and Revenue Operations

Remote - United States

About the Role

As Blackboard continues to modernize and simplify its revenue engine, we are building a Revenue Operations organization designed to provide greater visibility, automation, scalability, and discipline across the customer lifecycle. We are looking for a Principal, Sales Compensation & Revenue Operations to play a critical role in that transformation.

The Principal, Sales Compensation & Revenue Operations is a senior individual contributor responsible for leading Blackboard's global sales compensation function while serving as a strategic contributor across the broader Revenue Operations organization.

This role will own the design, administration, governance, and ongoing evolution of incentive compensation programs across Sales, Customer Success, Renewals, Partners, and other revenue-generating functions. The role will also lead the implementation and administration of Spiff, Blackboard's sales compensation technology platform. Beyond compensation, this position will contribute broadly to the design and optimization of Blackboard's revenue processes, systems, data, and automation. This includes partnering with teams responsible for Salesforce, CPQ, Deal Desk, pricing and discount governance, revenue analytics, and process automation to ensure that compensation programs and revenue processes work together as an integrated revenue engine.

The ideal candidate has deep expertise in incentive compensation but doesn't view compensation as an isolated Finance or administrative function. They are equally comfortable building a sophisticated compensation model in Excel, designing a plan with a Sales executive, configuring a solution in Spiff, troubleshooting a Salesforce data issue, or working with a Deal Desk leader to redesign a broken process. Most importantly, they are able to operate at both the strategic and detailed levels: discussing compensation philosophy with executives in the morning and digging into an individual transaction or system calculation in the afternoon.

Responsibilities

Sales Compensation Strategy & Design

• Lead the strategy, design, implementation, and ongoing management of global incentive compensation programs across Sales, Customer Success, Renewals, Partners, and other revenue-generating organizations.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, HR, Revenue Operations, and executive leadership to develop compensation plans that align employee behavior with company revenue and strategic objectives.
• Develop recommendations for plan structures, quotas, targets, thresholds, accelerators, decelerators, commissions, bonuses, and other incentive mechanisms.
• Model the financial and behavioral impact of proposed compensation plans and provide recommendations to senior leadership.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing compensation plans and identify opportunities to improve performance, simplicity, predictability, and alignment with business objectives.
• Establish compensation principles, governance, and processes that can scale as Blackboard's business evolves.
• Balance competing objectives including revenue growth, profitability, retention, customer outcomes, seller motivation, and administrative simplicity.
• Serve as a trusted subject matter expert and advisor on incentive compensation across the organization.

Spiff Ownership & Compensation Operations

• Own the implementation, administration, and ongoing evolution of the Spiff compensation platform.
• Serve as the primary business owner for Spiff, partnering with technology and data teams on integrations, data quality, configuration, and enhancements.
• Translate compensation plan designs and business requirements into scalable system configurations.
• Establish controls and governance to ensure accurate, timely, and auditable compensation calculations.
• Lead testing and validation of compensation plans, system changes, and integrations.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual compensation processes and reduce operational effort.
• Develop processes for handling exceptions, disputes, adjustments, and changes while maintaining appropriate governance.
• Ensure compensation data and calculations are accurate, transparent, and trusted by sellers and business leaders.

Revenue Operations

• Serve as a senior contributor across the broader Revenue Operations organization, bringing compensation expertise and a broad understanding of the revenue lifecycle.
• Partner with Revenue Operations leaders responsible for Salesforce, CPQ, Deal Desk, pricing governance, territory/quota management, analytics, and automation.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and improve revenue processes and ensure that systems and processes support compensation requirements.
• Participate in the design of scalable processes connecting opportunity management, quoting, bookings, customer lifecycle events, and incentive compensation.
• Help identify opportunities to automate repetitive, manual, or error-prone revenue processes.
• Contribute to Revenue Operations transformation initiatives and the ongoing modernization of Blackboard's revenue technology ecosystem.
• Bring a cross-functional perspective to ensure that compensation, systems, processes, data, and reporting operate as an integrated revenue engine.

Analytics & Business Insights

• Develop sophisticated analyses and financial models to support compensation and broader Revenue Operations decisions.
• Analyze quota attainment, productivity, compensation expense, incentive effectiveness, bookings, renewals, retention, and other revenue performance metrics.
• Identify trends, anomalies, risks, and opportunities and translate analysis into clear business recommendations.
• Build and maintain robust Excel-based models and analytical tools to support plan design and business decisions.
• Partner with the Analytics team to define requirements for reporting and insights needed to manage compensation and revenue performance.
• Establish metrics and measurement approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of compensation programs.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives involving Sales, Finance, Customer Success, HR, IT, Analytics, and Revenue Operations.
• Act as a senior advisor to business leaders on compensation and revenue operations topics.
• Influence decisions through data, expertise, business judgment, and strong stakeholder management rather than formal authority.
• Translate complex compensation and operational concepts into clear recommendations for executives and business leaders.
• Challenge existing processes and assumptions and identify opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve the revenue engine.
• Establish best practices and mentor other members of the Revenue Operations organization through subject matter expertise and collaboration.
• Serve as a change leader as Blackboard continues to modernize its revenue processes, systems, and operating model.

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Sales Compensation, Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, or a related discipline, with significant direct experience designing and managing incentive compensation programs.
• Significant experience with global SaaS compensation programs.
• Demonstrated experience designing compensation plans for multiple revenue functions, such as Sales, Customer Success, Renewals, and/or Partners.
• Deep understanding of sales compensation principles, including quotas, targets, attainment, accelerators, thresholds, commissions, bonuses, and incentive modeling.
• Experience leading the implementation and/or administration of a sales compensation technology platform; Spiff experience strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of the broader SaaS revenue lifecycle and Revenue Operations discipline.
• Experience working with CRM and revenue technologies, particularly Salesforce and CPQ.
• Experience partnering with or contributing to Deal Desk, pricing/discount governance, revenue systems, and process automation.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to turn complex data into actionable business recommendations.
• Advanced Excel skills, including the ability to build sophisticated financial and compensation models.
• Strong understanding of SaaS business metrics and revenue economics.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives with limited direction.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence senior executives.
• Ability to operate effectively in an environment of ambiguity, change, and evolving processes.
• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, economics, analytics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with Spiff and/or other incentive compensation platforms such as Xactly.
• Experience implementing or transforming a compensation technology platform.
• Experience in a Revenue Operations organization undergoing significant transformation or modernization.
• Experience with Salesforce CPQ or similar CPQ platforms.
• Experience with pricing and discount governance.
• Experience designing compensation programs across multiple countries and currencies.
• Experience in a complex B2B SaaS environment with multiple products, customer segments, and sales motions.
• Experience driving automation of revenue processes.
• Experience working closely with Finance on revenue forecasting, compensation expense, and financial modeling.

About Blackboard

Blackboard is a leading EdTech company and SaaS provider that delivers the digital environment for transformational teaching and learning. We serve thousands of institutions with the industry's most AI-advanced LMS, Blackboard Ally for accessibility, and institutional effectiveness solutions that put educators and learners at the center. We're an education company that builds technology. Learn more at blackboard.com.

The expected salary for this position is $140,000. The range reflects base salary only and does not include additional compensation such as company bonus or benefits. Placement within the pay range will depend on a variety of factors, such as experience, skills, internal parity, and location.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country where the role is based at the time of hire and must maintain that authorization for the duration of employment. The company does not provide visa sponsorship or immigration support for this position.

This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.    

Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, protected military/veteran status, or any other legally protected factor.