Sales Compensation Manager - n8n

About n8n

n8n is the open workflow orchestration platform built for the new era of AI. We give technical teams the freedom of code with the speed of no-code, so they can automate faster, smarter, and without limits. Backed by a fiercely inventive community and 500+ builder-approved integrations, we’re changing the way people bring systems together and scale ideas for impact.

The Role

Your main goal will be to become the founding owner of Sales Compensation at n8n, building from scratch how we pay and motivate every revenue team across SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise, CS, SE, SDR, and Partnerships, spanning EMEA and AMER. You'll have the mandate to make it AI-first from day one, partnering with our internal AI team to build the agents that run it at scale.

Responsibilities

Compensation Plan Design & Governance

• Design, cost, and maintain variable compensation plans for quota-carrying reps and overlay roles (BDR, Partners, SE, CS), aligned with GTM strategy and financial targets.
• Model plan costs and payout scenarios ahead of annual and mid-year changes, partnering with Finance on affordability and ROI.
• Own plan documentation, rep-facing comp letters, and FAQs.

Quota & Crediting Operations

• Implement quotas, targets, and crediting rules correctly across the commissions platform and Salesforce.
• Own crediting logic for expansions, amendments, multi-year deals, proration, and FX.
• Partner with RevOps and Deal Desk to keep crediting aligned with how deals are structured.

Commission Calculation & Payments

• Run monthly and quarterly commission calculations, reconciliation, and dispute resolution.
• Own the payroll handoff process, ensuring accurate and on-time payouts.
• Maintain audit readiness and strong internal controls across the full compensation cycle.

Reporting & Analytics

• Build and maintain reliable reporting on attainment, payouts, and plan effectiveness for Sales, Finance, and RevOps leadership.
• Surface insights on plan performance and recommend adjustments to keep incentives driving the right behaviors.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Sales leadership, RevOps, Finance/FP&A, Payroll, People, and Legal on compensation governance.
• Serve as the go-to expert on comp mechanics, explaining plan design and payouts to reps and executives alike.
• Support internal-controls work, responding to audit requests related to compensation.

Requirements

Must-haves

• Comp/RevOps experience: 4-8+ years in Sales Compensation, Incentive Compensation, RevOps, Sales Ops, or Finance within a high-growth B2B SaaS environment.
• Plan design expertise: Experience designing and operating variable compensation plans, including quota-carrying and overlay roles, accelerators, and SPIFFs.
• SaaS commercial fluency: Fluent in SaaS commercial concepts like bookings/ARR, expansions and amendments, multi-year deals, proration, and FX.
• Commissions operations: Hands-on experience with reconciliation, dispute handling, approvals, payroll handoff, and audit readiness under tight monthly close timelines.
• Advanced spreadsheet skills: Advanced in Excel or Google Sheets (pivot tables, complex formulas, data cleaning, and modeling).
• Systems fluency: Comfortable in Salesforce (or a similar CRM) and a commissions platform such as Qobra, CaptivateIQ, Xactly, Varicent, or Everstage.
• Stakeholder communication: Ability to explain comp mechanics clearly to reps and executives alike, building trust through every conversation.
• Integrity & discretion: High integrity and discretion when handling sensitive compensation data.

Nice-to-haves

• SOX & controls experience: Experience working with SOX/internal controls and commissions accounting or accruals.
• BI/reporting tools: Experience with BI or reporting tooling.
• Automation skills: Comfort with SQL, dbt, or scripting to automate parts of the comp workflow.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation 💸 – Fair and attractive pay.
• Ownership 💪 – Equity options (get a slice of n8n).
• Work/life balance 🏖️ – 30 days of vacation in Europe, or 20 vacation days + 8 sick days in the US (plus public holidays).
• Health & wellness 🩺 – Local country norm benefits in Europe; multiple low-premium medical, dental, and vision plans in the US.
• Future planning 💰 – Pension contributions in Europe; 401(k) with 4% employer match in the US.
• Financial security 🛡 – Disability and life insurance (US).
• Career growth 📈 – €1K (or equivalent) per year learning budget for courses, books, events, or coaching.
• Passionate team 🤩 – Regular hackathons and collaborative culture.
• Remote-first 🌏 – Remote-first setup across Europe with regular off-sites.
• Giving back 🤝 – $100 per month to support open-source projects you care about.
• Transparency 🙏 – Open communication and company-wide transparency.