Advances Specialist, Sales

Advanced Specialist, Sales Incentives - This role aligns to industry level titles such as Senior Sales Compensation Specialist, Senior Sales Incentive Analyst, or Sales Compensation Business Partner.

Location:

United States

Pearson is seeking a strategic and business-oriented Advanced Specialist, Sales Incentives to support the design, operationalization, and execution of sales incentive programs across one or more business units within the organization. This role will serve as a key partner to Sales Leadership, Revenue Operations, Finance, HR, and Commercial teams to help align sales incentive strategy with broader business priorities, growth objectives, and organizational goals.

This individual will play a critical role in translating business strategy into scalable compensation programs and operational delivery plans that drive performance, reinforce desired sales behaviors, and support organizational transformation initiatives. The role requires strong business acumen, partnership skills, operational discipline, and the ability to balance strategic thinking with tactical execution.

In addition to helping shape incentive strategies and implementation roadmaps, this role will also support the administration, calculation, validation, and timely processing of sales incentive and commission payments while ensuring alignment to governance standards and operational controls.

• Partner closely with Sales Leadership, Revenue Operations, Finance, and HR to align sales incentive programs with strategic business priorities and commercial objectives
• Support the development and evolution of sales incentive plan strategies that drive growth, customer retention, product focus, and sales performance
• Translate organizational goals and sales priorities into scalable and operationally executable compensation frameworks
• Serve as a trusted advisor to business leaders on compensation effectiveness, incentive alignment, sales behaviors, and operational considerations
• Help drive consistency, governance, and standardization across sales compensation programs while balancing business-specific needs
• Participate in compensation planning cycles, strategic discussions, and ongoing optimization initiatives

• Lead operational delivery plans and implementation activities associated with annual and mid-year sales incentive plan rollouts
• Coordinate cross-functional readiness activities with Finance, HR, Systems, and Sales Operations teams
• Support implementation and operational administration of incentive compensation tools and systems including SPIFF and other Sales Performance Management platforms
• Ensure compensation plans, payout rules, and operational processes are accurately documented and executable
• Assist in launch readiness efforts including communications, FAQs, leader enablement, testing, and governance validation

• Accurately calculate, validate, and process monthly, quarterly, and annual sales incentive and commission payments
• Validate attainment calculations, quota-related metrics, accelerators, modifiers, kickers, and special incentive programs
• Ensure all compensation payments are completed accurately and on time in alignment with established governance and payroll timelines
• Investigate and resolve payout discrepancies, operational issues, and compensation inquiries proactively
• Maintain strong operational controls and audit-ready documentation supporting compensation processes

• Support governance processes related to incentive compensation strategy, administration, approvals, and payout validation
• Identify opportunities to improve scalability, efficiency, transparency, and operational effectiveness across compensation processes
• Help drive simplification and standardization of compensation operations and supporting tools
• Monitor compensation outcomes and operational trends to support continuous improvement discussions with leadership
• Contribute to development of policies, procedures, and best practices related to sales incentive administration