Finance Associate Director, Sales Compensation MI (Data Architecture & Strategy)
S&P Global · London, United Kingdom
About the Role:
Grade Level (for internal use):
12Associate Director, Finance – Sales Compensation (Data Architecture & Strategy)
The Team
We are a high-accountability, globally connected Sales Compensation team that values disciplined execution, a strong sense of urgency, and end-to-end ownership. We expect our people to understand the full lifecycle of their work, anticipate downstream impacts, and communicate outcomes with exceptional clarity, whether supporting our broad population of 1,500+ plan participants or partnering with C-level executives. We value precision, responsiveness, sound judgment, collaboration, and people who take ownership through to resolution.
Responsibilities and Impact
This role sits at the intersection of Finance, Sales Operations, and Technology — and it's central to how S&P Global ensures every sales commission is calculated on a clean, trusted, and fully governed data foundation. As the primary data architect and strategic partner for Sales leadership, you will shape the infrastructure that powers commercial decisions across the division.
- Architect and govern a centralised, SOX-compliant data platform — owning schema design, tool selection, database build-out, and ongoing maintenance — that serves as the single source of truth for all commission calculations and sales performance reporting.
- Serve as the first point of contact for sales leadership on all data-related matters — proactively detecting and resolving anomalies (e.g., double-counted revenue, incorrect territory mapping) before they impact calculations, while designing and implementing automated reconciliation and standardised adjustment processes that ensure data integrity and audit-readiness at scale.
- Lead and develop a team of data and compensation analysts: set goals, allocate resources, and build a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
- Translate complex commercial contracts — including joint/split deals and strategic accounts — into structured, reusable data frameworks that integrate cleanly into operational and reporting workflows.
- Partner with Business Intelligence and Systems Analytics to shape Data Warehouse architecture and ETL workflows, ensuring downstream analytics always run on validated, trusted inputs.
- Communicate and present real-time sales performance analytics and data-quality metrics to senior leadership, while translating complex data architecture into plain English for sales reps and leaders — resolving data-related questions and driving adoption of correct processes across the organisation.
Compensation and Benefits (US Candidates Only)
S&P Global states that the anticipated base salary range for this position is $104,435 to $182,604. Final base salary for this role will be based on the individual's geographic location, as well as experience level, skill set, training, licenses and certifications.
In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for an annual incentive plan. This role is eligible to receive additional S&P Global benefits. For more information on the benefits we provide to our employees, please visit: https://spgbenefits.com/benefit-summaries
What We Are Looking For
Basic Required Qualifications
- Experience: 10+ years in sales compensation, data architecture, data governance, or financial systems, including 2+ years in a people leadership role managing analytical teams.
- Database, Automation and Optimization: Hands-on experience in large-scale database design, schema development, ETL pipeline management, advanced SQL querying, database automation, and query performance optimization across complex, high-volume datasets.
- Reconciliation and Adjustments: Demonstrated proficiency in at least one scripting or automation tool — Python/Pandas, VBA, or Alteryx — to design and automate large-scale reconciliation pipelines and standardised adjustment workflows, ensuring data integrity and calculation accuracy at scale.
- Governance and Compliance: Proven experience establishing SOX-compliant data governance frameworks, including automated audit trails, validation models, and standardised adjustment protocols.
- Real-Time Reporting: Experience building and configuring real-time Power BI reports and dashboards, and presenting data-quality metrics and insights to Director-level and above stakeholders.
Additional Preferred Qualifications
- Prior experience in a sales compensation platform environment (e.g., Xactly, Anaplan, SAP Commissions, or equivalent).
- Experience interpreting and translating complex commercial deal structures — including joint/split deals, multi-party credits, and territory hierarchies — into clean, system-ready data constructs.
- Background contributing to Data Warehouse architecture or scalable BI infrastructure within a cross-functional Finance or Sales Operations environment.
- Track record converting ambiguous legacy workflows into documented SOPs and measurable SLAs.
- Ability to proactively identify and resolve revenue anomalies (e.g., double-counted revenue, incorrect territory mapping) before they impact commission execution.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills — able to explain database logic and commission calculations clearly to non-technical stakeholders including Sales Directors and senior commercial leadership.
Right to Work Requirements
United States: This role is limited to persons with indefinite right to work in the United States.
Return to Work — Restart
Have you taken time out for caring responsibilities and are now looking to return to work? As part of our Return to Work initiative, Restart, we are encouraging enthusiastic and talented returners to apply, and will actively support your return to the workplace.
What’s In It For You?
Our Mission:
Advancing Essential Intelligence.
Our People:
We're more than 35,000 strong worldwide—so we're able to understand nuances while having a broad perspective. Our team is driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future for us all.From finding new ways to measure sustainability to analyzing energy transition across the supply chain to building workflow solutions that make it easy to tap into insight and apply it. We are changing the way people see things and empowering them to make an impact on the world we live in. We’re committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business. Join us and help create the critical insights that truly make a difference.
Our Values:
Integrity, Discovery, Partnership
Throughout our history, the world's leading organizations have relied on us for the Essential Intelligence they need to make confident decisions about the road ahead. We start with a foundation of integrity in all we do, bring a spirit of discovery to our work, and collaborate in close partnership with each other and our customers to achieve shared goals.
Benefits:
We take care of you, so you can take care of business. We care about our people. That’s why we provide everything you—and your career—need to thrive at S&P Global.
Our benefits include:
- Health & Wellness: Health care coverage designed for the mind and body.
- Flexible Downtime: Generous time off helps keep you energized for your time on.
- Continuous Learning: Access a wealth of resources to grow your career and learn valuable new skills.
- Invest in Your Future: Secure your financial future through competitive pay, retirement planning, a continuing education program with a company-matched student loan contribution, and financial wellness programs.
- Family Friendly Perks: It’s not just about you. S&P Global has perks for your partners and little ones, too, with some best-in class benefits for families.
- Beyond the Basics: From retail discounts to referral incentive awards—small perks can make a big difference.
For more information on benefits by country visit: https://spgbenefits.com/bene