Manager, Strategy and Planning

Pitchbookdata
Seattle, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level professionals with commercial strategy and financial planning experience who thrive in high-ambiguity environments.

Best fit for

  • Strategic thinkers who connect incentive design to commercial outcomes
    — “translate that understanding into compensation programs
  • Leaders comfortable presenting findings directly to C-level executives
    — “presenting findings and recommendations directly at the C-level
  • Analytical managers who drive continuous improvement in forecasting
    — “drives continuous improvement based on the answer

Things to consider

  • Requires managing a team of three to four analysts
    — “You will manage a team of three to four analysts
  • Must handle monthly and quarterly commission calculations with high accuracy
    — “Manage monthly and quarterly commission calculations and payout processes

How to stand out

  • Demonstrate experience designing scalable incentive plans for large teams
    — “Own end-to-end design, implementation, and governance of Sales Incentive Plans
  • Showcase cross-functional collaboration with Legal, Payroll, and HR
    — “partner with Legal, Payroll, Finance, and HR
  • Highlight past work connecting commercial forecasts to financial planning
    — “Partner with FP&A to translate Bookings forecast outputs into Revenue
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Manager

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • successful implementation of incentive compensation programs
  • accurate financial forecasts
Typical background
experience in commercial operationsbackground in financial planning

Skills & requirements

Required

Commercial PlanningFinancial PlanningIncentive DesignTeam Management

Preferred

Strategic PlanningFinancial Modeling

About the role

Original posting from Pitchbookdata via Greenhouse

At PitchBook, a Morningstar company, we are always looking forward. We continue to innovate, evolve, and invest in ourselves to bring out the best in everyone. We’re deeply collaborative and thrive on the excitement, energy, and fun that reverberates throughout the company. 

Our extensive learning programs and mentorship opportunities help us create a culture of curiosity that pushes us to always find new solutions and better ways of doing things. The combination of a rapidly evolving industry and our high ambitions means there’s going to be some ambiguity along the way, but we excel when we challenge ourselves. We’re willing to take risks, fail fast, and do it all over again in the pursuit of excellence.

If you have a good attitude and are willing to roll up your sleeves to get things done, PitchBook is the place for you. 

About the Role:

Incentive compensation and commercial planning are among the most powerful levers in a growth-stage commercial organization - they shape how sellers prioritize, where the business invests, and how financial performance ultimately materializes. The Manager, Strategy & Planning owns these levers at PitchBook. 

This role sits at the intersection of commercial strategy, financial planning, and incentive design. It is responsible for building and governing the compensation programs and financial frameworks that align our go-to-market organization with PitchBook's growth objectives - covering 500+ commissioned roles spanning Sales, Customer Success, and commercial leadership across every segment and geography. 

This is not a plan administration role. It is a senior strategic function that requires deep understanding of our GTM motions and the ability to translate that understanding into compensation programs, Bookings forecasts, and financial frameworks that produce the right commercial outcomes. You will manage a team of three to four analysts and serve as the internal authority on how PitchBook incentivizes and plans for its commercial organization, from plan design and quota-setting through commission execution and governance. 

Reporting to the Head of Commercial Operations, you will be a trusted partner and regular point of contact for the CRO and CFO, presenting findings and recommendations directly at the C-level and serving as the connective tissue between commercial strategy and financial planning. The right candidate doesn't just ask "did we pay correctly?" but "are our plans producing the commercial and financial outcomes we need?", and drives continuous improvement based on the answer. 

Primary Job Responsibilities:

Own end-to-end design, implementation, and governance of Sales Incentive Plans (SIPs) for every commissioned role at PitchBook - 500+ roles spanning Sales, Customer Success, and commercial leadership including plan structure, pay mix, accelerators, SPIFFs, and annual plan documentation 

Manage monthly and quarterly commission calculations and payout processes with a high standard for accuracy; serve as the final escalation point for disputes and exceptions across the commercial org 

Own the Commissions forecasting process in close partnership with FP&A, ensuring monthly and quarterly commission expense projections are accurate, timely, and integrated into the company's financial planning cadence; proactively surface and communicate variance drivers to CFO and Finance leadership 

Ensure SIPs are equitable, compliant, and operationally scalable; partner with Legal, Payroll, Finance, and HR to maintain plan integrity and consistent application across the organization 

Lead the annual quota-setting process in partnership with Commercial leaders and Finance; develop and maintain quota capacity models that account for headcount changes, ramp curves, segment mix, and financial targets 

Build cost models and scenario analyses to quantify the financial impact of plan design changes; support CRO and CFO planning cycles with compensation budget projections and Commissions forecast sensitivity analyses 

Lead a structured compensation governance cadence - facilitating cross-functional review of plan exceptions, policy evolution, and year-over-year plan retrospectives; maintain plan documentation and annual plan communications to sellers and managers 

Shape long-term incentive strategy by connecting plan design to commercial performance outcomes; conduct ongoing benchmarking against external market data to ensure OTE competitiveness and inform pay mix recommendations 

Lead the Bookings forecasting function for the commercial organization, directing analysts and partnering with FP&A to build and maintain bottoms-up forecasting models by segment, product line, and seller cohort; own the reconciliation of the operational forecast to the financial plan on a monthly and quarterly basis 

Partner with Commercial Analytics and GTM Systems to ensure the forecast integrates pipeline data, conversion rates, seasonality, and quota capacity - and surface the forecast to CRO and CFO as the primary commercial voice in Finance's planning process 

Direct analysis of forecast-to-actual variance at the segment, team, and rep level; work with analysts and Commercial leadership to diagnose deal slippage, pipeline coverage gaps, and pacing trends; and bring clear recommendations for corrective action to the CRO and Finance leadership 

Partner with FP&A to translate Bookings forecast outputs into Revenue and ARR projections, ensuring alignment between the commercial forecast and the company's financial reporting and planning models 

Support quarterly and annual planning cycles by directing scenario-based Bookings projections tied to headcount, territory, and investment decisions - enabling CRO, CFO, and Commercial leadership to evaluate trade-offs with financial precision 

Lead the analysis of whether compensation plans and Bookings trajectories are producing the commercial outcomes PitchBook needs; direct internal analytics resources to surface misalignments between incentives, forecasts, and GTM strategy; and present findings and recommendations directly to the CRO and CFO 

Direct commercial segment, territory, and account coverage modeling in partnership with Commercial leadership and Commercial Analytics; ensure quota, incentive design, and Bookings expectations reflect the realities of how each segment goes to market - and flag decisions that require C-level input 

Lead commercial planning frameworks that connect GTM strategy - segment investment, territory structure, coverage model - to the financial architecture of how we incentivize and forecast the business; own the agenda for how comp design, Bookings planning, and GTM design are built in lockstep 

Contribute to recurring commercial and financial reporting (WBR, QBR) by connecting incentive design, quota attainment, and Bookings forecast data to broader GTM and financial performance trends; present directly to CRO and CFO in these forums 

Partner with GTM Systems, Finance, FP&A, and BI to define the analytical infrastructure; reporting frameworks, data models, dashboards - that enables this role and Commercial leadership to make faster, more confident strategic and financial decisions; direct internal resources to build and maintain these assets 

Manage and develop a team of three to four analysts across Compensation and Commercial Planning; set clear priorities, build analytical capability, and maintain a high standard of accuracy, strategic thinking, and responsiveness 

Serve as a senior cross-functional partner to Commercial leaders, FP&A, Revenue Operations, and HR - translating business needs into compensation, forecasting, and planning frameworks that align incentives and financial plans with strategy 

Present findings and recommendations directly to the CRO and CFO on a regular cadence; serve as the comme

Source: Pitchbookdata careers (Greenhouse)

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