Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Cloudflare is on a mission to help build a better Internet, operating one of the world’s largest networks for a diverse range of customers. The Senior Principal, Sales Compensation Design & Strategy will design and manage Sales Compensation Plans across all customer-facing teams to ensure alignment with Cloudflare's strategy and industry-leading standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Sales Compensation Design Process with the Executive Steering Committee, including CRO, CFO, and CPO level stakeholders
• Drive C-level discussions on compensation philosophy, pay-for-performance outcomes, and strategic trade-offs; develop recommendation decks and own the narrative through approval
• Architect new metrics that align seller incentives with Cloudflare's developer platform and AI product strategy (e.g., Workers consumption, AI Gateway adoption, platform attach, multi-product penetration)
• Create a 3-year roadmap for the Sales Compensation Design function
• Build the AI Compensation Design Framework and Application - an internal capability that uses AI to accelerate plan modeling, scenario simulation, payout forecasting, and what-if analysis across thousands of sellers and territories
• Leverage AI to design high-quality SPIFFs and incentive structures, including generating candidate designs, simulating seller behavior, and stress-testing against historical data before launch
• Track ROI of comp plans, SPIFFs, and incentive programs using AI-driven analytics - moving from lagging reporting to predictive measurement of plan effectiveness, seller behavior change, and revenue lift
• Develop AI-powered pay-for-performance reporting that surfaces insights for executives, managers, and sellers in real time, replacing static quarterly reviews with continuous intelligence
• Collaborate with GTM Strategy, Operations, Finance, HR, IT, and Product to ensure effective deployment of compensation plans and GTM strategy
• Lead compensation enablement and change management for the global Sales team, including AI-assisted communications, FAQ generation, and plan-acceptance workflows
• Design SPIFFs and incentive strategies that balance long-term strategic bets with short-term revenue goals
• Partner with the Compensation Administration and Operations Teams to ensure design intent translates into accurate, auditable payouts

Skills

• 15+ years of experience in Sales Compensation Design in a fast-paced tech company or as a management consultant
• Demonstrated fluency with AI tools and AI-augmented workflows - whether through prior comp design work, analytics, or strategic projects
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to architect new metrics for emerging business models (consumption, AI monetization)
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills, with proven experience presenting to and influencing C-level executives
• Proven experience driving Executive Steering Committee meetings and owning the decision narrative end-to-end
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives to completion across Finance, HR, IT, Product, and GTM
• Detail-oriented with a strategic mindset
• Bachelor's degree required
• Comfort building or directing the build of AI-powered internal applications is strongly preferred
• The ideal candidate combines a strong background in sales strategy and compensation design with genuine curiosity about applying AI to transform the function
• Candidates will have exceptional stakeholder management skills, executive presence, and the confidence to manage evolving strategies in a high-growth company

Company Overview