Vice President, Sales Operations SaaS
Job Description
β
A VP of Sales Operations in a high-growth SaaS setting is responsible for driving operational excellence, enabling data-driven decisions, and building the processes and infrastructure that allow the sales organization to scale effectively. This role sits at the intersection of sales strategy, analytics, technology, and process optimization, ensuring the company hits ambitious revenue goals while maintaining efficiency, alignment, and employee satisfaction across the commercial organization.
β
Sales Strategy & Planning
- Strategic Planning: Work closely with the SVP of Sales and executive team to define annual sales objectives, revenue targets, and territory expansion plans.
- Go-To-Market (GTM) Alignment: Ensure sales objectives align with the companyβs product roadmap, pricing strategy, marketing initiatives, and broader GTM approach.
β
Forecasting & Pipeline Management
- Sales Forecasting: Establish and manage a consistent forecasting process (weekly/monthly/quarterly) to provide accurate visibility into pipeline, close rates, and future revenue projections.
- Pipeline Analytics: Monitor pipeline health, deal velocity, and conversion metrics; analyze data to identify risks and opportunities for meeting or exceeding targets.
β
Sales Process & Operational Excellence
- Process Optimization: Design, implement, and refine end-to-end sales processes (e.g., lead routing, deal review stages, proposal workflows) to drive efficiency and reduce friction.
- Best Practices: Standardize sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDPICC, Challenger, SPIN) and ensure consistent usage across the entire sales organization.
- Compliance & Governance: Ensure contracting, discounting, and approvals follow policy guidelines; mitigate risk and maintain internal controls.
β
Technology & Systems Management
- Sales Tech Stack: Own the CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and integrated sales tools (e.g., CPQ, sales engagement platforms, analytics dashboards). Lead vendor evaluations and oversee implementations and integrations.
- Data Integrity & Governance: Maintain a clean, accurate data environment for forecasting and reporting. Implement data hygiene processes and set standards for usage.
- Automation & Scalability: Identify opportunities to automate routine tasks and scale infrastructure to support a growing salesforce and new business lines.
β
Sales Analytics & Reporting
- KPI Development: Define and track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive the business (e.g., ARR, ACV, churn, upsell, pipeline coverage).
- Reporting & Dashboards: Provide real-time insights to leadership on sales performance, pipeline strength, rep productivity, and segment/vertical success.
- Business Insights: Translate raw sales data into actionable insights that inform strategic decisions (e.g., product focus, target accounts, territory realignments).
β
Territory & Quota Management
- Territory Design: Develop and optimize sales territories to balance workload, maximize coverage, and reduce channel conflict.
- Quota Setting: Collaborate with finance and sales leadership to allocate quotas fairly, ensuring they are achievable yet challenging, and align with company revenue goals.
- Headcount Planning: Plan for sales capacity requirements (e.g., new hires, expansions) based on territory potential and pipeline coverage.
β
Sales Compensation & Incentives
- Compensation Strategy: Design and manage sales incentive plans to drive desired behaviors (e.g., new logos, upsells, multi-year deals), ensuring they remain competitive and aligned to business goals.
- Plan Administration: Oversee the calculation and payouts of commissions, bonuses, and SPIFs; manage disputes and ensure timely, accurate payments.
- Performance Optimization: Track rep performance vs. quotas and adjust comp structures as needed to reward high performance and address market changes.
β
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Finance & Leadership: Collaborate with the CFO/Finance to align on budgets, revenue forecasts, and compensation modeling; share sales insights with executive stakeholders.
- Marketing: Ensure marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and campaigns integrate seamlessly into the sales funnel. Collaborate to fine-tune lead scoring, messaging, and content.
- Product & Customer Success: Provide market feedback to Product teams; ensure smooth customer onboarding and renewals by coordinating with Customer Success and post-sales teams.
- Legal & RevOps: Align on contract structures, negotiation parameters, and commercial terms. Work with RevOps (if separate) to unify data, processes, and analytics across the full revenue cycle.
β
Deal Desk & Pricing Governance
- Deal Desk Oversight: Lead a deal desk function to review high-value or complex deals; ensure pricing and discounting adhere to margin targets and approval policies.
- Pricing Strategy: Partner with finance and product to refine pricing models (subscription tiers, usage-based, etc.), balancing competitiveness, margin, and product value.