Director, Sales Finance

Harness is a high-growth company that is disrupting the software delivery market. Our mission is to enable the 30 million software developers in the world to deliver code to their users reliably, efficiently, securely and quickly, increasing customers’ pace of innovation while improving the developer experience. We offer solutions for every step of the software delivery lifecycle to build, test, secure, deploy and manage reliability, feature flags and cloud costs. The Harness Software Delivery Platform includes modules for CI, CD, Cloud Cost Management, Feature Flags, Service Reliability Management, Security Testing Orchestration, Chaos Engineering, Software Engineering Insights and continues to expand at an incredibly fast pace.   Harness is led by technologist and entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, who founded AppDynamics and sold it to Cisco for $3.7B. We’re backed with $425M in venture financing from top-tier VC and strategic firms, including J.P. Morgan, Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, ServiceNow, Splunk Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Adage Capital Partners, Balyasny Asset Management, Gaingels, Harmonic Growth Partners, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Alkeon Capital, Battery Ventures, Sorenson Capital, Thomvest Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.

Position Summary

The Director of Sales Finance will serve as the key strategic financial partner to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and the global sales leadership team. This is a high-impact role responsible for providing the financial insights, planning, and operational support needed to drive profitable revenue growth.

You will lead all aspects of financial planning and analysis for the sales organization, including headcount planning, operating expense management, sales compensation design and execution, and the development of sophisticated capacity and productivity models. The ideal candidate is a data-driven, strategic thinker with a proven ability to influence senior leaders and translate complex financial information into actionable business insights

About The Role

Financial Planning & Analysis (Fp&A):

• Lead the annual operating plan (AOP), quarterly forecasts, and long-range planning for the global sales organization.
• Manage all headcount planning, providing models and recommendations to support hiring plans and organizational structure.
• Oversee the management and forecasting of all departmental operating expenses.
• Prepare and present monthly and quarterly financial reporting packages for sales leadership, including detailed variance analysis and commentary on business drivers.
• Identify and communicate financial risks and opportunities to the business.

Sales Compensation:

• Partner with Sales Leadership, HR, and Revenue Operations to design, model, and implement annual sales compensation plans that align with corporate revenue goals and strategic objectives.
• Oversee the end-to-end administration of sales commissions, including quota and territory assignment validation, calculations, and ensuring timely and accurate payouts.
• Serve as the finance lead for the commission management system (e.g., Xactly, CaptivateIQ), ensuring data integrity and process efficiency.
• Provide detailed analysis on the effectiveness of compensation plans, SPIFFs, and other incentive programs, measuring ROI and performance against targets.
• Act as the primary point of contact for resolving commission-related inquiries and disputes.

Sales Strategy & Analytics:

• Develop, maintain, and enhance sophisticated sales capacity models to inform hiring targets, quota setting, and long-term revenue projections.
• Analyze key sales metrics and SaaS KPIs, such as Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), quota attainment, pipeline velocity, and sales cycle length.
• Provide financial modeling and due diligence for strategic initiatives, including pricing strategies, new market entry, and channel partnerships.
• Collaborate closely with the Revenue Operations team to ensure alignment on data, systems (e.g., Salesforce), and reporting.

Business Partnership & Leadership:

• Act as the primary financial advisor and trusted business partner to the CRO and their leadership team.
• Effectively communicate financial performance and insights to executive stakeholders.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of finance professionals.
• Drive continuous improvement and scalability in financial processes and reporting to support a growing sales organization

About You

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in finance, with at least 5+ years in a finance role directly supporting a Sales or Go-To-Market organization.
• Deep expertise in sales compensation plan design, modeling, and administration.
• Proven experience building and managing complex financial models, including sales capacity and commission expense models.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills with a high attention to detail.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Strong leadership skills with experience managing and developing a team.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to distill complex financial concepts for non-financial audiences.

Preferred:

• MBA, CPA, or other relevant professional certification.
• Experience in a high-growth SaaS or technology company.
• Hands-on experience with financial planning systems (e.g., Anaplan, Adaptive Insights, Planful).
• Experience with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and commission management software (e.g., Xactly, CaptivateIQ).
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously

Work Location

• San Francisco or New York City (Hybrid from either location)

What You Will Have At Harness

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive healthcare benefits
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Flexible work schedule
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Flexible Time Off and Parental Leave
• Monthly, quarterly, and annual social and team building events
• Monthly internet reimbursement

The anticipated base salary range for this position is between $202,000 and $220,000 annually. Salary is determined by a combination of factors including location, level, relevant experience, and skills. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations.  The compensation package for this position may also include equity, and benefits. More details about our company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.harness.io/company/careers. 

Pay transparency$202,000—$220,000 USD

Harness In The News:

• Harness AI Tackles Software Development’s Real Bottleneck
• After 'Vibe Coding' Comes 'Vibe Testing' (Almost)
• Startup Within a Startup: Empowering Intrapreneurs for Scalable Innovation - Jyoti Bansal (Harness)
• Jyoti Bansal, Harness | theCUBEd Awards
• Eight years after selling AppDynamics to Cisco, Jyoti Bansal is pursuing an unusual merger
• Harness snags Split.io, as it goes all in on feature flags and experiments
• Exclusive: Jyoti Bansal-led Harness has raised $150 million in debt financing

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Note on Fraudulent Recruiting/Offers

We have become aware that there may be fraudulent recruiting attempts being made by people posing as representatives of Harness. These scams may involve fake job postings, unsolicited emails, or messages claiming to be from our recruiters or hiring managers. 

Please note, we do not ask for sensitive or financial information via chat, text, or social media, and any email communications will come from the domain @harness.io. Additionally, Harness will never ask for any payment, fee to be paid, or purchases to be made by a job applicant. All applicants are encouraged to apply directly to our open jobs via our website. Interviews are generally conducted via Zoom video conference unless the candidate requests other accommodations.

If you believe that you have been the target of an interview/offer scam by someone posing as a representative of Harness, please do not provide any personal or financial information and contact us immediately at security@harness.io. You can also find additional information about this type of scam and report any fraudulent employment offers via the Federal Trade Commission’s website (https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams), or you can contact your local law enforcement agency.