Commissions Governance Manager

Commissions Governance Manager
Reports to: VP Sales Performance (on appointment), within the CRO organisation. Works alongside the Data team during the transition.
Location: [Insert location; must overlap US working hours]
Department: Sales Performance (CRO)
Job type: Full-Time

About Hyve

We believe that when people come together, powerful things happen. Hyve Group plc connects global industry communities through unmissable events, online networking platforms, and hyper-productive meeting programmes.
Our decades of experience put us at the heart of industries, and we are committed to using our influence to shape innovation and drive progress across our customer communities.
Our market-leading portfolio of global brands includes Shoptalk, Spring Fair, Africa Oil Week, Bett, Mining Indaba, and Retail Meetup.

#LifeAtHyve

At Hyve, we are driven by our values: brilliant work, fresh thinking, rich connections, and collective buzz. In practice, this means we value quality, work with passion, celebrate uniqueness, and are our best when we work together.
We value a diverse team and are committed to employing individuals from all backgrounds and creating a culture based around belonging.
Our hybrid working model ensures we respect our peoples’ work/life balance.
Human connections are our speciality, and we offer a jam-packed calendar of social events, inclusion workshops, and professional development opportunities to make sure #LifeAtHyve is always fulfilling and exciting.

About you

We are seeking an experienced Commissions Governance Manager to own the governance, control and coordination of the end-to-end commissions process for Hyve events.
The role will ensure that Sales, Finance, HR, Payroll, Event Leadership and Analytics fulfil their defined responsibilities, with clear ownership of commission schemes, targets, account ownership, sales inputs, approvals and communications.
The role does not calculate commissions. During the transition, Analytics runs the calculation and seller dashboards while this role works with the Data team to move the function onto a dedicated commissions footing.

Key Responsibilities

Commission Governance

• Own the commissions governance framework, process calendar and operating standards.
• Define and maintain clear RACI ownership across Sales, Finance, HR, Payroll, Event Leadership and Analytics.
• Establish deadlines, approval gates and escalation routes for each commission cycle.
• Design, with the CRO, the fallback process for cycles where inputs are not ready before payroll sign-off, including who decides whether to pay on the last approved figures with a true-up or to hold affected payments.
• Maintain the central source of truth for schemes, targets, account ownership, patch lists and approved changes.
• Ensure all material decisions are documented, approved and auditable.
• Chair regular commissions governance meetings with relevant stakeholders.

Scheme and Target Governance

• Coordinate the annual and in-cycle commission scheme process.
• Ensure rates, spiffs, caps, true-ups and eligibility rules are defined and approved by the appropriate business owners.
• Work with HR on commission letters and on eligibility changes for joiners, leavers and patch moves.
• Coordinate target-setting inputs from Sales leadership and Finance.
• Chase outstanding target inputs with Sales leadership and Finance, so targets reach the calculation confirmed and approved.
• Track outstanding target decisions and escalate missed deadlines to senior leadership.

Account Ownership and Patch Lists

• Ensure account ownership is accurately maintained in the relevant source systems.
• Coordinate the definition and approval of patch lists, seller moves, account splits and new accounts.
• Establish a controlled process for in-cycle ownership and target changes.
• Route ownership disputes to Sales leadership for decision and track them to resolution.
• Monitor recurring issues such as missing accounts, incorrect CRM ownership and late updates.

Input Readiness and Data Quality

• Own the commission input checklist and readiness process.
• Coordinate Finance-owned inputs, including sales measures, order status and payment-related information.
• Coordinate Sales and Growth-owned inputs, including manual sales, coupon sales, account changes and out-of-cycle adjustments.
• Validate completeness, consistency and approval status before inputs are passed to Analytics.
• Ensure manual and non-standard sales data is submitted within agreed deadlines.
• Maintain an issue log showing owners, due dates, impact and resolution status.

Analytics Handover and Calculation Control

• Provide Analytics with a complete, approved and version-controlled input pack.
• Act as the primary liaison between business teams and Analytics.
• Resolve upstream definition and data gaps with their owners before they reach the calculation.
• Coordinate clarification of calculation rules without taking ownership of the calculation itself.
• Review calculation outputs for governance compliance, completeness and exceptions.
• Coordinate the resolution of calculation queries, while preserving Analytics’ responsibility for the calculation model and seller visibility during the transition.
• Within the first 90 days, define the scope of the second commissions role and a plan to transfer the calculation and seller dashboards from Analytics to a dedicated commissions team.

Approval, Payment and Communications

• Coordinate formal approval of commission results before payment.
• Ensure Payroll receives the approved payment file and supporting evidence.
• Govern manual, corrective and out-of-cycle payments.
• Own seller payment communications, including itemised summaries explaining what was paid and why.
• Act as first point of contact for seller commission queries, referring only questions about the calculation model to Analytics.
• Track post-payment corrections and ensure root causes are addressed.

Issue Resolution and Continuous Improvement

• Own the cross-functional commissions issue and escalation process.
• Lead root-cause reviews for recurring issues, delays and control failures.
• Produce regular reporting on process performance, data quality and accountability.
• Recommend improvements to systems, processes, controls and documentation.
• Define the commission-readiness standard that newly acquired brands must meet before joining the Hyve commissions process.
• Maintain an audit trail for scheme changes, input changes, approvals and payment adjustments.

Key Boundaries

The Commissions Governance Manager owns:

• Process governance and accountability.
• Commission calendars, controls and escalation.
• Input readiness and cross-functional coordination.
• Issue management and decision tracking.
• Approval workflow and auditability.
• Seller payment communications and first-line queries.

The Commissions Governance Manager does not own:

• Commission calculation logic or calculation production.
• Sales target decisions.
• Account ownership decisions.
• Revenue recognition or source-system data ownership.
• Payroll processing.
• Final commercial or financial approval.

Key Measures of Success

• Zero late commission payments.
• Payroll submission deadlines are met.
• Commission inputs submitted accurately and on time.
• Reduction in missing accounts, incorrect ownership and late manual sales submissions.
• Fewer calculation rework cycles and post-payment corrections.
• Clear evidence of approval for all scheme and input changes.
• Improved adherence to commission deadlines across Sales, Finance and Payroll.
• Reduction in Analytics time spent chasing inputs or resolving upstream ownership issues.
• Timely and accurate seller communications.
• Seller query volume falls cycle on cycle.
• No unresolved commission issues without a documented owner and due date.

Required Skills & Experience

• Experience in commissions, sales operations, commercial finance, revenue operations or business process governance.
• Proven experience coordinating multiple senior stakeholders across Sales, Finance, HR, Payroll and Analytics.
• Strong understanding of sales compensation and commission processes.
• Experience managing data-quality issues, process controls and operational escalations.
• Strong Excel or spreadsheet skills; experience with CRM, commission, payroll or reporting systems.
• Experience working in a multi-brand, multi-region or events-based organisation is desirable.
• Degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Operations or a related discipline is desirable.

Core Competencies

• Highly organised, structured and detail-oriented.
• Comfortable holding senior stakeholders accountable.
• Clear and confident communicator.
• Commercially aware, with sound financial judgement.
• Strong problem-solving and root-cause analysis skills.
• Able to distinguish between business ownership, data ownership and calculation responsibility.
• Diplomatic but firm when deadlines, controls or approvals are missed.
• Able to operate independently and create structure in an ambiguous environment.