Kaitlyn Jafano

About Kaitlyn Jafano

Dynamic and results-driven Sales Compensation and Operations Leader with over a decade of progressive leadership experience. Proven expertise in designing and implementing scalable sales compensation strategies that support business growth, drive revenue, and improve operational efficiency. Adept at leading high-performing teams, managing multi-million-dollar compensation budgets, optimizing processes, and partnering cross-functionally. Recognized for delivering actionable insights, ensuring SOX compliance, and cultivating engaged, motivated teams.

Experience

1. Senior Manager, Sales Compensation

   Zelis

   Apr 2025 — Present

   End-to-end owner of Sales Compensation at Zelis — building the strategy, systems, governance, analytics and controls that translate commercial priorities into fair, auditable, and scalable incentive programs. Core responsibilities>Own Sales Compensation end-to-end: plan design, behavioral modeling, governance, systems, analytics, payout validation and compliance (SOX and audit readiness).>Strategic owner for compensation plan design — led the Sales Compensation plan from strategy through executive- and Compensation Committee–ready materials and stakeholder alignment.>Built the operating model and governance: RACIs, Statements of Authority, standardized intake & escalation, and scalable frameworks for exceptions, cross-sell payments and participant management.>Systems & data stewardship: led the Everstage RFP and own data integrity and integrations across Everstage, Salesforce and Workday; developed executive dashboards and championed AI-enabled solutions to reduce manual dependency and improve participant experience.>Financial & risk accountability: own payout validation, draw-risk modeling and SOX-related processes — decisions that materially influence revenue, margin and enterprise compliance.>Cross-functional partner and executive communicator: partner closely with Sales Leadership, FP & A, Accounting, P&C/Total Rewards and RevOps; translate complex compensation topics into executive-ready insights and act as the final decision owner for Sales Compensation processes.>People & enablement: hired and developed analysts, built playbooks and standardized templates, and instituted operating rhythms that increase throughput, consistency and audit readiness.

Education

• Michigan State University

  Bachelor's degree, Human Resource Management

  2009 — 2012

Skills

• Management
• Hiring
• Training
• Recruiting
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Time Management
• Profit/Loss Accountability
• Sales Management
• Strategic Planning
• Leadership Development
• Microsoft Office
• Guest Service Management
• Visual Merchandising