Guidewire Software

Principal, Sales Programs

Guidewire Software$150K — $226K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in management consulting and B2B software go-to-market (GTM) strategies.
  • Preferred background in top-tier management consulting (MBB, Big Four strategy) for skillset alignment.
  • Experience in GTM strategy, sales programs, revenue operations, or product marketing within enterprise software.
  • Strong understanding of financial metrics such as ARR, NRR, and pipeline coverage, with ability to build financial cases for executive review.
  • Expertise in analyzing enterprise customer journeys and aligning metrics with various stages of the journey.
  • Proven track record in developing GTM programs with a focus on measurable outcomes and behavior change.
  • Ability to navigate and influence in a matrixed environment, moving initiatives forward with limited information.

Responsibilities

  • Own the process for selecting and evaluating new Sales Program candidates based on structured criteria.
  • Analyze customer journeys to identify key problems and formulate opportunity statements.
  • Develop detailed briefs for each approved program, outlining objectives, metrics, and financial cases.
  • Oversee the entire lifecycle of Sales Program launches, coordinating teams and setting up necessary content and communications.
  • Create and maintain an operating rhythm for program governance, including performance tracking and milestone reviews.
  • Collaborate with Sales leadership to design incentive structures that reinforce desired program behaviors.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance coverage.
  • Generous paid time off policy.
  • Participation in a company-sponsored retirement plan.
  • Eligibility for annual bonus, commissions, and long-term incentive awards based on performance.
Full Job Description
Summary

About the Role
Guidewire is building its Sales Programs discipline from the ground up, and this role owns it. Sales programs are C-suite aligned priorities agreed upon by Field and Product, whether that is a competitive takedown, a new product nurture campaign, or an adoption push in the installed base.

As Principal, Sales Programs, you will lead program selection, build the execution infrastructure, maintain the operating rhythm, and hold the accountability framework that keeps programs honest. You will work across Product Management, Product Marketing, Sales, Field Enablement, Sales Operations, Finance, and executive leadership. This role is built for a former management consultant used to working in a highly matrixed organization driving GTM motions. The work is structured problem solving against ambiguous commercial questions, opportunity sizing, executive communication, and cross-functional program leadership.

Job Description

What You'll Do
Program Selection and Prioritization. Own the intake and evaluation process for new Sales Program candidates. Apply a structured evaluation bar, assess business impact and feasibility, and bring prioritized recommendations to senior leadership with clear rationale for what gets greenlit and what gets deferred. Prioritization decisions are defensible against the financial model: expected revenue impact, pipeline coverage contribution, and cycle time improvement.

Customer Journey Analysis and Problem Framing. Every program starts with a precise read of where the problem is in the customer journey and what problem matters at that stage. Write targeted problem and opportunity statements for specific stages in Guidewire's customer journey, not generic ones. A pipeline generation program for a net-new logo and an expansion program for a live account require different positioning, different success metrics, and different field behaviors.

Program Design and Brief Development. For every approved program, develop the brief: problem statement, opportunity sizing, target segment, intended field behavior change, competitive positioning, and success metrics. Programs under your ownership span multi-quarter lifecycles, carry C-suite sponsorship, and integrate coordinated levers across PMM, enablement, marketing, and field operations. Every brief includes a financial case: what we expect the program to move, over what time horizon, against what baseline.

Program Launch and Execution. Manage the full Sales Program launch lifecycle. Coordinate core and extended teams, finalize target account lists, align inspection cadence with Sales Operations, and ensure enablement content, communications, and sales leader briefings land before the field is activated. Maintain a launch kit that makes standing up new programs faster over time.

Operating Rhythm and Governance. Run the program cadence: weekly execution reviews, quarterly steerco presentations, and annual planning contribution that sequences the portfolio against strategic priorities. Track KPIs, surface blockers, and lead goal recalibration when actuals diverge from model.

Field Activation and Incentive Design. Partner with Sales leadership and Sales Operations to design incentive structures tied to program outcomes, whether that is quota-linked incentives, recognition programs, contests, or other mechanisms that drive the specific actions a program requires.

What We're Looking For
  • 10+ years combined experience across management consulting and enterprise B2B software GTM.
  • Former top-tier management consulting experience (MBB, Big Four strategy, or equivalent) strongly preferred. This role is explicitly designed around a consulting skill set.
  • Direct experience in GTM strategy, sales programs, revenue operations, or product marketing inside an enterprise software company.
  • Fluent in the financial metrics that govern enterprise software: ARR, NRR, pipeline coverage, bookings, win rate, ASP, cycle time, LTV, expansion revenue, retention. Comfortable reading a P&L and building a defensible financial case with finance that holds up under CFO and CRO scrutiny.
  • Can understand an enterprise customer journey end to end, identify where commercial leverage sits at each stage, and match the right metrics to the right stage.
  • Has built and run structured GTM programs with accountability for both design and results. Knows the difference between a program that changes field behavior and one that generates a slide deck.
  • Operates in a matrixed environment, influences without authority, and moves programs forward without perfect information.


Why This Role

Guidewire is investing in its go-to-market operating model, and this function does not yet exist in its full form. The person who takes this role will build it. Real executive visibility, meaningful scope, and the opportunity to establish durable infrastructure in a company with a large and defensible market position.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $150,000 - $226,000 . Your base pay will depend on your experience, skills, education, training, and location among other factors. All full-time positions or part-time roles working 30 hours or more a week at Guidewire are eligible for benefits that support their health and well-being including health, dental, and vision insurance, paid time off, and a company sponsored retirement plan. In addition, some roles may be eligible for the annual company bonus plan, commissions, and/or long term incentive awards which are contingent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, company and employee performance.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire Software, Inc. provides software products for property and casualty insurers worldwide. The company offers Guidewire InsuranceSuite comprising Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, and ClaimCenter applications. It also provides Guidewire InsuranceNow, a cloud-based platform, which offers policy, billing, and claims management functionality to insurers that prefer to subscribe to a cloud-based solution. In addition, the company offers Guidewire Underwriting Management, a cloud-based integrated business application; Guidewire Rating Management that enables insurers to address the pricing needs; Guidewire Reinsurance Management, a cloud-based application that helps insurers to manage their reinsurance activities; and Guidewire Client Data Management, a cloud-based application, which provides customer data management capabilities. Further, it provides Guidewire Product Content Management that provides software tools and standards-based line-of-business templates to introduce and modify products; Guidewire AppReader, a natural language processing tool; Guidewire ClaimCanvas, a claim fraud detection and investigation solution; Guidewire ClaimCenter Test Automation, a testing solution for ClaimCenter; Guidewire PolicyCenter Test Automation, a testing solution for PolicyCenter; and Guidewire DevConnect, a developer environment that offers tools to develop and support integration applications. Additionally, the company offers implementation and integration, maintenance support, and professional services, as well as Guidewire Live, a cloud-based analytics platform. It sells its products primarily through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
Learn more about Guidewire Software
Size
2,942 employees
Market Cap
$5 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$21.1 million
Founded
2001
5 Year Trend
+9.8%
Revenue
$761.6 million
NASDAQ

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