Equity Compensation and Payroll Lead

Rox; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision coverage

401(k) plan

Job summary

Rox Data Corp in San Francisco seeks an Equity Compensation And Payroll Lead to own payroll, variable compensation, and equity operations end-to-end. This is a finance role focused on controls, not HR administration, with in-person work five days a week.

The role requires deep payroll tax mechanics knowledge, equity administration experience, and a proven ability to implement robust payroll workflows. You will partner with Finance Ops and other teams to ensure accurate, timely payments and

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of payroll tax mechanics across multi-state withholding and filings.
• Experience administering multiple equity instruments including 83(b) elections and vesting.
• Ability to design and improve payroll approval workflows and maintain audit trails.
• Strong controls mindset and process discipline to prevent errors in payroll.

Responsibilities

• Own payroll input control and approval processes.
• Maintain a documented path for any data entering payroll.
• Manage maker/checker separation, change log, and cutoff calendar.
• Review and approve commission payout files before payroll processing.
• Own the funding calendar against the PEO debit schedule.
• Handle non-sales variable compensation including bonuses, sign-on and relocation.
• Reconcile equity and payroll tax with cap table systems and payroll.

Skills

Payroll tax mechanics

Equity administration

Internal controls

Workflow design

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Carta

Job description

• San Francisco (in-person only, 5 days a week)
• Finance Team

Equity Compensation And Payroll Lead

Rox Data Corp

Why this role exists

Rox runs payroll for over 100 US employees through a Justworks PEO, plus an India team on EOR, and pays out variable compensation across several plan types every month. Today that work is split across three outsourced providers and one internal person, with no single owner. We have grown to a size where equity administration requires an owner as well.

We are hiring one person to own payroll, variable compensation and equity operations end to end: the determinations, the controls and the calendar. This is a Finance role, not an HR administration role, and not an accounting role.

What You Will Own

• Payroll input control and approval
• Own the single documented path by which anything enters payroll
• Maintain maker/checker separation, a change log and a published cutoff calendar
• Review and approve the commission payout file produced by RevOps before it reaches payroll
• Own the funding calendar against the PEO debit schedule
• Non-sales variable compensation
• Performance bonuses, referral bonuses, sign-on and relocation
• Calculate, document and route for approval; maintain the audit trail
• Own the earned-versus-paid accrual file delivered to close
• Equity administration and payroll tax
• Restricted stock administration. Section 83(b) elections and their 30-day statutory deadline, filing evidence retention, and vesting and repurchase schedules
• Repurchase rights on termination, exercised within the contractual window
• ISO and NSO exercises, including W-2 reporting of disqualifying dispositions
• Cash-versus-equity elections and their payroll treatment
• Reconciliation between Carta and payroll
• Supplemental withholding, multi-state wage bases, and year-end W-2 accuracy
• Reimbursement and fringe taxability
• Own the accountable-plan test under IRC 62(c)
• Determine taxability for relocation, commuter benefits above the statutory cap, and meals
• Partner with Finance Operations, who processes reimbursements; you decide what lands on a W-2
• International and EOR administration
• Reconcile EOR invoices to the GL and to headcount
• Consolidate the current multi-provider EOR footprint
• Own the vendor relationship
• Benefits and census
• Annual renewal cycle, plan selection and contribution modeling
• Census accuracy, ACA reporting, 401(k) participant data
• PEO exit readiness
• Own the analysis and, when the company decides to move, own the transition
• Wage base continuity, state registrations, workers compensation placement, 401(k) plan spin-off

What You Will Not Own

Clear boundaries matter here, so they are stated up front.

• AP, AR, collections, expense processing — Finance Operations
• Sales commission calculation and QuotaPath administration — Revenue Operations
• Month-end close, technical accounting, financial statements — Controller
• Recruiting, performance management, employee relations — People team

You approve the commission file. You do not build it.

Requirements

Must have

• Payroll tax mechanics at depth. Multi-state withholding and wage bases, supplemental rates, quarterly and annual filings, and what changes when a company leaves a PEO.
• Equity administration across the full instrument set. Restricted stock and 83(b) mechanics, ISO versus NSO treatment and disqualifying dispositions, vesting and repurchase schedules, and reconciliation between a cap table system and payroll. You have administered more than one instrument type, and can steward an existing book while standing up a new one.
• Fringe benefit and accountable-plan taxability. You can explain the three-part test and apply it to a relocation package without looking it up.
• Controls instinct. You have designed or materially improved a payroll approval workflow. You do not process a file simply because someone sent it.
• 8+ years in payroll operations, stock plan administration, or a blended People/Finance operations role at a company that grew through the 100 to 300 employee range. Two prerequisites within that:
• You have designed a payroll approval workflow, not only operated one
• You have been through a PEO exit or a payroll platform migration

Strongly Preferred

• CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) or CEP (Certified Equity Professional)
• Direct experience with a PEO exit or a payroll platform migration
• Carta or equivalent cap table administration
• Working comfort with accruals, GL coding and reconciliation — enough to hand a clean file to accounting, not to own the close

Not Required

• CPA
• Technical accounting, revenue recognition, or financial statement preparation
• People management (this is an individual contributor role at hire)

Role Structure

• Base salary: $185,000 to $215,000, depending on depth of equity administration experience
• Equity: standard early-stage grant, four-year vest with a one-year cliff. The specific grant is discussed at offer
• Benefits: medical, dental and vision through the company plan; 401(k)
• Reports to the Head of Finance. Deliberately organized outside AP/AR so that payroll initiation and vendor disbursement never sit in the same seat.
• In person in the San Francisco office, five days a week. This is a company-wide Rox policy and is not negotiable.