Equity Compensation and Payroll Lead

Rox Data Corp · San Francisco (in-person only, 5 days a week) · Finance Team

Why this role exists

Rox runs payroll for over 100 US employees through a Justworks PEO, plus an India population 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. Equity administration has no owner at all.

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

1. 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

2. 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

3. Equity administration and payroll tax

• Restricted stock purchase agreements. Rox issues equity primarily as RSPAs, so this is the center of the role, not options. Section 83(b) elections on a 30-day statutory clock, filing evidence retention, and the repurchase-right lapse schedule
• 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

4. 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

5. International and EOR administration

• Reconcile EOR invoices to the GL and to headcount
• Consolidate the current multi-provider EOR footprint
• Own the vendor relationship

6. Benefits and census

• Annual renewal cycle, plan selection and contribution modeling
• Census accuracy, ACA reporting, 401(k) participant data

7. 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.

• Restricted stock mechanics, above all. We issue equity primarily as restricted stock purchase agreements, so 83(b) elections, repurchase-right tracking and vesting administration on restricted stock are the core requirement. ISO versus NSO treatment, disqualifying dispositions and their W-2 reporting, and reconciliation between a cap table system and payroll are all required too, but option-only experience will not be enough.

• 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.

How to apply

Send a short note describing a payroll or equity process you designed or fixed, and what broke before you fixed it. We care more about that than a cover letter.