Job Description

Consultant - Equity Management Services

Equity Methods seeks a detail-driven, growth-minded professional to join our Equity Management Services group. This role perfectly blends hands-on technical proficiency in stock plan administration with a client-first mindset, offering unique exposure to how public companies run their equity programs.

The Role in a Nutshell

• Manage stock administration operations for multiple public and/or private company clients, ensuring accurate, timely, and SOX-compliant processing across their equity programs.
• Own the research and resolution for client and participant questions, becoming the subject-matter expert your clients rely on.
• Administer international stock plans, expanding your expertise across global equity compliance.
• Communicate directly with clients’ plan participants, resolving questions by email with professionalism, clarity, and care. Proactively update the client FAQ materials as new questions arise.
• Track and report Section 16 Forms 3, 4, and 5 officer and director transactions to support clients’ SEC reporting obligations.
• Prepare polished written materials and finalize deliverables that clients can rely on. Develop and update the client procedures document for SOX purposes.
• Partner with our project teams on higher-complexity items, M&A, IPOs, new system implementations, and RFP support, to build the breadth of experience.
• Contribute to process documentation and continuous improvement of the tools and procedures your team relies on, with your ideas directly shaping how the practice scales.
• Build a foundation for growth: as you deepen your expertise, you’ll be positioned to mentor incoming consultants, lead client relationships, and step into strategic initiatives that shape the future of the practice.

Responsibility Examples

• Manage project timelines and priorities while aligning with stakeholders on key equity.
• Update participant demographic and tax updates including address changes, terminations, tax updates, YTD taxes, performance payout factors, and tracking disposition for ISOs and ESPP.
• Reconcile equity grants against approved board consents or committee minutes to maintain a clean audit trail.
• Create grant packages and load new equity awards directly into the administration systems.
• Support the team to administer ESPP by managing enrollments and tracking withdrawals, contribution changes, and process share purchases.
• Manage client equity reserves by tracking available shares and reconciling balances against equity activity.
• Audit Section 83(b) election filings and verify that tax mobility tracking is up to date for participants who crossed tax jurisdictions during the period.
• Ensure compliance with insider trading policies by managing and updating client blackout windows.
• Partner with payroll teams to facilitate accurate and timely tax withholdings on vestings, settlements, and exercises.
• Maintain and execute monthly and quarterly internal audit procedures.
• Assist with client’s W2 audit or 1099 reporting audit for non-employees (directors, consultants), if needed.

Our Culture and Method of Doing Business

We are:

• Zealous about exceptional client service and delighting every client, large or small.
• Lean and agile We don’t have manager layers that get to sit back and just talk.
• Growth-oriented, both in welcoming new clients into the fold and seeing professional development in our outstanding colleagues.
• Feedback-heavy, because that’s how we unlock growth.
• Mentoring-rich We’re not a competitive, eat-what-you-kill culture, and our consultants achieve professional growth via hands-on client experience and feedback from leaders.
• All about impact Our professionals love the opportunity to make an impact on clients, each other, and the long-run trajectory of the business.
• Eager to solve clients’ toughest problems, because that’s where the greatest impact is created, even though these challenges are riddled with ambiguity and complexity.
• Devoted to plain-English deliverables that clients find easy to consume but remain rigorous, because clients value our ability to make the complex simple for them.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Working knowledge of stock plan administration, including grants, releases, exercises, and ESPP processing.
• Experience with Carta, Shareworks, or Equity Edge Online is preferred.
• Strong orientation toward detail and accuracy, with comfort following SOX-compliant procedures and controls.
• Excellent client service and communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to manage multiple clients and shift priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfort in ambiguous, client-focused environments and a genuine self-starter mindset.
• Eagerness to build subject-matter expertise and pursue the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation. We support your path to certification.
• 2 or more years of experience in stock plan administration or a related equity compensation field is preferred.
• Background check required.

More About Equity Methods

Equity Methods serves a diverse clientele from dozens of Fortune 500 firms to early-stage pre-IPO firms. We have served more than 50 Fortune 100 firms all the way to early-stage venture-backed organizations. Our clients span the entire United States, in addition to some in Canada, South America, and Europe. We offer a diverse array of services that solve mission-critical priorities within corporate accounting and human resources functions.

At our size of 180+ professionals and countless brand-name clients, we combine the best of a large professional services firm with the best of an entrepreneurial growth venture. The culture fosters excellence in client service, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. We have a bias toward promoting from within and we celebrate the diverse strengths of our colleagues. We made Inc. 5000’s list of America’s fastest-growing private companies and are consistently rated a Top Company to Work for in Arizona