Equity Administration Manager

As Equity Administration Manager at Kraken (Payward), you lead the design and execution of the company's global equity programs, oversee cap table management, and serve as the primary point of contact for all equity-related matters. You work cross-functionally with Legal, Finance, People, and external stakeholders to support strategic transactions, maintain compliance, and ensure a seamless equity experience for employees worldwide. This position reports to the Director of Equity.

What you'll do

• Accurately and timely conduct day-to-day administration of the company's equity plans globally
• Maintain the company capitalization table including regular inputting of new grants, share issuances, and complex vesting schedules
• Manage all participant equity plan transactions such as grants and exercises, ensuring they are correctly processed in a timely manner
• Communicate with equity plan participants regarding the equity programs, resolving questions, issues, and concerns related to vesting, transactions, enrollment, and other inquiries
• Manage option exercises, pending new hires, and other grant lists, and reconcile transactions, termination dates, tax withholding, reporting, and other items as required
• Provide day-to-day support to the Corporate Governance, HR, Payroll, and Finance teams with respect to equity compensation reporting and data
• Work with internal and external auditors and the finance team for quarterly reviews, year-end audits, and regulatory audits of procedures and controls as needed
• Manage secondary market transactions including management of highly detail-intensive closing processes
• Provide assistance to the Corporate Governance team in facilitating and preparing documents related to stock transfers

What you bring

• A B.A. or similar degree
• 6+ years of related experience as a stock plan administrator in startup or corporate practice
• International public company experience
• Significant experience with eShareworks
• Strong technical skills, especially with MS Excel or other spreadsheet programs
• Commitment to process, tracking, reporting, and responsiveness
• Hands-on proficiency using generative AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT in day-to-day work, with sound judgment on verifying outputs and protecting confidentiality, privilege, and personal data

Nice to have

• Certified Equity Professionals (CEP) designation
• Paralegal, fintech, or startup experience
• Both pre-IPO and post-IPO experience or similar public offering experience

About Kraken (Payward)

Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions. Founded in 2011, it offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services. Kraken is part of Payward, which has spent 15 years building modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services, and CF Benchmarks.