Equity Administrator - Novanta

Build a career powered by innovations that matter!  At Novanta, our innovations power technology products that are transforming healthcare and advanced manufacturing—improving productivity, enhancing people’s lives and redefining what’s possible.  We create for our global customers engineered components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance for a range of mission-critical applications—from minimally invasive surgery to robotics to 3D metal printing.

Novanta is one global team with over 26 offices located in The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.  Looking for a great place to work?  You have found it with a culture that embraces teamwork, collaboration and empowerment.  Come explore Novanta.

Company Overview

Build a career powered by innovations that matter!  At Novanta, our innovations power technology products that are transforming healthcare and advanced manufacturing—improving productivity, enhancing people’s lives and redefining what’s possible.  We serve as a trusted technology partner to medical and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide, engineering components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance for a range of mission-critical applications—from minimally invasive surgery to robotics to 3D metal printing.

Novanta is a global organization with offices located throughout EMEA, The Americas and Asia Pacific regions.  Novanta is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under symbol NOVT.

Business Unit Overview

This position reports directly to the General Counsel & Corporate Secretary and will be an integral member of the Legal Team.  The Legal Team, made up of members in Bedford, MA and Berlin, Germany, is part of Novanta’s Corporate and Shared Services global team.  This person would work closely with the other Corporate and Shared Services functions as well as other Novanta business units to support operating initiatives contributing to the organization’s success.

Job Summary

This role is responsible for the management and administration of global equity programs in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union, China, Japan, etc. This is a critical role that interacts frequently with the Executive Officers, Board, and senior leaders of the company. This person is expected to develop close partnerships with Human Resources, Accounting, and the extended leadership team.  The role will manage all equity programs, be the primary point of contact with Fidelity for administration, and ensure compliance related to both compensation and SEC requirements. As part of this position’s Legal Operation duties this person would also handle technology, finance, communications and other administrative matters relating to the Legal Team.   

Primary Responsibilities

Stock Plan Administration:

• Manage the RSU, DSUs, and Stock Option programs for worldwide employees and the Board of Directors.
• Update and maintain the stock-plan management platform (Fidelity) to ensure the completeness, accuracy and integrity of Novanta’s equity data including eligibility, approvals, processing stock option and restricted stock unit awards, exercises and settlements, tax withholdings, expirations, cancellations, terminations and other plan-related actions.
• Work with legal counsel to ensure timely creation of new grant agreements and necessary updates to existing grant agreements for equity plan changes as well as pertinent regulatory changes.
• Ensure compliance with all stock-based compensation reporting requirements, including Section 16, Proxy, and 10-K/Q, including, drafting and filing of all Forms 3, 4 and 5 for corporate officers and directors.
• Monitor the compliance of equity transactions with the documented terms, ensuring wires are prepared, legal documents are received, and work with external brokers.
• Provide excellent customer service to all equity plan participants and respond timely to participants’ questions.
• Prepare custom grant agreements and load new grant data to the equity plan management system; pull grant data and coordinate with HR team for updates in Workday.
• Partner with our external record-keeper, Fidelity, to execute employee equity transactions, ensuring accurate and timely tax withholding and reporting to Payroll and Tax teams when applicable.
• Work with CAO and CFO on Stock Trading windows, including administrating with Fidelity, and ensuring Officer / Director share ownership guidelines are being maintained.
• Provide regular training and education to participants in our stock plan. Develop onboarding program for equity and participate in the onboarding process for new hires to ensure they are clear on the process.
• Ensure compliance with all domestic and international laws for income and tax withholdings for stock options, RSUs and other equity grants and ensure accurate reporting on W-2s or other forms of participant tax reporting.

Stock-based Compensation Accounting, Reporting and Analysis:

• Generate recurring reports for multiple internal and external corporate partners (HR, Payroll, Finance, Accounting, Tax, etc.), and respond to both routine and ad-hoc data requests on a timely basis.
• Support Accounting and Tax teams in monthly/quarterly closing and reporting needs, including preparation of monthly stock-comp expense journal entries, quarterly 162(m) worksheets and quarterly footnote disclosure tables.
• Work with internal and external auditors and Novanta Accounting team for quarterly reviews and year-end audits. Maintain strong internal controls in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements.
• Support the preparation of annual proxy statement, including preparation of all executive and director compensation tables.
• Assist Legal and HR teams by sharing executive grant & transactional data for officer and census reporting.
• Support Finance with rolling forecasts for stock-based compensation expense, burn rates, weighted average shares outstanding for EPS and share count forecasting.
• Support the HR Compensation team during the annual compensation planning process, and

Legal Operations:

• Assist in the preparation and maintenance of Board and Committee meeting materials.  Coordinate the various aspects of the annual meeting of shareholders with the General Counsel.
• Assist with the preparation of SEC, SEDAR and related corporate disclosure filings to ensure ongoing compliance with disclosure requirements. 
• Performs special projects and responsibilities assigned by the General Counsel.

Required Experience, Education, Skills and Competencies

• 10+ years of stock-plan administration experience; a CCP is a plus (not required).
• Previous experience in a public company, with solid knowledge of equity administration, is required, including:
  • SEC filings
  • 10b5-1 plans
  • Section 16 Directors and Officers compliance & reporting
  • Execution of Sarbanes-Oxley controls and requirements
• Excellent financial, analytical, verbal and written communication skills with ability to maintain strict confidentiality.
• Strong Excel skills required with proficiency in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, as well as with all levels of management throughout the company.
• Detail oriented, hands-on and organized with strong focus on data accuracy.
• Familiarity with Fidelity Stock Plan Administration tool (a plus)
• Experience with Workday HRIS system (a plus)
• Demonstrated analytical curiosity and strong problem-solving skills; able to elicit and comprehend quantitative and qualitative information.
• Solid understanding of the income tax regulations for equity compensation to ensure global equity reporting and compliance with international tax and regulatory requirements.
• Self-starter with the demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced unstructured atmosphere with minimal supervision.

Travel Requirements 

• Minimal

Physical Requirements

• Mobility to work in a standard office setting and to use standard office equipment, including a computer.
• Ability to use vison to read computer screen and read printed materials.

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Novanta is proud to be an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action workplace. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, military and veteran status, disability, genetics, or any other category protected by federal law or Novanta policy.

Please call +1 781-266-5700 if you need a disability accommodation for any part of the employment process.