Typical comp shape
Technical recruiters usually earn rsu (smaller grants). Common employers include Alphabet, Meta, Amazon.
What Montana changes
In Montana, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 5.9% state tax on top of federal. For a senior technical recruiter with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
Planning cadence
For a technical recruiter in Montana, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor).