Property developer career switch questions

Looking for advice for people that have been an independent consultant, particularly in property development. I'm looking at a career switch from industrial maintenance to property development. This came about because I left my prior job recently due to it being a toxic situation (with others leaving as well). In the meantime I've been doing independent consulting for the due diligence for a company that is looking to buy a former industrial mill and 300 surrounding acres. I used to work at this mill and they've offered me the position as the head developer if they close the deal.

We've talked about pay.. it's a little less than what I can get if I get hired somewhere else.. but there's a decent equity component (about 2.5%).

The key is they don't want to do HR. I could either be an independent contractor, or they'd hire me but also hire some sort of outside HR.

Does anyone have experience in this type of field and have advice on which way to go? Very aware of the irregularity of pay and risk/reward profile of this career path... just mainly looking at how to structure a deal to work alongside a large developer. TIA