If I were in your shoes, I'd hold a rolling percentage based on market performance and cash out via alternate channels than just MtGox 1k USD limits, you can likely find some reliable channels for conversion into alternate stores of value. I believe the #bitcoin-otc channel on freenode has cryptographically signed rep tracking systems for the market participants there, and if you can provide btc they probably would be only too happy to accommodate your desire to liquidate to a less volatile store of value.
When you finally have your wealth sorted, enter negotiations with your employer from a position of strength. If you really do actually like your job and think what you're doing is important, maybe see if you can roll some wealth into the business as an investor as well as an employee providing yourself with a motivation boost in performance in the process. If you don't like your job perhaps negotiating better conditions or conditions more suited to pursuing your own business interests is a better path.
With your experience in the bitcoin markets you might also be in a position to simply finance a really good bitcoin focused startup. I had an idea that I was going to try for myself but turns out I don't have the capital necessary to do so, so you're welcome to it if you like;
Create a superfluid buying agent consisting of two components, a basic exchange service like MtGox that cashes btc to a fiat currency on the backend, and frontend merchant widgets that update a given fiat currency price displayed in BTC to the actual user. This would give your users the ability to shop on any traditional internet shopping site and pay with btc transparently, you would assumedly implement the dynamic pricing in btc using a browser plugin of some description.
Further automate your trades so if the market is rising you hold btc, if it's falling you instantly liquidate to fiat for your received btc. It turns out to be basically a transparent way to accrue more btc in an upwards moving market and act as a fee charging instant electronic funds transfer provider in a downwards moving market. The dynamic pricing protects you from the volatility in the exchange rates.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck, and congratulations on spotting an early opportunity.