Benefits Lead

Leads the design, delivery, and administration of employee benefit programs for employees in the United States, serving as the senior U.S. benefits specialist and trusted advisor to Total Rewards Leadership.  Owns the outsourced benefits administration relationship with the Administrative Services Organization (ASO) and the carriers, administrators, and other third parties it engages, holding vendors to service standards and driving resolution of escalated issues to protect the employee experience and the financial and legal integrity of the programs.  Helps shape the U.S. benefits delivery model, including evaluating the ASO arrangement and any transition to direct-to-carrier programs. 

 Key Responsibilities

• Program management: Oversees U.S. benefit program portfolio, including health, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, retirement, and voluntary benefits, setting standards with the ASO and directing resolution of the eligibility and coverage matters.
• ASO relationship: Owns the relationship with the ASO and upholds ASO contractual service standards, leading performance reviews, issue escalation, and service-level discussions, and managing the division of responsibilities with the ASO.
• Benchmarking: Benchmarks the U.S. benefits portfolio and develops recommendations on plan design, cost, and policy for the Total Rewards Leadership in support of the company benefits strategy.
• Leads renewal analysis with the ASO and broker partners, models plan design and cost scenarios, and presents renewal and plan-change recommendations to HR leadership.
• Open enrollment: Owns end-to-end delivery of the annual enrollment program, defining the enrollment plan, timeline, and communication approach, directing the ASO and vendors through execution, and establishing the decision guidelines for qualifying life event and status change handling.
• Compliance: Owns the U.S. benefits compliance calendar, working with the ASO and plan advisors to confirm that filings, nondiscrimination testing, and retirement plan operations meet requirements, and proposes procedure changes in response to new regulations.
• Audit: Establishes audit protocols and data-integrity standards for benefits records and for the feeds between the human resources information system (HRIS), the ASO, and carriers, and oversees billing and reconciliation controls to resolve escalated financial discrepancies affecting benefit cost accuracy.
• Leave administration: Establishes leave administration procedures and decision guidelines under U.S. federal and state leave laws and company policy, and resolves the most involved leave and accommodation cases with the ASO.
• Escalation: Serves as the final internal escalation point for U.S. benefit issues, guiding other benefits specialists and setting the service standards and response guidelines the team follows.
• Challenges senior stakeholders, questions existing processes, and takes ownership of change initiatives, making timely policy recommendations from limited information in a fast-moving environment.

Job requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 8 years of experience administering benefit programs, including open enrollment and renewal and guiding other specialists.
• Experience managing fully-managed U.S. benefits programs delivered through a ASO, including co-employment responsibilities. Experience on an in-house benefits team and experience transitioning from a ASO to self-managed programs preferred.
• Strong vendor management skills, including experience as the primary contact and relationship owner for a principal vendor and the third parties it engages, holding vendors to service standards, and leading issue escalation and service-level discussions.
• Experience benchmarking benefits against the high-tech market and developing plan design, cost, and policy recommendations for senior HR leadership.
• Experience owning benefits compliance and filings (e.g., ACA, ERISA, Form 5500, COBRA, nondiscrimination testing) and setting benefits administration procedures.
• Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy, make policy recommendations from limited information within tight timeframes, and influence and challenge senior stakeholders.
• Experience using an HRIS, benefits administration system, payroll system, spreadsheet software with advanced functions, and reporting or analytics tools.
• Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS), SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), or similar certification preferred.
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy, making sound policy recommendations from limited information within tight timeframes in a fast-moving environment, and, as part of the wider Total Rewards team, challenges senior stakeholders, questions existing processes, and takes ownership of change initiatives.

Base Compensation Range 140000 - 180000 USD