Retirement Plan Optimization Specialist

ADP

$80K — $95K *
Finance & Insurance
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-8 years' experience in qualified retirement plans industry required.
  • Experience with ERISA Consulting and Compliance activities, especially with New Comparability and/or age-weighted features.
  • Client-facing experience and prior interaction with Sales Associates required.
  • Military experience is valued, emphasizing discipline and problem-solving skills.
  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, or Actuarial Science preferred.

Responsibilities

  • Consult with Sales teams and Financial Advisors on qualified plan designs with New Comparability allocations.
  • Advise clients on census populations and organizational details to customize their plan designs.
  • Gather client census information for employer contribution illustrations and year-end testing.
  • Coordinate functionalities for year-end allocations and testing of retirement plans.
  • Analyze census and payroll changes over time, alerting clients to funding impact.
  • Maintain updated processes for onboarding and year-end operations of New Comparability plans.
  • Act as a Subject Matter Expert on required software systems and compliance testing procedures.

Benefits

  • Flexible work schedule with hybrid opportunities.
  • Opportunity to work closely with clients and significant stakeholders.
  • Professional development and growth potential within the organization.
  • Support for acquiring additional qualifications in the field.
Full Job Description
Position SummaryThis Consulting Specialist position will reside in APDRS Compliance reporting to the Retirement Plan Optimization Consultant. The primary function of the Specialist is to consult directly with New Business and Sales Support Associates, along with Salespeople, Financial Advisors and Clients to determine if this cross tested plan feature (specifically a New Comparability allocation formula) within their qualified retirement plan would be an effective way to maximize the benefits of the owners and higher paid employees of their prospective or existing clients.

The candidate for this position will be responsible for assessing prospective (and existing) client census populations to complete allocation illustrations (previews of what employer contributions may look like after their year-ends), and also doing other types of employer allocations when necessary to illustrate how overall costs of the plan can be minimized, while having a greater percentage of the plan's contributions be allocated to a targeted group of employees.

Another critical function of this position is to complete the annual nondiscrimination testing associated with these plans, and the additional cross testing required for these type of employer allocations. Also, on a mid-year basis, revisit the census population and allocation formulas to ensure that the clients are maximizing their benefits and minimizing costs, and performing ongoing plan design consultation as needed.

Essential Duties - Responsibilities :

Sales Support and Client Facing Activities
  1. Consult with ADP Salespeople, Financial Advisors, New Business and Sales Support Associates on qualified plan design featuring New Comparability employer allocations.
  2. Communicate with, consult and advise prospective and existing clients about their census populations, and other facts about their organizations (rate groups, ages of employees, owners etc.) to help craft or revise a plan design that meetings their needs. Specifically, maximizing contributions to select Highly Compensated Employee (HCE's), Owners or other groupings, and minimizing the total funding cost to the employer. This includes but not limited to phone conversations, written communications, possible on-site meetings, and using clients' census population data to do allocation illustrations.


Complete Necessary Reporting and Testing tasks
  1. Liaison directly within Compliance, Clients, Sales and New Business Associates to gather needed plan level census information to perform employer contribution illustrations and year-end allocations and testing.
  2. Coordinate all functionality of this product/feature with eventual responsibility to complete year end allocation and testing activities. Performing actual allocations and required testing at year end, and ensuring the funding of the contributions.
  3. For existing plans with this feature, on a periodic basis, gather, review and analyze payroll information and census population for changes to alert clients of the impact of those changes to give them a preview of what the upcoming year-end allocation calculations may look like, and potential changes in their funding requirements (or lessen their ability to maximize their contributions).

Maintain Cross Tested New Comparability Program
  1. Maintain end-to-end processes, continual updating of procedures and communication materials for pre-sale to on-boarding the plans (to conducting all required mid year and year-end operations).
  2. Adhere to Service Level Agreements (SLA's) for the various tasks to be completed (i.e. turn-around times for illustrations, callback standards etc.).
    - Assist in gathering statuses and metric reporting for Compliance Mgmt, Sr. Leadership, New Business and various Sales Organizations.
  3. Be Subject Matter Expert and fully integrate the needed software system called Actuarial Systems Corporation (ASC) (and other applications as designated) to set up the plans for this feature, both for illustrative work and well as the actual year-end allocations and more complicated annual testing. Specifically, as required based on provisions (ADP (401)k, ACP 401(m), Coverage Testing under 410(b), cross testing under 401(a)4, Top Heavy (416) and contribution limit testing under 402(g) and 415.
  4. Review and revise end-to-end processes, procedures and communications as needed due to law changes, changes in product or marketing emphasis, and changes in clients' needs.

Experience :
  • 5-8 years' experience in qualified retirement plans industry required
  • ERISA Consulting and Compliance activity experience required, specifically with plans with New Comparability and/or age-weighted features
  • Client Facing experience and prior experience with interacting with Sales Associates also required

A college degree is great but not required. What's more important is having the skills to do the job. Other acceptable experiences could include:
  • Experience noted above, OR

Military Experience. We recognize and appreciate the unique talents and experiences Veterans bring to the table. We value the discipline, commitment, and problem-solving abilities you have.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree or some master's level coursework
  • Major Area of Concentration: Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Actuarial Science


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