The individual in this position reports to the Human Resources Manager. You will be the company's benefits expert: the person leadership, HR and employees turn to for every question, decision and deadline related to health, welfare, retirement and leave. Because many of our employees speak Spanish, you will provide this support fluently in both English and Spanish.
You will run day-to-day administration, manage carriers and brokers, keep us compliant, lead annual open enrollment, and advise leadership on cost and plan design. You will build the processes, calendars and documentation that make the program run smoothly, and you will help grow benefits knowledge across the HR team.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Program ownership and strategy - Own all health and welfare, retirement, leave and voluntary benefit programs from end to end.
- Analyze plan performance, claims trends, utilization and cost; recommend plan design changes to the HR Manager, CFO and leadership.
- Lead annual renewals: review broker and carrier proposals, model cost scenarios, recommend employer/employee contribution strategy and negotiate terms.
- Benchmark our benefits against market and industry peers to keep us competitive for hiring and retention.
- Own the benefits budget and forecast, and track spending against it with Finance.
Plan administration - Administer medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, short- and long-term disability, EAP, HSA/HRA/PPO, commuter and voluntary plans.
- Manage eligibility, new-hire enrollment, qualifying life events, terminations and COBRA.
- Administer the 401(k) work with third party plan administrator and accounting department to run plan.
- Own the benefits administration system and HRIS benefits setup: plan configuration, eligibility rules, carrier EDI feeds and data accuracy.
- Reconcile carrier and vendor invoices monthly and resolve billing discrepancies.
- Audit benefit deductions with Payroll each pay cycle and fix errors quickly.
Open enrollment - Plan and run annual open enrollment from start to finish: timeline, system setup and testing, communications, employee meetings and post-enrollment audit.
- Make sure elections transmit correctly to carriers and payroll before the new plan year.
Leave of absence and accommodations - Administer FMLA, state paid family and medical leave, state disability, military leave and company leave policies.
- Coordinate leave with short- and long-term disability claims and with the ADA interactive accommodation process.
Compliance - Keep all programs compliant with ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, ADA, Section 125, Mental Health Parity (MHPAEA), Medicare Part D, and applicable state and local laws.
- Maintain plan documents, SPDs, SMMs, SBCs, wrap documents and the Section 125 plan.
- Manage ACA tracking and Forms 1094-C/1095-C reporting.
- Coordinate Form 5500 filings, nondiscrimination testing and the annual retirement plan audit with brokers, TPAs and auditors.
- Distribute required annual notices on time (CHIP, Medicare Part D, WHCRA, HIPAA privacy, and others).
- Monitor legislative and regulatory changes and recommend how the company should respond.
- Support retirement plan fiduciary duties: committee meetings, fee reviews and record-keeping.
Vendor and partner management - Serve as primary contact for the benefits broker/consultant, carriers, TPAs, retirement record-keeper, COBRA and leave administrators.
- Hold vendors to service levels and contract terms; lead RFPs and vendor transitions when needed.
- Escalate and resolve claims and service issues on behalf of employees.
Employee experience and communication - Be the first point of contact for employee benefit questions and complex cases.
- Create clear benefits guides, FAQs, intranet content and new-hire benefits orientation.
- Run wellness and benefits education programs that raise understanding and use of the benefits we offer.
- Handle sensitive health and personal information with discretion and in line with HIPAA.
Process and team development - Build and maintain a benefits compliance calendar, standard operating procedures and process documentation.
- Train HR, Payroll and managers on benefits processes and their role in them.
- Find opportunities to automate, simplify and reduce errors.
- Support mergers, acquisitions or new-state expansion with benefits due diligence and integration as needed.
REQUIRED SKILLS: Required - 6+ years of hands-on benefits experience, including at least 2 years as the lead or sole owner of a benefits program.
- Has run open enrollment and annual renewals from start to finish.
- Working knowledge of ERISA, ACA (including 1094-C/1095-C reporting), COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, ADA and Section 125.
- Experience administering both health and welfare and 401(k)/403(b) retirement plans.
- Experience managing brokers, carriers and TPAs, and holding them accountable.
- Strong analytical skills: comfortable with claims data, cost modeling and renewal analysis in Excel.
- Experience with a benefits administration platform or HRIS (e.g., ViewPoint, Workday, ADP, UKG, Paylocity, bswift, Benefitfocus, Employee Navigator).
- Clear writer and presenter who can explain complex benefits simply to employees and to executives.
- Fluent in English and Spanish, both spoken and written. You can explain benefits terms such as deductibles, coinsurance and FMLA clearly in both languages.
- Sound judgment and discretion with confidential health and personal information.
- Bachelor's degree in HR, business or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Preferred - Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS), SHRM-CP/SCP or PHR/SPHR.
- Experience with self-funded or level-funded plans and stop-loss coverage.
- Multi-state benefits and leave experience (state paid leave programs).
- Experience leading a broker or carrier RFP or a benefits system implementation.
- Experience building a benefits function from the ground up or after a period of turnover.
Benefits - Paid time off, health, dental, life and disability insurance.
- Education assistance
- 401k/matching
SALARY $90,000 to $105,000 annually
