Total Rewards Specialist - Benefits/Payroll

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Benefits & Leave Administration

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Daily Administration: Manage day-to-day administration of group benefits programs (medical, dental, vision, 401k, life, and disability insurance).

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Leave of Absence (LOA) Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for multi-state leaves of absence, ensuring strict compliance with FMLA, ADA, and evolving state-specific paid family leave and disability legislations.

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Employee Support: Act as the first line of contact for employee inquiries regarding benefit plans, claim escalations, and leave requests, providing empathetic and clear guidance.

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Open Enrollment: Play a key role in the annual Open Enrollment process, including collaborating on strategy, managing communications, and executing benefit system configuration changes.

Auditing, Compliance & Financials

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Invoice Reconciliation: Own the monthly reconciliation of all group benefit invoices, identifying discrepancies, and working with vendors to resolve billing issues.

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Compliance & Reporting: Ensure all benefit and leave programs remain compliant with federal and state regulations (ACA, COBRA, ERISA, HIPAA). Assist with required filings and testing (5500s, non-discrimination testing).

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Data Auditing: Conduct regular audits of HRIS data, benefit deductions, and leave tracking to ensure 100% accuracy between HR systems and third-party vendors.

Payroll Backup & Special Projects

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Payroll Auditing & Backup: Partner closely with the payroll team to audit payroll cycles prior to finalization. Train on end-to-end payroll processing to serve as the seamless primary backup when needed.

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Special Projects: Contribute to broader HR initiatives, system migrations, total rewards statements, and wellness program implementations.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

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Experience: 3 to 5 years of dedicated experience in HR, specifically focusing on benefits administration and leave of absence management.

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Multi-State Expertise: Proven experience managing leaves and benefits across multiple states, with a solid understanding of varying state-specific disability and paid family leave regulations.

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Payroll Exposure: Prior experience with payroll processing or payroll auditing is highly preferred (or a strong aptitude and eagerness to learn).

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Technical Savvy: Hands-on experience working within HRIS/Benefits administration systems. Comfort with system backend configuration (especially for Open Enrollment) is a major plus. Experience with Dayforce is also a plus.

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Employee-Centric Communication: Ability to translate complex benefit and compliance jargon into warm, easily understood language for employees.

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Adaptability: Eagerness to contribute broadly to a small team and pivot between analytical data work and employee-facing conversations.