Total Rewards Specialist - Benefits/Payroll

WHAT YOU'LL DO:
Benefits & Leave Administration Daily Administration: Manage day-to-day administration of group benefits programs (medical, dental, vision, 401k, life, and disability insurance). 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. 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. 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 Invoice Reconciliation: Own the monthly reconciliation of all group benefit invoices, identifying discrepancies, and working with vendors to resolve billing issues. 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). 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 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. Special Projects: Contribute to broader HR initiatives, system migrations, total rewards statements, and wellness program implementations.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:
Experience: 3 to 5 years of dedicated experience in HR, specifically focusing on benefits administration and leave of absence management. 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. Payroll Exposure: Prior experience with payroll processing or payroll auditing is highly preferred (or a strong aptitude and eagerness to learn). 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. Employee-Centric Communication: Ability to translate complex benefit and compliance jargon into warm, easily understood language for employees. Adaptability: Eagerness to contribute broadly to a small team and pivot between analytical data work and employee-facing conversations.