Senior Manager, Global Benefits

SENIOR MANAGER, GLOBAL BENEFITS

Location: EDF US Office or Remote (eastern/central time zone preferred)

OVERALL FUNCTION

The Senior Manager, Global Benefits leads our Global Benefit programs ensuring market competitiveness, compliance, and alignment with organizational values. The Senior Manager provides critical HR support to all employees across EDF’s geographies and manages and administers benefit, health, and wellness programs to 900+ employees globally.

This position utilizes deep benefits and HR knowledge within the U.S. to implement, maintain, and improve benefit offerings and works closely with local HR subject matter experts in our non-US geographies to build competitive benefit programs globally. They rely heavily on data and reporting to drive decision-making, lead communications around benefit changes and rollouts, and identify and manage vendors.

This position reports to the Senior Director, HR, leads a small team, and works collaboratively across HR and the larger Enterprise function serving as the main point of contact related to benefits for finance, payroll, and global infrastructure.  

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and execute a comprehensive benefits and wellness strategy that aligns with EDF’s goals, values, and budget; continuously assess and adjust the strategy to ensure market competitiveness, inclusiveness, compliance, and that programs are meeting the evolving needs of our valued employees.
• Lead, manage, and develop a small team of benefit professionals providing mentorship, guidance, and support; serve as mentor to more junior HR professionals.
• Manage full lifecycle of benefit and wellness programs for US-based employees overseeing implementation, communication, enrollment, and administration as well as serving on the retirement plan committee; lead annual Open Enrollment process from preparing documentation to ensuring system configuration and establishing integrations with vendors as needed.
• Partner with local subject-matter experts to ensure total rewards strategies deliver consistent employee experience globally and that policies and programs are locally relevant; introduce, implement and manage global benefit and wellness programs in partnership with regional HR and global infrastructure team members.
• Provide guidance and consultation on all areas related to time off and leave of absence programs, retirement/pension programs, healthcare plans, wellness initiatives, and all other benefit offerings.
• Collaborate effectively with relevant HR team members such as HRIS, Compensation, and HRBPs as well as internal Enterprise teams; serve as liaison with payroll and finance to ensure smooth administration of programs, accurate billing, reconciliation of invoices, establishing processes for taxable benefits, etc.
• Conduct benefit surveys, internal audits, and analyze data related to employee demographics, utilization patterns, and costs to evaluate the effectiveness and inclusiveness of benefit programs; generate regular reports and insights to inform recommendations and decision-making; identify risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop and implement communication strategies to educate employees about available benefits options, enrollment procedures, and changes to benefit plans; provide resources, tools, presentations and workshops to help employees make informed benefit decisions. Oversee management of communication forums (slack, intranet, emails, etc.).
• Manage relationships with benefit plan providers, brokers, third-party administrators, and other relevant vendors. Negotiate contracts, evaluate performance, and monitor service levels to ensure the delivery of high-quality benefits services.
• Participate in advancing EDF DEI goals in which people from all backgrounds and experiences feel connected, included, and empowered to address the environmental and organizational challenges in alignment with EDF values.
• Stay informed about federal, national, state, and local laws, regulations, and industry trends impacting employee benefits (ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, FMLA, etc.); ensure benefit programs comply with all legal requirements and proactively address risks, compliance issues, and reporting requirements.
• Oversee planning, organization, and execution of the annual in-person wellness fair in addition to year-round wellness programming.
• Manage, monitor, and update employee benefits database in Workday; working collaboratively with HRIS team as relevant.
• Review and update benefit-related HR policies, procedures, and systems as needed with an eye toward efficiency and providing top-notch customer service to employees.

QUALIFICATIONS

• At least 8+ years’ relevant experience with demonstrated progression in a benefits administration role, preferably in medium-sized firm (e.g., 600-1000 employees); nonprofit or global NGO experience a plus
• Bachelor’s degree in HR management, industrial psychology or other HR related field, Master’s degree a plus; benefits related certifications and associations a plus
• Deep subject-matter expertise with U.S. benefits; some exposure and experience with global benefits highly preferred
• Demonstrated knowledge of managing the benefits administration of an organization.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication (written and oral) skills with a demonstrated ability to build collaborative partnerships and work effectively and diplomatically with all levels of an organization
• Strong relationship management, consultative, organizational, analytical, quantitative, and project management skills
• Proven expertise and knowledge of industry trends, regulations, and reporting requirements along with firm understanding of human resources policies, procedures, and requirements including ACA, ADA, HIPPA, etc.
• Demonstrates self-awareness, cultural competency and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds
• Action oriented, hands-on, able to work independently and collaboratively as part of a diverse, geographically dispersed team
• Ability to juggle multiple deadlines and initiatives under pressure, work with a sense of urgency, and remain flexible in an evolving environment
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, make decisions, multitask, meet deadlines and work well under pressure
• Experience managing a small team, supporting team growth and development, and mentoring more junior benefit professionals.