Lead Benefit Analyst

Job Description:
Lead Benefits Analyst

Location: Remote
Reports To: Director, Total Rewards
Position Summary

The Lead Benefits Analyst plays a critical role within J.D. Power 's Total Rewards team, leading the administration, delivery, and continuous improvement of employee benefits and leave programs across the organization. This role serves as the primary subject matter expert for U.S. benefits and leave administration while providing support and guidance for Canadian and global benefits programs.

The Lead Benefits Analyst partners closely with People & Culture, Payroll, HRIS, Finance, external vendors, and employees to ensure benefits programs are administered efficiently, remain compliant with applicable regulations, and provide an exceptional employee experience. The position requires strong expertise in Workday Benefits and Absence Management, vendor management, employee communications, and leave administration.
Key Responsibilities

Benefits Administration

- Lead the day-to-day administration of U.S. health and welfare benefit programs, including self-insured medical, dental, vision, life, disability, voluntary benefits, wellness, and retirement plans.

- Support Canadian benefits administration and develop knowledge of global benefit programs to assist with international benefits initiatives.

- Ensure accurate employee eligibility, enrollment, life event processing, and dependent administration within Workday.

- Coordinate and execute annual open enrollment activities, including system testing, communications, employee education, and post-enrollment audits.

- Conduct periodic benefits audits and reconciliations to maintain data integrity between Workday, payroll, and carrier systems.

- Support implementation and administration of new benefit programs and plan enhancements.

Leave of Absence Administration

- Serve as the subject matter for all employee leaves of absence and key liaison with our leave administration partner

- Coordinate leaves as needed with our third party leave administrator including FMLA, ADA accommodations, state and local paid leave programs, disability leaves, military leave, parental leave, and personal leaves of absence.

- Partner with employees, managers, payroll, and third-party administrators to ensure leave cases are managed accurately and compassionately.

- Monitor return-to-work processes and ensure appropriate documentation and compliance requirements are satisfied.

- Stay informed regarding federal, state, provincial, and local leave regulations and proactively implement required process changes.

Workday Benefits & HR Systems

- Act as the functional subject matter expert for Workday Benefits and Absence Management.

- Configure, test, and maintain Workday benefit and leave processes, events, eligibility rules, and workflows including open enrollment.

- Support benefit integrations, carrier file feeds, and vendor interfaces.

- Develop and maintain Workday reports, dashboards, and analytics related to benefits participation, leave activity, and compliance metrics.

- Partner with HRIS resources to identify and implement process improvements and automation opportunities.

Vendor Management

- Manage relationships with benefits carriers, brokers, consultants, third-party administrators, and leave management vendors.

- Conduct regular vendor reviews to evaluate service levels, compliance, performance, and employee experience.

- Coordinate issue resolution and escalations to ensure timely and effective outcomes.

- Support benefits renewals, plan implementations, and vendor contract reviews.

Employee Support & Communication

- Serve as a trusted resource for employees and managers regarding benefits, leave programs, and Workday self-service functionality.

- Respond to complex employee inquiries and escalations with professionalism and empathy.

- Develop employee communications, educational resources, and manager guides related to benefits and leave program