Analyst II - HR Benefits

FirstEnergy • Akron, OH

9d

About The Position

The Analyst provides analytical, financial, compliance, and program support across the organization’s Total Rewards portfolio, primarily focusing on Health & Welfare Programs. The role applies knowledge of employee benefit programs and financial analysis to evaluate performance, support forecasting and budgeting, fulfill regulatory and financial reporting requirements, and provide insights for Total Rewards strategy and decision-making.

The Analyst develops working knowledge of the organization’s Health & Welfare and Total Rewards programs, including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, wellness, and other benefits. The role works closely with Benefits leadership, Finance, Accounting, Rates, vendors, consultants, and internal stakeholders to interpret program, financial, utilization, compliance, and vendor data and turn it into meaningful insights and recommendations.

The position supports annual budgeting, forecasting, accruals, variance analysis, expense monitoring, and financial reporting. It also assists with Health & Welfare regulatory and compliance reporting, including OPEB and ACA-related activities, audits, rate case requests, and documentation and controls. The Analyst works with external partners to validate data, monitor performance, prepare scorecards, and support implementations, renewals, plan changes, and other benefit initiatives.

The Analyst analyzes claims, enrollment, utilization, financial, demographic, and vendor data; prepares dashboards, presentations, scorecards, and executive summaries; and performs reconciliations and data-quality reviews. The role is expected to develop deep knowledge of the organization’s benefit programs and apply analytical capabilities in the context of Health & Welfare benefits, Workers’ Compensation, financial planning, compliance, and Total Rewards strategy.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Analytics, or a related discipline.
• Experience supporting employee benefits, Total Rewards, corporate finance, benefits consulting, or a related function.
• Working knowledge of Health & Welfare benefit programs and their financial and administrative structure.
• Strong analytical and financial skills, including the ability to interpret benefit-related financial, claims, utilization, and vendor data.
• Experience with budgeting, forecasting, financial reconciliations, or variance analysis.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including working with and reconciling large datasets.
• Ability to translate detailed financial and benefit information into concise insights for business leaders.
• Strong attention to detail and demonstrated ability to manage reporting and compliance deliverables to established deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with internal stakeholders and external vendors.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with self-insured Health & Welfare plans.
• Experience supporting ACA compliance and reporting.
• Familiarity with OPEB financial reporting and actuarial processes.
• Experience analyzing medical and pharmacy claims, utilization, and cost trends.
• Experience working with benefit consultants, actuaries, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, or other benefit vendors.
• Knowledge of Workers’ Compensation financial reporting, budgeting, or program performance.
• Experience creating executive-level benefit analyses, presentations, dashboards, or vendor scorecards.

Responsibilities

• Develop working knowledge of Health & Welfare and Total Rewards programs, including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, wellness, and other benefits.
• Evaluate benefit program costs, utilization, participation, employee experience, vendor performance, and emerging trends; provide responses to rate case inquiries.
• Identify cost drivers, utilization trends, opportunities, risks, and areas requiring further review.
• Support evaluation of benefit plan design changes, new programs, vendor solutions, and Total Rewards initiatives.
• Assist with business cases and financial analyses for proposed benefit changes and investments.
• Translate complex benefit and financial information into concise findings and recommendations for Total Rewards leadership.
• Partner with Finance and Accounting on annual Total Rewards budgets and support budgeting, forecasting, accruals, and variance analysis.
• Monitor program expenses against budgets and forecasts and investigate significant variances.
• Analyze medical, pharmacy, administrative, insurance premium, Workers’ Compensation, and other benefit-related expenses.
• Forecast benefit costs using enrollment, claims experience, utilization, trend, plan changes, contractual fees, and other cost drivers.
• Prepare recurring financial analyses and management reporting on benefit program and Total Rewards financial performance.
• Support financial evaluations of potential benefit changes and programs, including anticipated cost, savings, return on investment, and employee impact.
• Support Health & Welfare regulatory, financial, and compliance reporting.
• Coordinate data collection, validation, reconciliation, and reporting for OPEB obligations and related financial reporting.
• Support ACA compliance activities, including data validation, monitoring, reconciliation, and annual reporting.
• Assist with Total Rewards-related audits and rate case requests from Finance, Accounting, Internal Audit, external auditors, consultants, and other stakeholders.
• Maintain documentation and controls supporting benefit reporting and compliance requirements.
• Work with Total Rewards subject-matter experts and external partners to ensure reporting deliverables are accurate and completed on time.
• Obtain, validate, and interpret program data from vendors, consultants, actuaries, and other external partners.
• Develop and maintain vendor and program performance reporting, including financial, operational, service, utilization, and employee experience measures.
• Monitor vendor performance against contractual commitments, service-level agreements, performance guarantees, and program objectives.
• Work with vendors to investigate trends, discrepancies, cost drivers, and performance concerns.
• Prepare scorecards and analyses to help leadership evaluate vendor effectiveness and program value.
• Support vendor implementations, renewals, plan changes, requests for proposal, and other strategic benefit initiatives.
• Analyze Health & Welfare claims, enrollment, utilization, financial, demographic, and vendor-provided data to identify trends and insights.
• Prepare dashboards, scorecards, presentations, and executive-level summaries of benefit program performance.
• Perform data reconciliations and quality reviews to ensure reporting information is complete and accurate.
• Partner with reporting and data analytics teams when more complex extraction, modeling, visualization, or system-based reporting is required.
• Convert analytical findings into actionable Total Rewards insights.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level