Benefits Manager
About The Position
The Benefits Manager leads the strategy, administration, and continuous improvement of AppFolio’s health, welfare, retirement, and well-being programs. The role ensures programs are competitive, compliant, and valued by employees and their families, and serves as the subject matter expert for leadership and employees on sensitive benefits matters. This position reports to the Sr. Director, Total Rewards. The manager owns benefits compliance, including federal and state requirements, annual filings, testing, and audit readiness. They lead end-to-end planning and execution of Open Enrollment, develop benefits strategy informed by market trends, peer benchmarks, employee feedback, data, and cost considerations, and manage broker and vendor relationships. The role also creates employee education and communications, analyzes utilization and cost trends, supports benefits integration during acquisitions or scaling events, and maintains benefits documentation and processes.
Requirements
- At least 5 years of progressive benefits management experience, including ownership of plan administration, compliance, and Open Enrollment.
- Deep knowledge of U.S. benefits compliance, including ERISA, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, Section 125, Form 5500 filings, and non-discrimination testing.
- Demonstrated experience managing broker and vendor relationships at scale.
- Proven project management experience leading Open Enrollment or comparable annual benefits programs.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain technical benefits topics in approachable language.
- Strong analytical orientation and comfort working with benefits data, utilization metrics, and cost analyses.
- Strong attention to detail, discretion, judgment, stakeholder management, and ability to deliver work on schedule.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in a high-growth public SaaS or technology environment.
- CEBS, CBP, or PHR/SPHR certification.
- Experience supporting benefits integration during M&A activity.
- Familiarity with Workday or comparable HRIS benefits modules.
- Experience partnering on well-being or leave-of-absence program design.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary technical authority on health, welfare, retirement, and well-being programs; advise leadership on plan design, market positioning, and program decisions, and resolve complex employee escalations.
- Own benefits compliance with federal and state regulations, including ERISA, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, Section 125, and state-specific requirements; lead annual Form 5500 filings, non-discrimination testing, and audit readiness, partnering with Legal as needed.
- Lead end-to-end planning, execution, communications, stakeholder management, and post-mortem learning for annual Open Enrollment.
- Monitor market trends, peer SaaS benchmarks, and employee feedback; recommend benefits strategies that balance employee experience, competitiveness, and cost discipline.
- Manage broker and vendor relationships, hold partners accountable to service standards and competitive renewals, and lead vendor evaluations and RFPs as needed.
- Develop employee-facing benefits education and communication strategies in partnership with the People team, HRBPs, and Marketing/Communications as relevant.
- Analyze benefits utilization, cost trends, and program effectiveness and translate findings into recommendations.
- Lead benefits integration during acquisitions and significant scaling events, partnering with Total Rewards leadership, Legal, and Finance.
- Maintain plan documents, SPDs, internal knowledge bases, and process documentation to support scalability and audit readiness.
Benefits
- The posting states regular full-time employees are eligible for benefits but does not enumerate specific benefits.
- The posting describes compelling total rewards and opportunities for growth, but does not specify additional benefit details.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
Education Level
No Education Listed
