Manager, U.S. Health Care Benefits Administration

Ford Motor Company • Dearborn, MI

13d • $115,500 - $218,100 • Hybrid

About The Position

As part of Ford’s Human Resources team, this role helps attract, hire, and retain talent and supports a culture that enables employees to do their best. The Manager, U.S. Health Care Administration leads operational excellence, administration, and execution of Ford’s U.S. health care benefits programs. The role partners closely with the Manager, U.S. Health Care Strategy and Design, ensuring strategy is administratively feasible and implemented effectively. It requires strong expertise in benefits administration, compliance, and vendor management. The position is hybrid and requires at least four days per week onsite in Dearborn, Michigan.

The manager oversees day-to-day plan administration, budgets and financial reporting, annual enrollment, compliance, vendor relationships, plan governance, and implementation of benefits strategies and negotiated outcomes. The role also serves as a senior health care benefits negotiator in collective bargaining, supports executive decision-making with analysis and cost projections, and leads a team responsible for service delivery and operational excellence.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Health Care Administration, or a related field.
• 7–10 years of progressive experience in employee benefits.
• At least 4–6 years focused on health care benefits administration in a large, complex organization.
• Strong expertise in benefits administration, compliance, and vendor management.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree.
• Experience in a Fortune 500 or comparable organization.
• Experience administering health care benefits in a unionized environment; exposure to labor negotiations support.
• Experience managing health care benefits vendor relationships, performance, and contracts.
• Strong operational execution skills and ability to translate strategy into action through disciplined processes.
• Ability to work autonomously and support executive leadership directly.
• Experience building and leading teams focused on service delivery and operational excellence.
• Knowledge of federal and state benefits legislation, including ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, and ERISA, and related compliance requirements.
• Strong analytical skills, including interpreting data, assessing feasibility, and making actionable recommendations.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including communication with executives and collaboration with a peer strategy leader.
• Project management and coaching skills, including managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Professional certification such as CEBS or similar.
• Experience with self-insured health plans, actuarial valuation processes, and claims analytics.
• Experience in automotive, large industrial, manufacturing, or other heavily unionized industries.

Responsibilities

• Lead consistent, accurate, and compliant day-to-day administration of health care programs for union and non-union populations.
• Manage health care benefits budget execution, cost tracking, and financial reporting; partner with Finance and actuarial consultants on funding administration.
• Improve processes, systems, and service delivery while ensuring adherence to collective bargaining agreements, regulations, and internal policy.
• Lead annual enrollment execution, including vendor system readiness, communications, and issue resolution.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex administrative and compliance issues, providing significant-matter visibility to the Executive Director.
• Partner with the Manager, U.S. Health Care Strategy and Design to assess proposed plan changes, vendor strategies, and negotiation proposals for feasibility, implementation risk, and member experience impact.
• Provide operational data, historical administration performance, and process expertise to support strategy development.
• Lead implementation planning and execution after strategies and negotiated outcomes are finalized.
• Serve as a senior negotiator for health care benefits in collective bargaining and develop bargaining strategies, scenario models, and long-term cost projections.
• Build strategic relationships with union leadership to support collaboration and problem-solving.
• Translate negotiated agreements into implementation roadmaps and lead their execution.
• Manage day-to-day vendor relationships and ensure service-level agreements and performance standards are met.
• Lead vendor benchmarking and market testing, including RFPs and RFQs; evaluate proposals, coordinate due diligence, and oversee implementation of selected vendors.
• Design and oversee vendor governance frameworks, escalate performance issues, and manage contract administration and renewals.
• Implement governance structures, policies, and procedures for equitable, compliant, consistent benefit delivery.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, including ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, and ERISA, and applicable collective bargaining agreements.
• Identify and mitigate operational and compliance risks through monitoring and audit support.
• Build, lead, and coach a team focused on operational excellence, technical expertise, and member experience.
• Foster accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Manage change execution for benefits transformation initiatives, supporting adoption and minimizing disruption.
• Partner with the Manager, U.S. Health Care Strategy and Design and cross-functional stakeholders, including Supply Chain, Finance, Legal, IT, HR, and Labor Relations.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized backup child care.
• Family-building benefits, including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement and fertility treatments.
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases.
• Tuition assistance.
• Employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• Paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

What This Job Offers

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