Pension Administration - Senior Specialist

Marsh McLennan•Chicago, IL

About The Position

Be a leading member of the Calculations and Special Projects team and have an influence on the success and growth of Business and Client Services. The Senior Specialist is responsible for leading special pension administration projects, including serving as the data manager for plan termination projects. The Senior Specialist will also assist with completion of pension calculations and the review of plan documents and calculation tools related to special projects.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred
5-7 years of experience in defined benefit administration
Prior experience with project management and client relationship management
Strong proficiency with MS Excel and Word (proficiency in MS Access desired)
Excellent problem solving and analytical skills; proven ability to identify, research, follow up and resolve issues or problems encountered through project work
Excellent oral and written communication skills

Nice To Haves

Strong communication skills, both verbal and written
Strong analytical, research, problem solving skills and attention to details
Strong project management skills with the ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize time effectively
Ability to handle difficult client situations and derive strategic solutions

Responsibilities

Maintain a high level of professionalism and sense of urgency to ensure client expectations are consistently met while acting as a primary contact with clients and Marsh consultants
As Project Manager, lead pension calculation, data, and risk transfer projects and act as point of contact to clients, administration and processing teams
Manage special project tasks to ensure project tracks to budget, that project is completed per the terms of the client agreement and that any out-of-scope work is identified
Lead and attend team and project calls. Communicate across various teams (internal /external).
As a data manager, oversee, monitor and review all aspects of the data project to include: Identify critical data elements for clean up and plan termination projects. Develop data request for all phases of plan terminations based on plan provisions. Draft database specifications detailing project needs including mapping for data imports/extracts Analyze findings and impact of missing data Track and update data corrections received at various times from various sources. Understand downstream impact of data updates and missing elements and communicate to interested parties Reconcile population at key points throughout the project
Calculate and review qualified and non-qualified benefits, including but not limited to QDROs, 409A, employee contributions, late retirement increases and RMDs.
Keep updated on current government regulations/IRS Code
Develop and maintain access-based or excel-based calculation checkers for ongoing and special project clients