Sr Specialist

The Senior Benefits Specialist will provide professional support and analytical skills to maintain and administer U.S. and international health and welfare and retirement benefit plans and policies for Wendy's International, LLC. The Senior Benefits Specialist will address employee, Human Resources (HR) and outside vendor inquiries and issues, reviewing and resolving issues while providing superior customer service through strong communication and time management skills.

A strong understanding of benefit plan documents will be vital in the review of eligibility inquiries to maintain benefits compliance in the decision‑making process. This role will create strong vendor relationships by offering process improvements and ideas to improve efficiencies for all areas of accountability. The Senior Benefits Specialist will be responsible for the integrity of benefits data in the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) via reporting to ensure compliance with relevant legislations and supporting inbound and outbound vendor data files.

• Advocate for the employee experience by serving as a primary contact for employee, HR and vendor inquiries regarding eligibility, enrollment and benefits deductions related to the U.S. and international health, disability, life, dental, vision and retirement plans, and providing resolution. Identify issues and recommend level one issue escalation to all external vendors. Resolving these inquiries will require the review and interpretation of plan materials such as Summary Plan Description and Wrap Document to ensure integrity and compliance with the benefit plans.
• Maintain the integrity of the benefits enrollment and benefit deductions data and identify process improvements to ensure consistent administration and accuracy of employee data.
• Interface with retirement plan administrators, legal counsel and international consultant to ensure retirement plans are administered in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Maintain knowledge of regulatory changes, trends and other developments affecting retirement benefits.
• Lead the leave of absence process for Short‑Term Disability (STD), Family Medical Leave (FML) and Long‑Term Disability (LTD) through our third‑party leave of absence administrator. This includes, but is not limited to, the processing of daily leave updates, employee and HR inquiries, and biweekly status update calls with third‑party leave of absence administrator.
• Vital partner in the Annual Enrollment planning and implementation process by managing key deliverables.
• Manage vendor performance by coordinating status update calls, manage issues logs, identify common issues and develop issue resolution action plans.

• Education – Bachelor’s Degree is required.
• CEBS or equivalent designation is preferred.
• 3–4 years of employee benefits related experience in group insurance, disability and benefits related administration, and regulation including but not limited to ERISA, IRC, PPACA, USERRA, HIPAA and COBRA.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and strong Excel skills.
• Must work independently with a strong sense of discretion, confidentiality and empathy.
• Comfortable communicating and working with all levels of senior management.
• Exemplary planning, organization, project management, critical thinking and time management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• International benefits and retirement plan experience is preferred.

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Travel: 5%

Pay Range: $81,000.00 – $ Annually

Expected Work Location (In Office):
It is expected that you will primarily perform work at the Wendy's Restaurant Support Center (RSC) (1 Dave Thomas Blvd, Dublin, OH 43017), or at other location(s) as designated by the Company. You are required to work in the office at least 4 days a week. Changes to work location arrangements are subject to managerial approval and business needs.

Wendy's is an equal employment opportunity employer who may provide reasonable accommodation to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.