Manager, Benefits Administration​/HR Operations

Position: Manager, Benefits Administration / HR Operations
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a leading energy provider and Fortune 500 company, dedicated to serving millions of electricity and natural gas customers across eight states:
Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico and Texas. We make energy work better for our customers, helping them thrive every day. That means always raising the bar - delivering better service and providing more reliable, resilient, and sustainable energy. Xcel Energy is a place where you’ll have opportunities to grow, expand your skills, and help lead the clean energy transition.

We offer meaningful rewards, recognition, and support to help you build your career and make an impact - both on the job and beyond. Most importantly, it means you’ll be joining a company that knows employees are the driving force behind its success and is committed to helping you be your best.

Xcel Energy supports a hybrid work model to enable collaboration and flexibility. Many roles are expected to work onsite three days per week (Tuesday–Thursday); however, work location expectations vary based on role, team, and business needs.

Position Summary Manage the day-to-day HR operational service delivery, ensuring timely, accurate, consistent, high-quality HR processes and employee support. Ensure reliable HR services are delivered in a shared services model. Manage benefits administration, HR vendor file integrations, HR vendor relationship management, HR special projects, optimizing HR processes, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal laws & regulations, and driving operational excellence in administering HR processes.

Essential Responsibilities:

HR Administration & Service Delivery
- Oversee and manage HR operations, including benefits administration, annual benefits enrollment, time away from work policies, I-9 verification, and other employee lifecycle processes.  Develop, maintain, and enforce HR standard operating procedures (SOPs), checklists, job aids, templates, and knowledge base content to support service delivery. Ensure HR transactions are executed accurately and consistently in the HRIS and related systems. Champion a proactive approach to scaling and streamlining HR administrative tasks, driving operational excellence.

Shared Services Collaboration – Serve as the point of contact for HR Operations workflows and Shared Services coordination. Collaborate with HR Service Center, Benefits, HR Technology, Payroll, Compensation, Talent Acquisition, Workforce Relations, Legal, and other functions to ensure HR Operations tasks are performed seamlessly. Support the resolution of HR Service Center escalations. Identify opportunities to streamline, standardize, and automate HR administrative processes.

Lead process improvement initiatives to enhance HR service delivery and efficiency.

Vendor Management
- Develop and maintain a close working relationship with vendors for HR services to ensure efficient delivery of services. Meet with vendors to review performance metrics and take corrective action when needed. Ensure accurate and timely data transmission. Review and approve vendor invoices for payment.

Process Governance, Compliance, & Controls
- Ensure HR administration practices comply with federal, state, and local laws, company policies, collective bargaining agreements, and audit needs. Identify HR operational risks and implement preventive controls. Maintain appropriate internal controls for sensitive HR data, documentation retention, and data accuracy. Implement corrective action when necessary.

Partnership with HR Technology
- Partner with HRIS and IT to maintain data integrity, troubleshoot issues, and improve HR system workflows and user experience. Provide operational requirements and…