Director, Regulatory Compliance Specialist, HR​/Recruitment

Overview

The Benefits Director is a vital member of NRDC’s People and DEI team, responsible for the strategic planning, design, and implementation of our benefits and wellness offerings based on market trends, employee feedback, and NRDC culture and mission. The Benefits Director oversees both the day-to-day administration of our benefit programs as well as the strategic oversight of the plans, including health and welfare benefits, retirement programs, leave and statutory benefits, and wellness and employee engagement initiatives.

The Benefits Directoris responsible forthe full lifecycle of NRDC’s benefits programs,from strategy, plan design, and annual renewals through implementation, administration, compliance, employee communication, and ongoing evaluation. The Director serves as a strategic and solutions-oriented partner to organizational leadership, balancing employee needs, market competitiveness, regulatory requirements, operational effectiveness, and financial sustainability.

Providing advice and guidance, tools, and resources, as required across all NRDC in executing our benefits programs, the Benefits Director partners closely with People and DEI colleagues, Finance, Payroll, Legal, Labor Relations, employee representatives, and external advisors to ensure the consistent and effective delivery of NRDC’s benefits programs.

• Direct strategies for short- and long-rangeobjectivesregarding benefits offerings.

• Provide NRDC leadership with a strategic vision for all employee benefits plans, wellness programs, and services. Develop recommendations informed by workforce needs,utilization and claims data, financial analysis, market practices, regulatory developments, and employee feedback.

• Proactively assess benefit offerings tomaintaincompetitiveness as an integralcomponentof our total rewards package across all offices. Evaluate plan effectiveness, employee experience, affordability,utilization, and financial sustainability, and recommend appropriate plan design or administrative changes.

• Lead the annual benefits renewal process from beginning to end, including establishing the renewal strategy, analyzing claims and utilization data, evaluating plan design alternatives, modeling financial impact, negotiating with carriers and vendors, presenting recommendations to leadership and the Benefits Committee, implementing approved changes, and communicating changes to employees.

• Responsible for the development and maintenance of the annual Benefits operating budget. Monitor program costs and trends, prepare forecasts, evaluate financial exposure, andidentifyopportunities to improve value and manage costs without compromising program quality orthe employee experience.

• Safeguardbenefitscompliance, ensuring that all benefits programs adhere to relevant state, federal, and local regulations. Maintain appropriate compliance processes, documentation, governance practices, and internal controls for health and welfare, retirement, leave, and statutory benefit programs.

• Ensure compliance with applicable requirements under ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, ADA, and other federal, state, and local laws.
  
  Oversee the preparation, review, distribution, and retention of required plan documents, summary plan descriptions, notices, filings, and employee disclosures.

• Provide strategic oversight of NRDC’s 403(b) retirement plan, including plan administration, governance, participant communications, vendor performance, and compliance with applicable ERISA, IRS, and Department of Labor requirements.

• Coordinate and oversee retirement andbenefitplan audits, annual filings, compliance testing, corrective actions, and responses to auditor or regulatory inquiries. Partner with recordkeepers, auditors, legal counsel,…