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Palo Alto, California
Beverly Hills, California
Palo Alto, California
Posted: 20-Feb-22
Location: Los Angeles, California
Salary: Open
Internal Number: REQ20113209
The Manager, Retirement Administration owns the development, implementation, and coordination of the universityâs retirement tracks and programs. This position will enable the strategy for the retirement department, be responsible for the retirement plan design and associated regulations, and ensure that the retirement savings administration team is performing at high capacity in their day-to-day operations. Additionally, this role will serve as a project manager for key retirement plan initiatives. The Manager, Retirement Administration will bring exemplary customer and relationship management skills to successfully foster a cohesive team environment and strong relationships with university partners and external vendors. This role will help enable USCâs vision while championing USCâs culture and values.
Minimum Qualifications
The candidate for the position of Manager, Retirement Administration must meet the following qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in business, accounting, finance, economics, or another related field.
Seven or more years of experience in human resources and/or retirement savings administration.
One or more years of experience leading teams in a management or leadership role.
Advanced working knowledge and understanding of retirement plan administration and associated regulations and IRS tax rules. Â
Experience in retirement saving administration in a high volume, fast paced environment. Â
Experience performing all facets of daily plan administration including processing of contributions, loans, distributions, hardship withdrawals, and QDROs.Â
Experience performing non-discrimination and other testing and providing strategic alternatives for correction of failures and presents options to improve future nondiscrimination tests. Â
Experience ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations.Â
Experience managing a team by providing feedback, assessment, encouragement, and support to achieve goals and drive positive change.Â
Demonstrated excellence providing personalized customer service.Â
Demonstrated project management experience, providing effective oversight from inception to delivery. Â
Demonstrated ability to effectively manage time, prioritize tasks, work independently, and maintain confidentiality.Â
Excellent communication and facilitation skills with a wide variety of internal and external business partners and a proven track record of building strong collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders.Â
Strong research, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving skills and decision-making skills.Â
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).Â
Preferred Qualifications
The ideal candidate for the position of Manager, Retirement Administration has the following qualifications:
Advanced degree in business, accounting, finance, economics, or another related field.Â
Ten or more years of experience in human resources and/or retirement savings administration.
Four or more years of experience leading teams in a management or leadership role
Experience in benefits administration and/or higher education.
Ability to promote change and build understanding, acceptance, and commitment of that changeÂ
Experience workingâ¯closelyâ¯with senior leadership and executives, including identifying needs, developing action plans, identifying deliverables, and presenting results and recommendations. Â
Ability to identify knowledge and resource gaps and comfort utilizing industry trends to create opportunities for development.Â
Track record of positive influence of department culture during change through trust-building.Â
Ability to train staff on emerging industry trends and ensure quality baseline of department knowledge.Â
ASPPA Service Provider Certification, or other similar certification. Â
Certified Benefits Professional, Certified Employee Benefit Specialist, or Certified Compensation Professional, or other similar certifications.Â
Job Responsibilities
The candidate for the position of Manager, Retirement Administration will be responsible for:
Advising benefits leadership on matters pertaining to retirement programs. Providingâ¯managerial support toâ¯retirement savings administration specialists. Serving as a main point of contact for allâ¯retirement vendor relationships and partners within the HR organization. Reviewing and resolving escalated concerns and issues related to retirementâ¯plans and administration. Overseeing and advising on all facets of daily plan administration including processing of contributions, loans, distributions, hardship withdrawals. Demonstrating working knowledge and understanding of retirement plan administration and associated regulations and IRS tax rules.
Supporting leadership on fiscal management including budgeting and staffing. Communicating to team members how university retirement strategies drive long-term business goals through fostering culture and improving workforce retainment. Managing relationships between the university and any third parties, such as benefits consultants and administrators, to enable retirement program success. Researching and recommending appropriate benefit plan design alternatives based on data analysis and trends.
Supervising day-to-day operations related to retirement plan consultations and ensuring efficient support for team members. Communicating critical changes in a timely manner. Coaching team members to exhibit exemplary customer service when guiding faculty and staff through retirement planning and completion. Performing non-discrimination and other testing, providing strategic alternatives for correction of failures, and presenting options to improve future nondiscrimination tests.
Communicating with team members openly and transparently to maintain efficiency, resolve challenges, and socialize current progress. Communicating with HR Systems & Data Analytics team and vendors as needed to ensure accurate data reporting and tracking. Providing timely and constructive feedback to team members to maintain high performance. Maintaining open lines of communication with the HR organization and serving as main point of contact for retirement vendor relationships. Communicating with clients and customers in a timely and professional manner. Conducting group benefits presentations for and/or individual interviews with employees regarding retirement and pension options.
Regularly reviewing and updating retirement plan strategy as needed to ensure alignment with shifts in university strategies, priorities, and needs. Encouraging junior staff to share insights, observations, and recommendations and take calculated risks. Maintaining currency with trends and leading practices in retirement savings programs and administration. Designing and implementing improvements to processes and procedures.
Developing and maintaining records of participants and beneficiaries including active, deferred, retired, and separated members.
Monitoring vendor activity including compliance with service level agreements, key metrics, and ongoing performance reporting. Evaluating work performance of members of retirement team in a fair and unbiased manner. Analyzing program utilization and making recommendations on initiatives to improve cost effectiveness. Managing, reviewing and resolving escalated retirement issues. Demonstrating fairness, impartiality, and integrity in decision making. Â
Developing trusting, credibleâ¯relationshipsâ¯from demonstrated ethicalâ¯judgment, behaviorâ¯and practiced confidentiality. Promoting an environment that fosters inclusive relationships and creates unbiased opportunities for contributions through ideas, words, and actions that uphold principles of the USC Code of Ethics.
Leveraging retirement programs as a mechanism to highlight university culture and bolster USCâs reputation as a destination employer. Communicating understanding of alignment between retirement to overall HR strategy to direct reports to ensure a common team direction. Demonstrating, through words, actions, and ideas, alignment to USCâs strategic plan and the HR organizationâs strategic plan. Enabling the university to fulfill its academic and people missions through enhanced HR service.
Performing other related responsibilities as requested and when necessary. The University reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.
The University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Minimum Education: Bachelor's degreeAddtional Education RequirementsCombined experience/education as substitute for minimum educationMinimum Experience: 7 yearsMinimum Skills: Seven yearsâ experience in HR and/or retirement administration, with one year or more in a leadership/management role. Advanced working knowledge and understanding of retirement plan administration and associated regulations and IRS tax rules. Experience ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Experience performing retirement saving administration in a high volume, fast paced environment Experience performing all facets of daily plan administration (e.g., processing of contributions, distributions, hardship withdrawals). Experience performing non-discrimination and other testing, providing strategic alternatives for correction of failures and presenting options to improve future non- discrimination tests. Experience managing a team to achieve goals and drive positive change. Demonstrated excellence providing personalized customer service. Demonstrated project management experience, providing effective oversight from inception to delivery. Demonstrated ability to effectively manage time, prioritize tasks, work independently and maintain confidentiality. Strong research, analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills. Proficiency with Microsoft Office. Excellent written and oral communication skills and experience communicating with a wide variety of internal and external business partners.Preferred Education: Master's degreePreferred Experience: 10 yearsPreferred Skills: Ten or more yearsâ experience in higher education. Four or more years in a leadership/management role. Experience in a benefits administration position in higher education. Experience working closely with senior leadership and executives, including identifying needs, developing action plans, identifying deliverables, and presenting results and recommendations. Ability to identify knowledge and resource gaps and utilize industry trends to create opportunities for development. Ability to train staff on emerging industry trends to ensure quality baseline of department knowledge.
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