Career Center
Marina del Rey, California
Seaside, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Fullerton, California
Fresno, California, California
Stanford, California
La Jolla, California
Berkeley, California
Merced, California
Silicon Valley, California
Posted: 08-May-23
Location: Los Angeles, California
Salary: Open
Internal Number: REQ20133310
The Retirement Planning Specialist provides expertise on planning for and completing retirement processes and transactions. This role works closely with the Staff Retirement Navigators to assist with retirement case management and to educate the university community through workshops and seminars tailored to individuals at various stages of retirement. An ideal candidate for this role will bring exemplary customer service skills to individual appointments with employees, providing an informative and personable experience. This role will help enable USCâs vision while championing USCâs culture and values.
Job Responsibilities
The candidate for the position of Retirement Planning Specialist will be responsible for:
Assisting Staff Retirement Navigator with retirement case management, including documentation and transactions. Supporting design and delivery of retirement education (seminars, workshops, etc.) to employees at various stages of their career to promote the benefits of contributing to retirement. Updating case management entries, reviewing paperwork submitted by employees, processing retirement transactions, and bank directives in a timely manner.
Supporting daily operations related to employee retirement enrollment. Processing bank directives and retirement transactions for 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), 457(b), defined benefit, and other legacy retirement plans. Maintaining organized documentation for future reference and retrieval.
Supporting the retirement team by performing accurate and timely enrollment transactions. Conducting audits of retirement data entry or other processes.
Analyzing data to produce clear reports as needed. Escalating questions to appropriate team members. Demonstrating fairness, impartiality, and integrity in decision making.
Possessing knowledge of USCâs business and how it pertains to the role. Providing practical and helpful guidance regarding financials and benefits to individuals at various stages of retirement to empower them to make informed decisions.
Coordinating with various campus or external departments to ensure timely completion of retirement processes. Providing personal, thoughtful, and informative individual appointments for employees, and proactively reaches out to various parties to answer employee questions. Demonstrating thoughtfulness, attention to detail, and understanding when communicating with employees.
Maintaining open lines of communication with university employees planning for retirement and the HR division at large. Working closely with Staff Retirement Navigators to provide expertise on planning for and the completing retirement processes. Communicating with HR Information Systems team and other stakeholders as needed to ensure accurate data reporting and tracking. Providing timely and constructive feedback when solicited to maintain a high performing organization. Ensuring retirement plan information is up to date and readily available for employees.
Understanding individualsâ specific retirement goals to provide tailored guidance and advice throughout their employee lifecycle. Soliciting feedback from managers, peers, and other employees and working to continuously improve as a teammate and advisor. Maintaining currency with retirement administration trends and leading practices. Sharing improvements to processes and procedures with the broader team to maintain high performance.
Researching and promoting resolution of retirement benefit issues arising during and after retirement. Designing and conducting informational sessions. Collecting and analyzing data from retirement sessions, such as seminar attendance numbers, employee feedback, etc., to guide future informational programming. 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.
Understanding alignment between retirement administration and overall HR strategy. Working closely with Staff Retirement Navigators to ensure a united direction and consistent messaging. 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.
Minimum Qualifications
The candidate for the position of Retirement Planning Specialist must meet the following qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in business, economics, psychology, or another related field.Â
Five or more years of experience in retirement savings administration.
Experience with benefits programs, particularly retirement experience.Â
Demonstrated excellence providing personalized customer service.Â
Demonstrated ability to effectively manage time, prioritize tasks, work independently and maintain confidentiality.Â
Strong written and verbal communications skills, with the ability to be both friendly and professional.Â
Experience designing and conducting informational sessions or workshops.Â
Strong research, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving skills and decision-making skills.Â
Ability to calculate and project retirement contribution amounts.
Team-oriented self-starter with the ability to work independently and proactively and prioritize competing assignments.Â
Ability to provide assistance and guidance as needed on projects.Â
Ability to exercise discretion with confidential information.Â
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).Â
Preferred Qualifications
The ideal candidate for the position of Retirement Planning Specialist has the following qualifications:
Advanced degree in business, economics, psychology, or another related field.Â
Seven or more years of experience in retirement savings administration.
Experience in one or more of the following fields: human resources, benefits administration or higher education.
Excellent interpersonal skills and relationship-building abilities. Â
Ability to use sound judgment in making decisions with minimal supervision.Â
Experience in leadership and people-building roles.Â
Experience with case management systems.Â
Certified Benefits Professional, Certified Employee Benefit Specialist, or Certified Compensation Professional, or other similar certifications.Â
The annual base salary range for this position is $83,427.83 - $88,500.00. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidateâs work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.
The University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree; Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education.Minimum Experience: 5 yearsMinimum Skills: Five or more yearsâ experience in retirement savings administration.Experience with benefits programs and demonstrated excellence providing personalized customer service.Excellent written and oral communications skills, with experience designing and executing informational sessions or workshops.Demonstrated ability to effectively manage time, prioritize tasks, work independently and maintain confidentiality.Excellent research, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills.Ability to work independently and proactively, prioritize competing assignments, and provide assistance/guidance as needed on team projects.Proficiency with Microsoft Office.Ability to calculate and project retirement contribution amounts.
