Absence and Disability Consultant

Overview

Absence and Disability Consultant

About Spring Consulting

Spring Consulting Group, an Alera Group company, provides specialized consulting solutions across employee benefits, absence and disability management, and risk management. The team partners with employers to develop effective strategies, evaluate programs and vendors, and implement solutions tailored to their workforce and business needs.

About Alera Group

Founded in 2017, Alera Group is one of the nation's leading independent insurance and financial services firms. We combine the strength of a national organization with the personalized service of local experts to help clients succeed across Employee Benefits, Property & Casualty Insurance, Retirement Plan Services, Wealth Services, and Human Capital Solutions.

Why Join Alera Group?

• Collaborate with purpose – Work alongside colleagues who believe the best results come from strong partnerships, shared expertise, and supporting one another.
• Build your career – Expand your expertise through meaningful work, continuous learning, and opportunities to grow across a national organization.
• Make an impact – Help clients navigate complex challenges while contributing to solutions that make a difference for their businesses, employees, and communities.

The Opportunity

The Absence Management Consultant is a mid-level consulting professional who partners with employers, carriers, third-party administrators (TPAs), brokers, technology providers, and other industry organizations to address complex challenges across absence and disability management. This role applies strong industry, operational, and analytical expertise across disability, leave administration, paid family and medical leave (PFML), workplace accommodations, and return-to-work programs.

The Consultant manages key components of client engagements, evaluates programs and operations, conducts research and market analysis, and translates findings into practical, actionable recommendations. This individual also develops high-quality client deliverables, builds strong client relationships, and contributes to practice growth by identifying emerging needs and supporting new business opportunities.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

• Manage defined client project workstreams, including planning, information gathering, analysis, deliverable development, milestone tracking, and coordination of next steps.
• Assess carrier, TPA, employer, and supplier operations, including claim handling and adjudication, leave and PFML administration, clinical models, customer and claimant experience, account management, implementation, service delivery, workflows, quality, and performance measurement.
• Conduct stakeholder interviews, operational and claim reviews, process assessments, benchmarking, and other fact-finding activities; translate findings into clear business insights and actionable recommendations.
• Support the design and enhancement of disability, leave, PFML, accommodation, and related products and services, including product and market strategy, operating models, workflows, technology requirements, implementation approaches, customer experience, pricing and packaging considerations, build-versus-buy evaluation, and adjacent-market expansion.
• Support a diverse portfolio of advisory engagements, including regulatory monitoring and readiness, policy and plan filing support, product and service strategy, workforce capability and training development, strategic advisory retainers, operational and claim assessments, and specialized client needs that require cross-functional expertise.
• Conduct primary and secondary research, including surveys, interviews, market assessments, competitive analyses, and benchmarking. Contribute to questionnaire development, segmentation, data review, and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative findings.
• Develop executive-level presentations, reports, market studies, white papers, and other thought-leadership materials that clearly explain what findings mean and why they matter.
• Participate in client meetings, working sessions, conferences, and market-facing activities; build trusted stakeholder relationships and represent the practice effectively with clients and prospective clients.
• Identify and help develop new business opportunities by recognizing unmet client and market needs, expanding existing relationships, shaping practical consulting solutions, and contributing to proposals, scopes of work, pricing, capabilities presentations, and prospective-client discussions.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in absence management, disability, leave administration, PFML, workplace accommodations, employee benefits, insurance, or a related field.

• Experience gained through consulting, employer absence management, insurance brokerage, an insurance carrier, TPA, technology provider, or another relevant industry supplier.

• Strong technical and operational knowledge across several key areas: short- and long-term disability; statutory disability; FMLA and state leave; ADA and accommodations; return-to-work/stay-at-work; claim administration; and absence technology and HR/payroll integrations.

• Demonstrated expertise in paid family and medical leave programs, including state-mandated programs, private plans, employer-sponsored paid leave, and coordination with disability, leave, and payroll.

• Understanding of carrier and TPA operations, including claim handling, clinical models, implementation, account management, service delivery, workflows, quality, performance metrics, customer experience, and continuous improvement.

• Experience supporting surveys, market research, benchmarking, or other structured research; working knowledge of questionnaire design, sampling, segmentation, cross-tabulation, and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data.

• Strong analytical, writing, presentation, project-management, and client-facing communication skills, with the ability to convert complex findings into practical recommendations.

• Demonstrated commercial awareness and experience supporting consulting sales, account growth, opportunity development, proposal preparation, or related business-development activities.

• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; experience with survey, data-visualization, or analytical tools is a plus. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Compensation

• Salary Range: $125,000–$150,000 annually, depending on experience
• Bonus Eligible: Yes

Benefits

Eligible colleagues enjoy a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Life and disability coverage
• 401(k)
• Generous paid time off
• Professional development and career growth opportunities

Additional Information

Work Arrangement

This position is Remote. Preference to Eastern or Central time zones.

Travel Requirements: Occasional travel up to 20% may be required for client meetings, project work, conferences, and other business needs

We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, or any other protected class.

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