Manager, Benefits & Payroll

Description

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a global leader in water, with over 30,000 members and 75 affiliated Member Associations. Our mission is bold: a world free of water challenges. Through our Strategic Plan, we’re driving transformation across three pillars – Workforce Development, Community Engagement, and the Circular Water Economy – with cross-cutting priorities in Global Engagement and Artificial Intelligence. The Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a global leader in water, with over 30,000 members and 75 affiliated Member Associations. Our mission is bold: a world free of water challenges. Through our Strategic Plan, we’re driving transformation across three pillars – Workforce Development, Community Engagement, and the Circular Water Economy – with cross-cutting priorities in Global Engagement and Artificial Intelligence.

The Manager, Benefits & Payroll (Mgr. B&P) is responsible for the strategic leadership, administration, and continuous improvement of the organization's benefits and payroll. This position serves as the organization's subject matter expert in benefit administration, ensuring that benefits programs are competitive, equitable, compliant, financially responsible, and aligned with the organization's strategic objectives.

The Mgr. B&P partners closely with Senior Leadership, Human Resources, Finance, other key stakeholders and external consultants to oversee payroll operations, to develop and administer comprehensive employee benefit programs, and ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local employment regulations. The position also serves as the primary liaison with benefit brokers, insurance carriers, retirement plan administrators, payroll providers, and other third-party vendors to ensure exceptional service delivery and continuous program improvement.

This role combines strategic planning with operational excellence and requires analytical ability, sound judgment, financial acumen, and a commitment to delivering outstanding employee experience.

The Mgr. B&P must thrive on initiative, problem solving, agility, operate inclusively and demonstrate teamwork. An ideal candidate will have experience working across WEF’s mission and industry to best serve the Water Community.

NOTE: This role is hybrid and requires working in the office (Alexandria, VA) 2 days every other week. Travel may be required (up to 20% of the year) for meetings and events.

Principal Areas of Responsibility

Total Rewards Strategy

• Partners with Human Resources leadership to support the delivery of Benefits Administration leg of WEF’s Total Rewards philosophy, ensuring payroll, and benefits programs support business objectives, employee engagement, and talent attraction and retention.
• Evaluates market trends, workforce data, legislative developments, and industry best practices to recommend program enhancements that balance employee experience, competitiveness, compliance, and fiscal responsibility.
• Provides strategic consultation to leadership and supports long-term workforce planning through Total Rewards benefit strategies that position WEF as an employer of choice.

Payroll Administration & Governance

• Provides strategic and tactical oversight of WEF’s payroll operations, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing across all employee populations while maintaining strong payroll controls, audit procedures, and quality assurance processes.
• Oversees payroll compliance and reporting, including payroll tax, wage and hour requirements, garnishments, supplemental earnings, regulatory filings, W-2 processing, year-end activities, and all required surveys.
• Partners with Finance to reconcile payroll-related accounts, support annual audits and tax deliverables, improve financial reporting, and contribute to budget planning.
• Identifies and implements opportunities to automate payroll processes, improve efficiency, reduce risk, and strengthen internal controls.

Benefits Administration, Vendor Management & Compliance

• Oversees the strategy, administration, and continuous improvement of WEF’s employee benefit programs, including health and welfare plans, retirement, wellness, leave, voluntary benefits, HSAs, FSAs, Open Enrollment, and qualifying life events.
• Evaluates benefit utilization, employee feedback, market competitiveness, cost trends, and compliance requirements to recommend program enhancements that balance employee experience, organizational value, fiscal responsibility, and risk management.
• Manages key relationships with benefit brokers, insurance carriers, retirement plan administrators, payroll providers, leave administrators, COBRA vendors, wellness providers, actuaries, auditors, and other third-party consultants.
• Leads vendor performance reviews, service evaluations, implementations, operational meetings, benefit renewals, vendor selection, and contract negotiations to promote responsive service, innovation, and long-term value.
• Ensures compliance with federal, state, and local requirements governing benefits, payroll, wage and hour practices, employment recordkeeping, COBRA, ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, IRS, Department of Labor, and state wage payment requirements.
• Develops and maintains policies, procedures, internal controls, documentation, audits, regulatory reporting, and compliance reviews to strengthen governance, reduce organizational risk, and support effective benefits, and payroll administration.
• Monitors legislative and regulatory changes and recommends policy or operational updates to maintain compliance and support continuous improvement.
• Other duties as assigned within scope.

Requirements

Requirements & Qualifications

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field required and 5 years of experience.
• Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS), Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), SHRM-SCP, SPHR, PHR or comparable professional certification preferred.
• 1+ years of people leadership experience

Experience, Knowledge, Skills & Expertise·

• Proven experience leading payroll and benefits, retirement plan administration, and multi-state payroll operations
• Proven experience managing employer-sponsored benefit programs, Open Enrollment, vendor renewals, and relationships with brokers, carriers, payroll providers, consultants, and third-party vendors.
• Comprehensive knowledge of payroll administration, payroll tax, wage and hour compliance, benefit administration, COBRA, ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, leave administration, and related regulatory requirements.
• Advanced proficiency with HRIS platforms, preferably Paylocity, and Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, lookups, dashboards, and data analysis; Power BI or similar reporting experience preferred.
• Strong financial and business acumen with the ability to analyze workforce costs, benefit trends, and other Total Rewards metrics.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, project management, and problem-solving skills, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities.· Outstanding communication, interpersonal, and relationship management skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated discretion, professionalism, integrity, commitment to continuous learning, operational excellence, and the ability to lead complex projects and deliver innovative Benefits and Payroll solutions.

This person will work primarily in an office environment using standard office equipment. Must be able to lift at least 25 lbs.

WEF is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.