Senior Benefits Manager

Who You Are

We're looking for a Senior Benefits Manager to own Zūm's benefits function end-to-end, covering strategy, administration, compliance, and continuous improvement across health, welfare, retirement, and leave programs for approximately 5,000 employees in 15+ states.

The role is genuinely complex: programs span PEO and direct-employer structures, unionized and non-union populations, CDL-licensed drivers and corporate staff, and multiple administration platforms. You'll partner with brokers, carriers, payroll, legal, and finance, and report to the VP of People Operations as a strategic thought partner on total rewards.

You thrive where answers aren't obvious, documentation doesn't exist yet, and you build the fix before anyone has to ask. You're equally comfortable presenting a renewal strategy to the CPO and walking a field employee through enrollment. You catch the off-by-a-dollar deduction, the compliance deadline no one else is tracking, and the employee who needs help navigating a claim. And you understand that what you build today must scale with a company preparing for its most visible chapter yet.

This is a hybrid position based out of our headquarters in Redwood City, CA. You will be required to be onsite 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday). We will only consider candidates already located in the Bay Area.

What You’ll Do

What You Bring

Required

• 8–12+ years of progressive experience in people operations, benefits management, administration, and strategy, with at least 3 years at a senior or lead level.
• Deep expertise in health & welfare plan design, 401(k)/retirement plan administration, and leave management.
• Thorough working knowledge of ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, Section 125, and state/local benefits regulations.
• Proven experience managing benefits for a large, distributed, multi-state workforce (1,000+ employees), including hourly and non-exempt populations.
• Strong vendor management skills: experience leading broker relationships, carrier negotiations, renewals, and RFPs.
• Exceptional analytical skills: you can model plan costs, interpret utilization data, and build executive-level reporting.
• Strong project management capabilities with the ability to drive multiple complex initiatives simultaneously and hold vendors accountable to timelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex benefits concepts for employees at all levels.
• Proficiency in HRIS platforms, benefits administration systems, and advanced Excel/Google Sheets.

Preferred

• Experience in a high-growth, venture-backed company, ideally through a liquidity event.
• Experience managing benefits across both PEO-administered and direct-employer plan structures.
• Experience with Compensation, including market benchmarking (e.g Radford, Pave), job architecture, and end-to-end merit review cycle management.
• Familiarity with unionized workforce benefits, including CBA interpretation and compliance with collectively bargained benefit obligations.
• Experience with ADP platforms, Employee Navigator, Charles Schwab retirement services, or Sequoia consulting.
• Knowledge of self-funded and level-funded health plan structures, including stop-loss and claims analysis.
• CEBS, CBP, PHR/SPHR, or SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP certification.

The targeted base salary range for this role is listed in the compensation section below. Actual salary may be above or below this range based on factors such as location, skills, and relevant experience. In addition, this position may include additional compensation in the form of equity or commissions.…