System Director Benefits Remote

About Tufts Medicine

Tufts Medicine is an innovative, mission-driven health system that unites the best of academic and community medicine to deliver exceptional, connected, and accessible care. Our system includes Tufts Medical Center, the principal teaching hospital of Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine, as well as Lowell General Hospital, Lowell General Hospital - Saints Campus, MelroseWakefield Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital of Medford, Tufts Medicine Behavioral Health Hospital (opening Fall 2025), Tufts Medicine Care at Home, Tufts Medicine Integrated Network, and a network of 2,300 physicians across Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. We treat the most complex conditions, keep our communities healthy, and bring research breakthroughs to life.

Location: Remote with occasional travel to our locations in Massachusetts

Job Overview

Reporting to the Vice President of Total Rewards and HR Technology, this role requires a resilient, entrepreneurial leader who can pivot seamlessly between high-level strategy and rigorous tactical execution. While leading a team to oversee the strategy, design, and compliance of benefit programs, the successful candidate will be directly accountable for the operational integrity of day-to-day administration and team performance in a complex workforce and regulatory environment.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in health, welfare, and retirement benefits, paired with the intellectual curiosity to challenge existing frameworks and the drive to personally oversee the execution of high-impact projects.

Acts as a proactive change agent, demonstrating the leadership depth required to navigate complex organizational shifts and team transformations while ensuring that daily operational workflows and service-level commitments are met with precision. This role serves as a strategic consultant to the VP, proactively identifying opportunities for plan optimization before they become fiscal necessities.

Job Description

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Industrial Relations or a related field.

2. Seven (7) years of progressive benefits leadership experience including depth of expertise in health, welfare, and retirement benefits.

3. Workday experience required, preferable strong experience with Workday Benefits and Absence.

4. Proven ability to manage complex benefits systems, integrations, and vendors.

5. Strong financial acumen, including budgeting and cost management.

6. Executive presence with the ability to influence senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

7. Deep knowledge of ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, PFML, and multi-state compliance requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Industrial Relations or a related field.

2. Ten (10) years of progressive benefits leadership experience including depth of expertise in health, welfare, and retirement benefits.

3. Experience in healthcare industry strongly preferred.

4. Experience working in an HR Organization with HR Communities, HR Business partners and shared services strongly preferred.

5. Strong change management, project management, lean management, and systems thinking.

6. Experience with leading team transformation.

7. Exposure to union or collectively bargained benefits plans.

8. Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) or Certified Benefits Professional (CBP).

Duties and Responsibilities: The duties and responsibilities listed below are intended to describe the general nature of work and are not intended to be an all-inclusive list. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned.

Benefits Strategy, Design & Administration

1. Reviews and analyzes the benefits market to determine employee needs, regulatory trends, and industry practices, and develops competitive programs aligned to company goals.

2. Plans and directs the implementation and administration of benefits programs designed to protect employees from loss of income due to illness, injury, disability, or retirement.

3. Plans and leads the modification or redesign of existing benefits programs to improve competitiveness, compliance, cost management.

4. Directs preparation and distribution of written and verbal communications informing employees of insurance, retirement, life, wellness, and employer-sponsored benefit programs.

5. Champions Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) as foundational elements of our benefit plan design. In this role, you will ensure that health and welfare programs are not only competitive but also accessible and equitable across our diverse workforce.

Compliance, Governance & Risk Management

1. Oversees records, reporting, filings, and documentation required by federal, state, payer, and provider regulations.

2. Ensures organizational and plan compliance with COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA, ACA, FMLA, PFML, and other applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

3. Identifies and recommends benefit carriers, vendors, and plan designs based on quotes, available benefits, performance history, and organizational fit.

4. Partners with Legal, Finance, Payroll, and HRIS to ensure audit readiness, regulatory adherence, and data integrity across multiple systems and states.

Financial & Operational Management

1. Leads benefits budgeting, forecasting, utilization review, and cost-containment strategies.

2. Analyzes claims, trend, and participation data to guide plan design and vendor negotiations.

3. Provides executive-level reporting and insights supporting financial sustainability and workforce strategy.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

1. Leads and develops a high-performing benefits team, fostering accountability, service excellence, and continuous improvement.

2. Collaborates with HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, Operations, Payroll, IT, Finance, and union representatives to ensure aligned execution.

3. Provides guidance on complex escalations, eligibility determinations, and leave/benefits coordination.

Physical Requirements:

1. Work environment: professional office environment with typical office requirements such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, etc.

2. This is largely a sedentary role, which involves sitting most of the time, but may involve movements such as walking, standing, reaching, ascending / descending stairs and operate office equipment.

3. Frequently required to speak, hear, communicate, and exchange information

4. Ability to see and read computers displays, read fine print, and/or normal type size print and distinguish letters, numbers, and symbols.

5. Ability to work in confined or open environments.

6. Ability to work independently or in a team environment.

Skills & Abilities:

1. Acts as chief advocate for the employee experience, ensuring that even when tough financial choices are made, the "why" is communicated with high empathy and transparency.

2. Excellent interpersonal and consulting skills with the proven ability to build effective partnerships within HR and with Business leaders to effectively collaborate and recommend benefits solutions that solve business problems.

2. Strong communication including the ability to effectively communicate complex concepts in simple terms to various audiences.

3. Strong project management and planning skills including the ability to lead, plan, organize and resource complex assignments.

4. Thrives in ambiguous environments, proactively defining structure and clarity for the team.

5. Advanced Excel skills and spreadsheet analysis with strong PowerPoint skills with the ability to build audience-specific presentations.

6. Exceptional analytical, problem solving and financial modeling skills, with an eye for detail and accuracy.

7. Ability to organize and accomplish objectives independently and proactively.

8. Demonstrates leadership style that emphasizes openness, visibility, and connectivity.

9. Ability to convey the organization's enthusiasm, confidence, goals, and mission and inspire those things in others.

10. Ability to connect with people in a meaningful way at all levels within the organization in keeping with the culture of the senior leadership team.

11. Demonstrates forward thinking and creativity with high ethical standards and an appropriate professional image while fostering collaboration and building consensus to achieve collective objectives.

12. Ability to make tough choices that serve the best interests of the organization.

13. Ability to build consensus with strong negotiation, persuasion, and communication skills to propose enhancements to operational processes to improve efficiency and/or effectiveness.

14. Ability to advocate for the desired culture in high-level planning and decision making, with a focus on performance accountability and achieving greater operational efficiencies.

15. Exceptional presentation skills, excellent verbal and communication skills, and ability to motivate team members.

Job Profile Summary

This role focuses on supporting the design, development, and implementation of human resource programs and policies, including recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits, mobility, talent acquisition, diversity, talent management & organization development and employee/labor relations. In addition, this role focuses on performing the following benefit duties: Designs, implements, and administers an organization's health and welfare benefits programs. Responsibilities also include plan design, communications, vendor partnerships, and costing solutions that align with Tufts Medicine's strategies to engage and retain talent. This role is also accountable to work collaboratively with leaders, legal, and key stakeholders to ensure compliance to all regulatory aspects of health and welfare and retirement plan benefits administration. A management role that supervises employees focusing on tactical, operational activities within a specified area, with the majority of time spent overseeing area of responsibility, planning, prioritizing and/or directing the responsibilities of employees. Goal achievement is typically accomplished through performance of direct and/or indirect reports. A role that directs a department or small unit that includes multiple teams led by managers and/or team Leaders. Responsibilities typically include: ownership of short to mid-term (1-3 years) execution of functional strategy and the operational direction of the Department, problems faced are often complex and require extensive investigation and analysis, and requires ability to influence others to accept practices and approaches, and ability to communicate and influence executive leadership.

At Tufts Medicine, we want every individual to feel valued for the skills and experience they bring. Our compensation philosophy is designed to offer fair, competitive pay that attracts, retains, and motivates highly talented individuals, while rewarding the important work you do every day.

The base pay ranges reflect the minimum qualifications for the role. Individual offers are determined using a comprehensive approach that considers relevant experience, certifications, education, skills, and internal equity to ensure compensation is fair, consistent, and aligned with our business goals.

Beyond base pay, Tufts Medicine provides a comprehensive Total Rewards package that supports your health, financial security, and career growth-one of the many ways we invest in you so you can thrive both at work and outside of it.

Pay Range: