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Salary: USD 94,960 - 118,700 / annual
Armada is a hyperscaler for edge AI infrastructure, backed by nearly $500M in funding from investors including Founders Fund, Lux, BlackRock, and Microsoft. The company is deployed in over 60 countries and partners with Microsoft, Dell, Palantir, NVIDIA, SpaceX, and Skydio.
As Benefits Manager, you will own the day-to-day operation of Armada's benefits program as the company scales rapidly. You will be the central point of contact for employees with benefits questions and the operational owner of the entire benefits ecosystem for the business.
Key responsibilities include:
**Benefits Administration**: Manage the full lifecycle for US employees—new hire enrollment, qualifying life events, changes, COBRA administration, and offboarding. Resolve issues accurately and on time.
**Open Enrollment**: Coordinate with brokers and carriers to deliver clear employee communications and run smooth enrollment cycles.
**Vendor Management**: Serve as the day-to-day owner of Armada's benefits partners (brokers, carriers, vendors). Hold them accountable to service levels, escalate issues, and support renewal analysis with recommendations on cost and quality trade-offs.
**Compliance**: Own the compliance calendar and maintain adherence to US benefits regulations including ERISA, ACA reporting, COBRA, HIPAA, Section 125, 401(k) audit, nondiscrimination testing, and state-level mandates. Escalate novel or evolving risks.
**Employee Relations**: Act as the go-to resource for benefits questions and concerns, handling sensitive situations such as medical leave, family changes, or loss with discretion and empathy.
**Payroll & Finance Partnership**: Work with Payroll and HR Operations to ensure deductions, employer contributions, and carrier feeds are accurate and reconciled every pay period. Partner with Finance on benefits invoices, budgeting, and forecasting.
**International Support**: Partner with EOR providers to ensure benefits for employees outside the US are compliant with local requirements and consistent with Armada's approach.
**Process Improvement**: Document and improve benefits processes and policies so they are clear, repeatable, and audit-ready, using automation and AI tools where they add real efficiency.
**Success Milestones**:
- First 90 days: Own benefits administration and broker relationship; audit current plans, carrier feeds, and compliance calendar; share prioritized list of gaps and fixes.
- First 6 months: Core benefits processes documented; benefits KPI report in place.
- First 12 months: Successfully run a renewal or open enrollment cycle with clean data, on-time communications, and accurate payroll deductions from day one.
**Requirements**:
- Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of experience in benefits administration or Total Rewards, OR Master's degree and 3+ years of experience
- Hands-on ownership of open enrollment for a US employer, ideally in a high-growth company
- Working knowledge of US benefits regulations (ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, Section 125) with sound judgment about when to escalate to Legal or outside experts
- Experience working with brokers, carriers, and vendors and holding them accountable for service quality
- Proficiency with HRIS and benefits administration platforms, plus strong spreadsheet and reporting skills
- Clear, empathetic communication with employees and credibility with leadership when explaining trade-offs
- Team-first, low-ego mindset, comfortable building structure in a fast-moving environment
**Nice to Have**:
- Exposure to international benefits through EOR providers or local entities
- CEBS, CBP, or similar benefits certification
- Experience supporting a distributed workforce, including field-based or deployed employees
- Experience in hardware, infrastructure, or defense technology companies
