Project manager, group benefits operations

The Project Manager, Group Benefits Operations leads cross-functional Group Benefits Operations initiatives that improve plan sponsor and plan member outcomes, service performance, operational effectiveness, risk management, workforce readiness, and financial results. The role applies governance, produces decision-ready insights, and coordinates delivery across Operations, Product, Technology, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Procurement, and external partners.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead moderate-to-large Group Benefits Operations initiatives through intake, prioritization, planning, implementation, stabilization, and benefits realization.

• Partner with operational leaders across Group Benefits to define problems, requirements, outcomes, operational impacts, and sustainable solutions.

• Maintain an integrated view of active and pipeline initiatives, including ownership, milestones, dependencies, risks, costs, benefits, and leadership decisions.

• Establish project governance and operating rhythms, including integrated plans, decision logs, risk and issue registers, change control, executive reporting, forums, escalations, and action follow-through.

• Lead initiatives that improve plan sponsor and plan member experiences, service performance, quality, capacity, and end-to-end operational processes.

• Identify and implement process improvement, digitization, automation, data, and AI opportunities that simplify work, strengthen controls, improve scalability, and deliver measurable benefits.

• Partner with Product and Technology to translate operational needs into requirements and coordinate testing, change management, training, communications, cutover, and post-implementation stabilization.

• Support service recovery, workforce, and capacity initiatives by validating data, identifying root causes, assessing resource impacts, coordinating remediation, and escalating material risks or delays.

• Support business cases, budgets, forecasts, resource plans, and benefit measures; monitor financial performance and expected value.

• Coordinate external partner and vendor deliverables, performance, risks, dependencies, and contractual obligations with business and control functions.

• Ensure projects meet legal, regulatory, operational risk, privacy, information-security, records-management, accessibility, and Company requirements; track corrective actions, control remediation, evidence, approvals, and commitments through closure.

• Handle highly sensitive, confidential, privileged, or NDA-protected information with discretion and sound judgment, sharing it strictly on a need-to-know basis.

• Build collaborative relationships, clarify roles and decision rights, resolve competing priorities, and drive accountability across Group Benefits and enterprise functions.

Required Qualifications:

• Post-secondary degree or diploma in business, operations, finance, technology, project management, or a related discipline; an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.

• Five or more years of progressive experience leading complex projects, operational improvement, or transformation initiatives in financial services, insurance, benefits administration, or another regulated environment.

• Experience in Group Benefits operations, products, claims, benefits administration, plan sponsor servicing, plan member servicing, billing, eligibility, or plan design.

• PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, Lean Six Sigma, or an equivalent project management or process-improvement certification.

• Experience with Microsoft Project, Planner, Visio, Power BI, SharePoint, Jira, or equivalent project and reporting platforms.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated full-lifecycle delivery experience, including scope, requirements, schedules, budgets, resources, dependencies, risks, issues, change control, implementation, stabilization, and benefits realization.

• Strong understanding of operations and service delivery, including customer journeys, transaction processing, service levels, quality, workflows, capacity, backlogs, and operational readiness.

• Proven ability to apply portfolio and project governance, support integrated plans, manage risks and issues, define measures, and produce concise executive reporting and recommendations.

• Experience contributing process redesign, automation, digitization, data, workflow, system implementation, or AI-enabled change in an operational environment.

• Strong business and financial acumen, including business cases, cost-benefit analysis, budgeting, forecasting, r