Benefits Financial Specialist

Department: Office of Human Resources

Salary/Grade: EXS/6

Job Summary

The Benefits Financial Specialist administers financial transactions, preparing data and making payments for University-wide benefits. Collects, analyzes, reconciles, and summarizes participant and vendor data for active and inactive employee benefits. Provides support for the Benefits budget and works within NU Financials to transfer payments among University departments.

• Note: Not all aspects of the job are covered by this job description.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Runs monthly payroll deduction queries; ensures wire payments by vendor are accurate and timely.

• Reviews and reconciles assigned monthly balance sheet accounts to ensure accounts are properly stated, transactions accurately reported, and discrepancies identified and corrected.

• Provides support for the Benefits budget including quarterly forecasts and annual submissions.

• Performs monthly billing-administrator report reconciliations for designated populations.

• Responsibility for weekly reconciliations and payments for health, FSA and commuter benefits.

• Processes and reconciles HR payroll journals for select benefits.

• Reviews and updates benefits billing procedural documents.

• Demonstrates continuous effort to identify and resolve outstanding issues and streamline work processes. Takes on other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience from which comparable skills can be acquired.

• Two or more years of work experience performing financial and analytical duties in benefits or accounting; excellent computational skills.

• Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint. Advanced competencies relating to complex uses of Excel (vlookup and pivot tables).

• Good organizational skills, dependable and reliable. Able to continuously meet critical deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance.

• Work experience in benefits or accounting.

• Knowledge of University procedures and systems (HRIS/PeopleSoft, NU Financials, Cognos).

Target hiring range for this position will be between $62,000-$71,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data

Northwestern strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters for people who can obtain them as a critical tool for minimizing severe illness. More information can be found on the COVID-19 and Campus Updates webpage.

The Northwestern campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. We acknowledge and honor the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands, and the Native people who remain on this land today.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Click for information on EEO is the Law.