The Pension Administration Specialist has the responsibility to oversee day-to-day pension administration, and will ensure that the employment and compensation policies are upheld. They provide in-depth expertise in pension analysis, with a detailed understanding of provincial/federal legislation, and will connect the application of policy requirements to administration functionality, ensuring processes operate efficiently and effectively.
Responsibilities
- Pension Administration and Data Management
- Oversees the transactional elements of pension plan administration activities and provides direction to staff, ensuring efficient administration;
- Responds to a wide range of inquiries from plan members and employers that have been escalated from pension administrators;
- Identifies and validates underlying pension plan data elements required to calculate benefits and authorizes exceptional circumstances requiring manual calculations
- Maintains integrity of plan participant data to ensure retirement plan information is accurate and administered in accordance with plan provisions and government regulations;
- Prepares and/or participates in government filings, plan audits, and other tax-reporting requirements, as necessary;
- Manages data components to support year-end tasks and ensures that the data flow between systems appropriately
- Maintains compliance with pension legislation, regulatory and internal processing requirements.
- Supervision
- Responsible for supervision of Pension Administrators and ensuring that staff have the necessary training, available departmental tools, and resources in order to fulfill their roles;
- Accountable for leading and developing a high performing, engaged, customer-centric team by providing direction, coaching, mentoring, and development to all individuals on the team;
- Ensures that the team provides prompt and accurate responses to Pension inquiries in a clear, timely, and professional manner;
- Responsible for the management of day-to-day pension operations including effective task delegation/workload balancing, as required.
- General Reporting & Communication
- Maintains integrity of plan participant data to ensure retirement plan information is accurate and administered in accordance with plan provisions and government regulations;
- Prepares and/or participates in government filings, plan audits, and other tax-reporting requirements, as necessary;
- Manages and performs year-end tasks including coordination with various service providers;
- Ensures communication to plan members and their employers is in place regarding any updates/changes to the administration of the pension plans
- Assists with the pension annual statement and acts as a resource in areas related to the administration of the pension plan including data integrity, historical legacy information, procedures, and policies.
- Special Projects
- This position may be required to undertake a variety of projects as assigned by the Manager, Pension & Benefits, or the Team Leader/Project Manager, Pension & Benefits.
- This position will support the development of cross-functional teams in the area of benefits and pension.
Qualifications/Education/Competencies/Experience
- Post-secondary education with 6+ years recent defined benefit pension administration experience; CEB/CEBS/PPAC certification or working towards this certification is an asset;
- Extensive knowledge and experience in the administration of defined benefit pension plans in a large national organization or in the consulting field working with national organizations, (multi-employer plans preferred);
- Expert knowledge of pension legislation in all provinces and ability to keep up to date with legislative changes;
- Strong organizational skills the ability to meet legislated deadlines
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to liaise with plan members, internal team members, and service providers; French language skills would be an asset;
- Proficient user of all Microsoft Office applications, with advanced knowledge of Excel
- Critical thinking skills with exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills and attention to detail including implementation and execution of resolutions;
- Ability to work in a confidential environment showing tact, diplomacy, discretion, flexibility, and patience resulting in client satisfaction.