Senior Manager, Benefits

As Marqeta's Senior Manager, Benefits, you will own the strategy, design, and operational excellence of our US and global benefits programs. You'll be the most senior benefits leader in the organization—setting the vision for how Marqeta invests in employee wellbeing, leading a lean benefits function, and partnering with People, Payroll, Finance, and Legal to deliver a high-impact program that scales with us. You'll balance strategic program ownership with hands-on execution, acting as a trusted advisor to leadership, a champion for employees, and a driver of innovation as we continue to grow.

This is a player-coach role: you'll shape where the program is going while staying close enough to the details to ensure flawless execution.

We work Flexible First. This role can be performed remotely within the United States or from our Oakland, CA office. We'd love for you to join us!

• Lead and develop the benefits function, mentoring team members and/or managing work delivered through brokers and vendors.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships with People Partners, Payroll, Finance, Legal, and Talent teams to develop, implement, and communicate benefits policies and procedures.
• Represent benefits in leadership discussions, translating complex program and compliance topics into clear guidance and recommendations.
• Set standards for process excellence and continuously improve how the function operates as headcount and complexity grow.

• Own vendor strategy and relationships end to end, including selection, RFPs, negotiations, contracts, and renewals.
• Manage broker and vendor performance against service level agreements (SLAs), and hold partners accountable to quality and service standards.
• Oversee weekly vendor file feeds/integrations and troubleshoot issues, ensuring data accuracy across systems.
• Own the processing, auditing, and reconciliation of benefits-related invoices, and ensure spend aligns to budget.

• Own the overall employee benefits experience, from onboarding through life events, and set the bar for responsive, high-quality service.
• Oversee resolution of complex escalations, acting as the senior point of contact between employees and benefit providers.
• Ensure timely handling of Workday Help tickets and benefits inbox inquiries, and evolve support processes as the population grows.
• Design and deliver clear, engaging benefits communications and education.

• Own and drive a successful annual Open Enrollment, including strategy, planning, communications, system testing, and post-enrollment reconciliation.
• Plan and execute wellness events and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year.

• Own compliance and governance for all benefit plans and programs, ensuring adherence to federal, state, and local regulations (e.g., ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, NDT, 5500s).
• Oversee Health & Welfare compliance, including 5500 filings, Plan Documents/SPDs/SMMs, SBCs, welfare plan non-discrimination testing, and state reporting requirements.
• Monitor changes in benefits legislation, assess organizational impact, and advise leadership on necessary adjustments.

• 8+ years of progressive US benefits experience, including program strategy and design—not solely administration.
• 3+ years leading a benefits function, managing benefits staff, and/or directing work through brokers and vendors.
• Demonstrated ownership of complete benefits renewal cycles, including renewal strategy, broker/vendor negotiation, open enrollment execution, and post-enrollment reconciliation.
• Deep expertise across health & welfare programs and benefits compliance (ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, NDT, 5500s), with the ability to own governance.
• Experience at scaling technology companies, with a proven ability to thrive amid organizational growth, workforce expansion, and the ambiguity of dynamic environments.
• Experience supporting benefits integration for mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures.
• Some experience with international/global benefits administration.
• Workday Benefits experience.
• Advanced Google Sheets expertise, with the ability to create, organize, and manipulate large, complex data sets—or the same in Excel with a willingness to work predominantly in Google Sheets.
• Strong executive communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills, effective across all levels of the organization.
• Strategic thinker who is also willing to be hands-on; comfortable moving between big-picture program ownership and detailed execution.
• Detail-oriented with a high degree of accuracy, strong time management, and the ability to manage multiple priorities to completion in a fast-paced environment.
• Exceptional results orientation, personal initiative, and sound judgment in balancing excellence with urgency.
• Collaborative, customer-centric team player with a bias toward doing what's best for the business and its employees.

• Application Submission
• Recruiter video call
• Hiring manager video call
• Virtual “Onsite” consisting of 5-6, 45 min calls
• Offer!