Principal Specialist, Rewards

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating, and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry. To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

At National Grid, we aim to create an environment where everyone is welcomed for who they are and where our differences are celebrated. We utilize the insights of our employees that come from all different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs to better serve our customers and communities.

National Grid is hiring a Benefits Compliance Lead. This hybrid role can sit in either our Brooklyn, NY or Waltham, MA office.

The is an senior individual contributor role with significant autonomy within the Total Rewards department, responsible for end-to-end benefits compliance initiative and governance including regulatory adherence, contract and documentation review and update, required filing, and policy development ensuring compliance across National Grid benefit plans, including but not limited to Health & Welfare plans, Leave and disability, paid time off, and other employee benefit policies.

This role manages benefits-related regulatory adherence across the U.S. and U.K. at Federal, State, Local, and national levels, supporting both active employees and retirees in a multi-state, multi-union environment. The ideal candidate brings prior experience working with benefits practice a law firm or in a highly regulated legal-adjacent benefits environment.

• Lead and oversee the compliance of health and welfare benefit plans, including medical, dental, vision, wellness, and voluntary offerings.
• Oversee life and disability insurance programs compliance, ensuring effective administration, and on-going adherence to regulatory requirements including State PFML regulations.
• Develop, maintain, and implement human resource and benefits policies including health, paid time off, statutory leave, and salary sacrifice programs, and other regulated benefits programs.
• Project Manage implementing, on-going maintenance, and continuous improvement of benefits programs and policies, which may involve vendor selection, contract review and negotiation, development of eligibility, and other administrative requirements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable U.S. regulations, including but not limited to ERISA, IRC, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, IRS, DOL, and other applicable federal/state/local regulations, as well as U.K. benefits, insurance, salary sacrifice and other statutory requirements in the U.K.
• Maintain, review and update plan documentation and regulatory filings, including SPDs, SMMs, SARs, Form 5500, and other reporting and disclosures.
• Support vendor compliance management, compliance tracking, and issue resolution, in collaboration with legal, procurement, IT and Risk stakeholders, benefit providers and third-party administrators.
• Partner cross-functionally to ensure accurate, compliant, and timely execution of benefits program and policies.
• Support employee benefits related projects including due diligence, risk assessment, Labor negotiation, M&A and integration support
• Provide expert technical guidance and support for retiree benefit programs and rate case filings, regulatory submissions, testimony preparation and documentation.

• Bachelor's degree required; Strong working knowledge of ERISA, HIPAA and other benefits law preferred, Juris Doctor (JD) and/or CEBS certification preferred.
• Extensive (10+ years) progressive experience in benefits compliance, benefits administration, and/or policy governance, preferably within large, complex organizations or Law Firm benefits practice.
• This role does not serve as legal counsel but requires strong legal and regulatory expertise to operationalize compliance and regulatory requirements
• Demonstrated expertise in both U.S. and U.K. benefit regulations, particularly cross health, welfare, life, disability and leave domains, as well as industry trends and evolving regulatory standards.
• Proven ability to interpret legislation changes and translate them into compliance program design and operational processes, including state, federal, and local regulation,) and collaborate with internal and external legal counsel.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, especially with executive audiences.
• Experience with digital benefits platforms and employee self-service tools.