Benefits Specialist, Europe & APAC

The Role

You run employee benefits, pensions, and retirement schemes across Europe and APAC, with India as the primary APAC market. This is a hands-on specialist role for someone who knows how benefits work in multiple countries, enjoys working with local teams and brokers to get them right, and uses AI to do the work better and faster. You keep the schemes running accurately day to day and help the offering evolve in each market.

AI is central to how this role works. We are looking for someone who is familiar with AI tools and agents and uses them to automate routine work, improve processes, and find efficiencies across the benefits operation, from employee queries and reconciliations to invoices, renewals, and benchmarking.

You report to the VP Reward & People Services. You run day-to-day benefits operations independently, and you work directly with local HR teams, brokers, and providers to shape benefit designs that fit each country's needs and market. You bring well-developed proposals to the VP, who signs off design changes and makes the strategic calls.

 

What You Will Do

Shape the benefits offering

The role is mainly operational, with a real design element. Working with local HR teams and brokers, you shape benefit designs that fit each country's employee needs, market practice, and budget.

• Work with local HR teams and brokers to understand employee needs, market practice, and gaps in each country, and turn that into design proposals
• Maintain a clear view, by country, of what we provide, at what level, and for whom
• Research and model options for new or improved benefits, weighing employee value, cost, tax treatment, and compliance
• Develop costed design proposals with brokers and local teams, and bring a clear recommendation to the VP for sign-off
• Use AI tools and agents to research market practice, model scenarios, and pressure-test options faster than manual analysis allows

Manage the benefits, pensions, and retirement schemes we have

• Administer all employee benefits, pensions, and retirement schemes across Europe and APAC (India the primary APAC market) end to end: enrolments, changes, leavers, eligibility, and day-to-day operation in each country
• Be the first point of contact for employee benefits and pension questions, using AI to triage and draft responses so you resolve them clearly and within the expected timeframe
• Keep accurate benefits and pension records and documentation

Vendors, contracts, and invoices

• Build strong working relationships with brokers, insurers, pension providers, and benefits vendors, and work with them to hold service standards and value, escalating where needed
• Manage benefits and pension contracts end to end: keep a clear record of terms, renewal dates, and notice periods, and work with Procurement and Legal on new contracts, renewals, and changes so nothing lapses or rolls over without review
• Manage benefits invoices end to end: check each invoice against the contract, headcount, and purchase order, resolve queries with the vendor, and work with Accounts Payable so invoices are paid accurately and on time
• Work with Procurement to raise and maintain purchase orders where needed, and track spend against budget
• Use AI and automation to check invoices, flag discrepancies, and track contract dates, so manual effort goes only to genuine exceptions

Reviews, benchmarking, and feasibility

• Run the annual benefits and pension renewal cycle in each country with brokers and local HR teams, prepare the renewal position, and work with brokers on negotiations, with the VP signing off final terms
• Benchmark our provision by country with brokers and local teams, using AI to gather and structure market data, and use the findings to shape proposals
• Run feasibility studies on new or changed benefits with local teams and brokers (cost, take-up, tax treatment, compliance), and land a clear recommendation for sign-off
• Track participation, cost per head, and other benefit and pension KPIs through the year, and share what they tell us with local teams
• Keep on top of local regulatory, statutory, and pension changes with local teams and advisers, and propose how we respond

Works councils and consultation

• Work with HR, Legal, and local teams on works council (WoCo) and employee-representative consultation on benefits, pension, and retirement matters
• Prepare clear, accurate materials for consultation, and help make sure changes are handled in line with local obligations

Communications to staff

• Work with local HR teams to design clear, country-appropriate benefits and pension communications so employees understand and value what they have, through the year and not just at onboarding
• Use AI to draft and tailor communications by country and audience, then check them with local teams for accuracy
• Prepare materials and guidance for enrolment and renewal moments
• Keep benefits and pension content accurate and current on the channels employees use to self-serve

Connections to Payroll

• Work with the Payroll Manager and local payroll teams to run the benefits-to-payroll connection in each country, so benefit and pension deductions, employer contributions, and benefit-in-kind (BIK) treatment are reflected in payroll correctly and on time
• Reconcile what is deducted and paid against what each provider expects, using AI to automate the matching and surface only genuine exceptions, and resolve discrepancies with Payroll before they reach employees
• Partner closely with Payroll so benefits, pensions, and payroll move together, especially through system changes

Connections to Workday and employee portals

• Maintain benefits and pension data in Workday (HRIS): eligibility, enrolment, and the data that drives downstream processes
• Work with HRIS, Payroll, and providers so benefits and pension data flows reliably between Workday, payroll, and provider and portal systems, using automation to reduce manual hand-offs and fixing them where they break
• Keep benefits and pension information correct in the employee intranet and other employee portals so self-service answers are trustworthy
• Partner the HRIS Lead on benefits and pension configuration and on carrying them cleanly through any system changes

Automate and improve with AI

• Treat AI as core to how this role works. Across analysis, benchmarking, reconciliation, invoices, communications, and query handling, default to AI-assisted and automated approaches over manual effort, with a clear human-in-the-loop boundary on judgement and sensitive cases
• Build and use AI agents and automations for repeatable work, such as query triage, invoice and reconciliation checks, data validation, and renewal preparation
• Look for friction and inefficiency in benefits and pension processes, and work with the relevant teams to remove it using AI and automation
• Document the AI workflows you build so they are reliable, auditable, and easy for others to use
• Keep up with new AI tools and bring forward ideas for where they could save time or improve quality