Senior Manager, Benefits

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!

Benefits Strategy & Program Ownership

• Own the strategy, design, and roadmap for Marqeta's US and global benefits programs, ensuring they remain competitive, cost-effective, and aligned to our Total Rewards philosophy.
• Evaluate program performance and market trends, and recommend plan design changes, new offerings, and cost-management strategies to leadership.
• Define and track program metrics (cost, utilization, participation, employee satisfaction) and use data to inform decisions and demonstrate impact.
• Partner with Finance on benefits budgeting, forecasting, and cost modeling.
• Serve as the senior subject-matter expert and trusted advisor to People leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Team & Stakeholder Leadership

• 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.

Vendor & Financial Management

• 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.

Benefits Operations & Administration

• Oversee the accuracy and integrity of all benefits records and transactions in Workday.
• Ensure benefits enrollments reconcile to payroll deductions, including spending accounts, and drive resolution of discrepancies.
• Lead operational projects such as enrollment audits, system and process implementations, and communication campaigns.
• Establish and maintain scalable processes, controls, and documentation for benefits operations.
• Lead benefits integration for mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures.
• Identify and escalate process, data, or employee-impact gaps, and drive them to resolution.

Employee Experience

• 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.

Annual Open Enrollment

• 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.

Compliance & Governance

• 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.

Who You Are

• 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.

Typical Process

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

Compensation and Benefits

Marqeta is a Flex First company which allows you to choose your best working environment, whether that be from home or at a company office. To support Flex First, we calibrate pay to a competitive value according to working location. Compensation is aligned according to three tiers within the United States:

• National : A baseline tier that applies to most of the geographic territory of the United States.
• Premium : Slightly elevated from the National tier, and oriented toward a narrower set of higher cost-of-living areas, such as Los Angeles CA and Seattle WA
• Premium Plus : A tier for the most expensive working areas, like the San Francisco Bay area and New York City.

Visit this page or consult with a Recruiter to determine which tier would be applicable to you.

When determining salaries, we consider several factors including, but not limited to, skills, prior experience, and work location. The new-hire base salary range for this position is:

• National: $151,300 - $189,100
• Premium: $163,800 - $204,700
• Premium Plus: $178,000 - $222,500

We also believe in recognizing the contributions of our people. That's why we award annual bonuses to eligible employees, rewarding both individual performance and the success of the entire company.

Along with monetary compensation, Marqeta offers

• Multiple health insurance options
• Flexible time off – take what you need
• Retirement savings program with company contribution and after tax contributions
• Equity in a publicly-traded company and an Employee Stock