Head of Benefits (Seattle)
Description Providence is a not-for-profit Catholic health system that spans 51 acute care hospitals, with over $30 billion in revenue, 5 million unique patients, 120,000 caregivers, and $2.1 billion in community benefit. As one of the largest health systems in the country, Providence has significant scale and resources enabling it to provide a comprehensive range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Providence is well known for clinical quality with multiple clinical institutes, dedicated research labs, and 3,000 clinical trials underway. Providence is distinguished for its leadership in innovation and the modernization of healthcare while also deconstructing and diversifying its assets to provide a strong foundation for decades to come. The Opportunity The Head of Benefits serves as the enterprise leader responsible for the design, strategy, governance, financial stewardship, administration, and delivery of Providence’s comprehensive benefits, wellbeing, retirement, caregiver health, and absence management programs. Reporting to the Head of Total Rewards, this role leads a team of senior benefits leaders accountable for supporting Providence caregivers across ministries, markets, and shared services. The Head of Benefits partners closely with Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Legal, Labor Relations, Compliance, and executive leadership to ensure programs advance caregiver wellbeing, support attraction and retention, strengthen the caregiver experience, and deliver long-term financial sustainability. This leader provides strategic direction over one of Providence’s largest investments in caregivers and serves as a key advisor to senior leadership on benefits strategy, healthcare cost management, retirement readiness, wellbeing, leave administration, caregiver health, vendor performance, and program governance. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS Enterprise Benefits & Wellbeing Strategy Develop and execute a multi-year enterprise benefits and wellbeing strategy aligned with Providence’s workforce, mission, financial, and business objectives. Integrate benefits, retirement, caregiver health, wellbeing, and absence management into a cohesive Total Rewards experience. Anticipate workforce, healthcare, regulatory, labor, and market trends to ensure Providence maintains competitive and sustainable programs. Translate enterprise priorities into clear goals, roadmaps, metrics, and decision frameworks for the benefits organization. Financial Stewardship & Program Sustainability Provide executive oversight for financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and performance management across health and welfare, wellbeing, retirement, and absence programs. Partner with Finance and actuarial/consulting partners to manage healthcare cost trends, evaluate plan performance, and support long-term affordability. Use analytics, utilization trends, benchmarking, and caregiver insights to guide program decisions and measure value. Balance competitive program design with disciplined stewardship of Providence resources. Program Design, Governance & Compliance Oversee strategy, design, governance, administration, and compliance for health and welfare benefits, retirement plans, wellbeing offerings, caregiver health programs, leave and disability programs, and voluntary benefits. Maintain strong governance routines, escalation processes, fiduciary oversight, and risk management practices. Partner with Legal, Compliance, Labor Relations, Internal Audit, and external advisors on regulatory requirements and collective bargaining considerations. Prepare and present recommendations, updates, and decision materials for executive leadership and governing committees as needed. Operational Excellence & Caregiver Experience Drive a consumer-grade caregiver experience that makes benefits easier to understand, access, and use. Improve operational workflows, technology enablement, communications, vendor integration, and service delivery across benefits functions. Establish service levels, performance dashboards, and continuous improvement mechanisms that increase accountability and reduce administrative complexity. Ensure effective annual enrollment, program launches, escalations, issue resolution, and ongoing caregiver support. Vendor, Consultant & Partner Management Lead enterprise vendor and consultant relationships, including performance management, contract strategy, service levels, issue resolution, and value realization. Ensure vendors deliver high-quality service, accurate administration, strong data security, regulatory compliance, and measurable outcomes. Partner with Supply Chain, Legal, Finance, HR Operations, and Technology teams to support vendor selection, renewal, implementation, and governance. People Leadership & Team Effectiveness Lead, develop, and engage a high-performing Benefits leadership team across Benefits, Caregiver Health, Benefits Strategy & Wellbeing, Retirement, and Absence Management. Build a culture of accountability, partnership, inclusion, innovation, operational discipline, and mission-centered leadership. Coach direct reports, strengthen succession plans, and develop leadership capability across the broader benefits organization. Model executive presence, collaboration, transparency, and sound judgment in complex and sensitive matters. QUALIFICATIONS Education & Credentials Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Healthcare Administration, Finance, Public Health, or a related field Master’s degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Public Health, or related discipline (preferred) CEBS, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CFP, or other relevant professional certification (preferred) Experience & Expertise 15 years of progressive leadership experience in employee benefits, total rewards, healthcare strategy, retirement, wellbeing, caregiver health, absence management, or related disciplines 10 years of people leadership experience, including leadership of managers, senior professionals, and enterprise-wide programs Demonstrated experience managing complex benefit programs, significant operating budgets, large vendor portfolios, and executive-level governance processes Strong knowledge of health and welfare plans, self-funded plan dynamics, retirement programs, leave administration, disability programs, compliance requirements, and benefits operations Experience influencing senior executives and cross-functional partners in a complex, matrixed organization Experience in a large healthcare system, multi-state employer, unionized environment, or other complex mission-driven organization (preferred) Experience leading healthcare cost management, wellbeing strategy, retirement readiness, caregiver health, absence management transformation, or benefits technology initiatives (preferred) Strategic Enterprise Leadership: Sets direction across complex programs and translates strategy into clear execution priorities. Financial and Business Acumen: Understands cost drivers, risk, forecasting, and tradeoffs; makes balanced decisions that protect long-term sustainability. Mission-Centered Judgment: Connects Total Rewards decisions to Providence’s mission, values, caregiver experience, and community impact. Executive Influence: Communicates clearly with senior leaders, builds trust, and supports disciplined decision making. Operational Excellence: Simplifies processes, clarifies accountability, and raises standards for service delivery and program performance . Talent Development: Builds durable leadership capability, strengthens succession, and creates an inclusive, high-trust team environment. At Providence we believe in the importance of human connection and the impact of in-person collaboration towards team cohesion and caregiver engagement. Further, we want our leaders to live in or near the communities we serve. About Providence At Providence, our strength lies in Our Promise of “Know me, care for me, ease my way.” Working at our family of organizations means that regardless of your role, we’ll walk alongside you in your career, supporting you so you can support others. We provide best-in-class benefits and we foster an inclusive workplace where diversity is valued, and everyone is essential, heard and respected. Together, our 120,000 caregivers (all employees) serve in over 50 hospitals, over 1,000 clinics and a full range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. As a comprehensive health care organization, we are serving more people, advancing best practices and continuing our more than 100-year tradition of serving the poor and vulnerable. Posted are the minimum and the maximum wage rates on the wage range for this position. The successful candidate's placement on the wage range for this position will be determined based upon relevant job experience and other applicable factors. These amounts are the base pay range; additional compensation may be available for this role, such as shift differentials, standby/on-call, overtime, premiums, extra shift incentives, or bonus opportunities. Providence offers a comprehensive benefits package including a retirement 401(k) Savings Plan with employer matching, health care benefits (medical, dental, vision), life insurance, disability insu
