NorthStar Anesthesia is in search of an experienced Benefits Director who will be responsible for setting the strategy for the company’s health and retirement benefit plans along with various related programs including leave of absence and employee safety and well-being. This person will ensure efficient benefit program implementation and administration through evaluation, collaboration and influence, while ensuring effective and accurate day-to-day administration of NorthStar’s employee benefits program. 

In addition to the key responsibilities of this position, within the next 9-18 months, the director of benefits will lead the successful implementation of the following initiatives:

• Transition of employee health benefits administration (currently administered internally via Workday) to a third-party expert benefits administration vendor in October 2025.

•  Transition from fully insured to self-insured model, including new compliance requirements, developing plan design/covered expenses and health management and well-being strategy changes with the assistance of external consultants.

***This position will be a hybrid role, working 2 days per week in our Irving, TX corporate office.***

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, present and execute strategic recommendations for health and retirement plans and well-being initiatives aligned with the company’s values, objectives and competitiveness.
• Expertly manage relationships with the third-party outsourced benefits administrator, benefits vendors and brokers, ensuring the service-oriented delivery of benefits effectively and efficiently.   
• Oversee all components of leave of absence and workers compensation programs to ensure a smooth partnership with vendors and ensure program administrative and regulatory compliance.
• Responsible for every aspect of a successful Annual Benefits Enrollment.
• Oversee and monitor the performance of the third-party outsourced benefits administrator, including ensuring premier customer service, accuracy of plan administration, premiums and billing and payroll deductions.  Ensure service-related issues are treated with high priority and drive quick resolution.
• Foster learning and collaboration to develop a team of benefits professionals. Provide support, guidance and develop accountability mechanisms. 
• Develop and implement an employee communication strategy, including education opportunities and events, to drive employee understanding of benefit offerings on a regular cadence throughout the year.  Ensure communication materials for new and existing employees are accurate, accessible and engaging.   
• Ensure timeliness and compliance with all health, retirement, leave of absence and workers compensation reporting, filings, and notices with applicable local, state, and federal laws and stay abreast of landscape changes.
• As the benefits subject matter expert, collaborate with legal, HRIS team, finance, HR, business development and external vendors to optimize all benefit programs and ensure compliant and efficient administration. 
• Support organizational growth through evaluation of benefits plan design offerings and of new business opportunities.
• Act as an escalation point for any complex issues related to benefits, leave of absence and workers compensation related to any aspect of administration, seeing issues through to resolution and ensuring future issue mitigation.
• Review benefits data to identify trends, assess program effectiveness, monitor costs, and make data-driven recommendations for improvements. Collaborate with brokers and finance partners on overall cost management.
• Develop and present benefits utilization, enrollment and demographic dashboards and reports on an ongoing basis.
• Lead the development and implementation of metrics and KPIs to evaluate the success and impact of all benefits initiatives.

Requirements

• 7-10+ years of experience designing, implementing and managing employee benefit programs, aligned with business objectives.  Experience should include health and retirement, leave of absence, deferred compensation and workers’ compensation plan and program management.
• Proven experience managing a third-party benefits administrator, monitoring performance and ensuring top-tier achievement of performance and service levels.
• Proven experience leading and developing a team and driving results in a team-oriented environment.
• Must be comfortable developing structure in an unstructured environment, leading in ambiguity and during change.  Demonstrated comfort with flexibility and adaptability.
• Demonstrated experience effectively communicating with and influencing at all levels of leadership including, legal counsel, vendors, auditors and brokers/consultants and employees.
• Have proven knowledge of accounting and actuarial principles associated with managing and designing benefit programs with an understanding of financial impacts.
• Experience developing utilization and demographic dashboards and reports on an ongoing basis.
• Highly effective verbal and written communications skills in presentation and persuading others; able to distill complex concepts/information in a digestible manner
• The ability to juggle multiple priorities and report progress in a fast-paced environment with very limited guidance.
• Strong command and experience with complying with state and federal benefit regulations (e.g. ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, FMLA, PFL, etc.) and state leave of absence and workers compensation requirements.
• Prior experience managing both self-insured and fully insured plans Deep subject matter expertise in Benefits administration.

The Company

Company Philosophy

NorthStar provides quality anesthesia care while improving efficiency and accountability. It’s a proven performance-driven approach that’s better for everyone – patients, hospital administrators, surgeons, and anesthesia providers.

Company Mission

To provide the best clinical care and to help hospitals and surgery centers succeed.

NorthStar Anesthesia Overview

NorthStar Anesthesia was founded in 2004 by an anesthesiologist and CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) that saw firsthand the frustrations and daily challenges caused by the traditional anesthesia care model.  

What if they could fix the broken anesthesia care model? What if anesthesia contractors stopped being absentee managers? What if patients, surgeons, providers and hospital administrators were treated more like customers and less like cogs in the system? The answer was NorthStar.  NorthStar Anesthesia is an anesthesia management company that provides anesthesia services to large and small hospitals, surgery centers, hospital administrators, surgeons, anesthesia providers and patients.

Today, NorthStar has over 180 facility contracts across 21 states and employs more than 2,500 providers nationwide.

NorthStar is backed by world-class financial partners.  It is a portfolio company of TPG, a global private investment firm with more than $70 billion in assets under management.  NorthStar has also recently announced a partnership with Cranemere, a holding company that partners with outstanding businesses for the long term. 

Benefits Include Medical, Dental, Life, Long Term/Short Term, Malpractice, 401k and more.

EEO/AA/M/F/Veteran/Disability Employer