Benefits Strategy & Open Enrollment Lead

AppFolio, Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 115,000 - 143,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio is seeking a Benefits Manager to lead the strategy, administration, and continuous improvement of our health, welfare, retirement, and well-being programs. You will ensure compliance, design compelling employee communications, and manage broker and vendor relationships with a data-driven, cost-conscious approach.

This high-trust role reports to the Sr. Director, Total Rewards and calls for strong project management, excellent communication, and precise attention to detail across a

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in benefits management, including ownership of plan administration, compliance, and Open Enrollment.
• Experience in a high-growth public SaaS or tech environment strongly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of US benefits compliance: ERISA, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, Section 125, 5500 filings, non-discrimination testing.
• Demonstrated track record managing broker and vendor relationships at scale.
• Proven project management experience leading Open Enrollment or comparable annual benefits programs.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong analytical orientation; comfortable working with benefits data, utilization metrics, and cost analyses.

Responsibilities

• Be the subject matter expert. Serve as the primary technical authority on health, welfare, retirement, and well-being programs. Provide thoughtful guidance to leadership on plan design, market positioning, and program decisions. Resolve complex employee escalations with care and judgment.
• Own compliance end to end. Ensure all programs remain in strict compliance with federal and state regulations, including ERISA, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, Section 125, and state-specific requirements. Lead annual 5500 filings, non-discrimination testing, and audit-readiness. Partner with Legal where needed; carry the function as the primary owner.
• Lead Open Enrollment as a true project. Own end-to-end planning, execution, and communications for the annual Open Enrollment process - typically AppFolio's largest cross-functional People team initiative of the year. Bring real project management discipline: timelines, dependencies, stakeholder management, post-mortem learning.
• Drive benefits strategy. Monitor market trends, peer SaaS benchmarks, and employee feedback to keep AppFolio's benefits competitive and aligned with our culture. Bring forward recommendations grounded in data, employee experience, and cost discipline.
• Manage broker and vendor relationships. Hold partners accountable to high service standards, competitive renewals, and optimal plan performance. Lead vendor evaluations and RFPs as needed.
• Design employee-facing education and communication. Build communication strategies that empower employees to actually understand and use their benefits. Partner with the broader People team, HRBPs, and Marketing/Comms where relevant.
• Use data to make the function smarter. Analyze benefit utilization, cost trends, and program effectiveness. Translate findings into recommendations that improve employee experience and steward AppFolio's investment well.
• Support scaling and M&A. Lead benefits integration during acquisitions or significant scaling events, partnering closely with Total Rewards leadership, Legal, and Finance.
• Steward documentation and operational rigor. Maintain plan documents, SPDs, internal knowledge bases, and process documentation that allow the function to scale and audit cleanly.

Skills

Subject matter expert

Project management

Attention to detail

Vendor partnerships

Communication

Systems thinking

Tools

Workday

Job description

AppFolio is seeking a Benefits Manager to lead the strategy, administration, and continuous improvement of our health, welfare, retirement, and well-being programs. You will ensure compliance, design compelling employee communications, and manage broker and vendor relationships with a data-driven, cost-conscious approach.

This high-trust role reports to the Sr. Director, Total Rewards and calls for strong project management, excellent communication, and precise attention to detail across a