Manager, Retirement Plan

Foley & Lardner LLP; Milwaukee (WI); Hybrid; USD 117,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Foley & Lardner LLP in Milwaukee seeks a Manager, Retirement Plan to lead strategy, administration, and governance of the firm's retirement programs. You will work with Talent, Payroll, Accounting, Finance, Legal, and external partners to ensure compliant operations and a positive participant experience.

Responsibilities include overseeing data integrity across HRIS, managing audits and regulatory reporting, coordinating annual plan cycles, and delivering improved reporting and participant

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of progressive experience administering retirement plans required.
• Proven experience coordinating annual retirement plan cycles, including audits, nondiscrimination testing, regulatory reporting, plan reviews, participant communications and vendor deliverables.
• Experience with health and welfare benefit administration and employee support.

Responsibilities

• Retirement Plan Administration: manage defined contribution, cash balance and non-qualified plans; ensure ERISA compliance.
• HRIS, Data Integrity & Process Improvement: validate data integrations and annual enrollment activities; maintain procedures.
• Benefits Administration Support: assist with health and welfare plans and partner with vendors to resolve issues.

Skills

Retirement plan administration

Regulatory compliance

Vendor management

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

HRIS systems

Payroll systems

Regulatory reporting tools

Job description

Overview

Foley & Lardner LLP is a great place to work because of what we do and how we do it. Here, your unique perspectives, experiences, and abilities will be embraced and developed, so you can excel. Being a part of Foley means having the opportunities and resources necessary to gain experience, advance professional goals, and forge meaningful connections. It's a place where you can build your career and enjoy professionally satisfying work. We have over 2,300 people who are #HappyatFoley, and we think you will be too.

The Manager, Retirement Plan leads the strategy, administration, and governance of the firm's retirement programs, ensuring compliance, operational excellence, and a positive participant experience. Acting as the primary retirement plan expert, this role collaborates across Talent, Payroll, Accounting, Finance, Legal, and external partners to manage plan operations, vendor performance, regulatory requirements, and process improvements. The position provides oversight of retirement plan data, reporting, audits, and participant services while supporting broader benefits initiatives and organizational objectives.

Locations: Milwaukee, Chicago, Dallas. Contract type: Regular Full-Time. Scheduled Hours: 40+. Workplace: Hybrid.

Responsibilities

Retirement Plan Administration

• Serve as the firm's subject matter expert on retirement plans including defined contribution plan, cash balance plan, non-qualified plans
• Partner with actuaries, auditors, legal counsel, and third‑party administrators to ensure compliance with ERISA and IRS regulations.
• Assist employees and partners with retirement plan inquiries, education, distributions, retirement transitions, and benefit elections.
• Oversee eligibility, enrollments, contributions, distributions, loans, beneficiary administration, and participant transactions.
• Coordinate funding activities, budgets, compliance testing, audits, Form 5500 filings, and other regulatory reporting.
• Support retirement committee activities, governance processes, plan reviews, and participant communications.
• Develop reporting, metrics, and analyses to support decision‑making and program effectiveness.
• Serve as primary contact for retirement vendors, monitoring service delivery and resolving operational issues.
• Ensure accurate retirement plan data is maintained across HRIS, payroll, and external record‑keeping systems.

HRIS, Data Integrity & Process Improvement

• Validate data integrations, payroll deductions, contribution files, and system interfaces
• Support system updates, testing, annual enrollment activities, and vendor implementations.
• Create and maintain process documentation, workflows, and operating procedures.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve efficiency, automation, reporting, and participant experience.

Benefits Administration Support & Coordination

• Support health and welfare benefit administration, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and voluntary plans.
• Assist with enrollments, life‑event changes, eligibility processing, and employee inquiries.
• Partner with benefits team members and vendors to resolve escalated issues.
• Serve as a backup resource for benefits administration activities and projects.
• Maintain working knowledge of applicable benefits regulations, including ACA, COBRA, and HIPAA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of progressive experience administering retirement plans required.
• Proven experience coordinating annual retirement plan cycles, including compliance activities including audits, nondiscrimination testing, regulatory reporting, plan reviews, participant communications and vendor deliverables.
• Experience with health and welfare benefit administration and employee support.

In support of transparency and equity in the workplace, Foley provides salary ranges for all positions. The figures below represent the full compensation range of this position. The actual offered amount will be between the range minimum and midpoint based on the following factors: education, experience, geographic market, and internal pay equity at Foley. #LI-Hybrid

Milwaukee - $116,900 - $175,400

Chicago, Dallas - $128,600 to $192,900

Foley & Lardner LLP is a top ranked law firm with offices throughout the United States and abroad. At Foley we strive to remain true to our core values- our clients, integrity, our people, citizenship, diversity, trust & respect, stewardship & accountability and professional satisfaction. As a result, we offer the highest quality legal counsel to our clients, as well as outstanding professional opportunities for our employees.

Foley employees enjoy a comfortable, yet professional work environment, exceptional benefit package, state‑of‑the‑art technology, work/life balance, great working relationships and much more.

We invite you to consider a career with Foley.