Pension Payroll Specialist - Timely, Compliant Payments

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The District of Columbia Retirement Board is seeking a Payroll Specialist to ensure accurate, timely retirement benefit payments for over 14,000 members across the DC Police Officers, Firefighters, and Teachers plans. You will support end-to-end pension payroll operations while maintaining high data integrity and collaborating with Benefits, IT, Internal Audit, and Finance.

Responsibilities include processing monthly payments, reconciling benefits, managing ACH/EFT, and assisting with tax

Qualifications

• Ability to interpret and apply plan rules, financial policies, and regulatory requirements.
• Strong understanding of fiduciary responsibility and safeguarding sensitive financial and personal information.
• Proficiency with ERP systems or pension administration platforms.
• Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables and lookup functions.
• Familiarity with ACH/EFT processing, banking file formats, and financial institution interfaces.
• Skilled in performing accuracy checks and identifying data inconsistencies.
• Strong analytical abilities with a proven capacity to troubleshoot payment discrepancies.
• Customer-service mindset, especially when supporting retirees experiencing payment issues.
• High degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage competing deadlines within a monthly payment cycle.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and work with sensitive personal and financial information.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, benefit calculations, and financial reconciliations.

Responsibilities

• Ensure timely and accurate processing of monthly retirement benefit payments, one-time adjustments, and other disbursements.
• Reconcile benefit calculations in compliance with plan provisions and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor payment exception reports and resolve discrepancies promptly; manage ACH/EFT processing per NACHA standards.
• Coordinate with third-party vendors, payroll systems, and financial institutions on payments and issues.
• Investigate anomalies and perform root-cause analysis to prevent recurrence.
• Support audits by providing payroll documents and explanations as needed.
• Maintain accurate member, payment, and financial data within retirement systems.
• Support annual payroll cycles, including 1099-R processing and tax reporting inquiries.
• Assist with fraud detection and escalation of unusual payment activity.
• Collaborate with IT and system admins on testing, upgrades, and data integrations.
• Engage in data clean-up and process improvement projects.
• Provide financial support for payments, tax withholding, garnishments, and retroactive adjustments.
• Coordinate with benefits, accounting, and IT to resolve complex benefit issues professionally.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Pivot tables

Lookup functions

ERP systems

Pension administration

Payroll processing

Data confidentiality

Analytical abilities

Customer-service mindset

Attention to detail

Deadline management

Payroll controls

Education

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or related field

Tools

ERP systems

Pension administration platforms

Job description

The District of Columbia Retirement Board is seeking a Payroll Specialist to ensure accurate, timely retirement benefit payments for over 14,000 members across the DC Police Officers, Firefighters, and Teachers plans. You will support end-to-end pension payroll operations while maintaining high data integrity and collaborating with Benefits, IT, Internal Audit, and Finance.

Responsibilities include processing monthly payments, reconciling benefits, managing ACH/EFT, and assisting with tax