Retirement Analyst / Senior Retirement Analyst, Grade N23/Grade N26

About the Position

Please note: The salary range below represents this position’s earning potential. The anticipated hiring range(s) for this position will be based on the candidate’s qualifications and experience.

If Filled at the Retirement Analyst - Grade N23: $76,742 - $106,772
If Filled at the Senior Retirement Analyst - Grade N26: $87,235 - 134,054

WHO WE ARE
The mission of the Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans organization is to manage prudent investment programs for the members of the Employee Retirement Plans and their beneficiaries. Our three divisions – Investment, Financial, and Member Services – work together and within a fast-paced and deadline driven environment to provide a wide variety of services and work products. Our teams perform advanced-level analytical and advisory functions for multiple defined contribution/benefit retirement plans totaling approximately $6B, and provide in-depth customer service and counsel to over 16,000 plan members consisting of current employees, retirees, and other beneficiaries.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
The Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans (MCERP) is looking for an experienced Senior Retirement Analyst who is keenly interested in working in a high-volume and fast-paced work environment aimed to serve our local government and workforce. The ideal candidate will be able to work independently to successfully perform analytical and advisory functions concerning the County's defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans, and provide advanced-level retirement counsel and service to all customers and stakeholders.

Highly successful employees within MCERP:

• have strong time management, problem solving, and organizational skills.
• can work independently and reliably within a detail oriented and deadline driven environment.
• apply their considerable knowledge of and experience working with public pension and defined contribution retirement plans.
• communicate professionally and excel at explaining complex, technical, or financial information to various audiences and customers (via telephone, presentations, reports, email, etc.).
• effectively manage a wide portfolio of responsibilities, projects, and competing priorities.

What You'll Be Doing

This position is responsible for the day to day administration of the County’s various retirement plans, as described below. You will provide accurate and timely responses to incoming requests from retirees, current employees, stakeholders, and other beneficiary recipients as MCERP receives minimally 150 requests per week via telephone, email, and walk-in clients. You will also share your enthusiasm for retirement planning by leading seminars, presentations, and events for County employees.

Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and Long-Term Disability (LTD)

• Read and interpret retirement plan documents with a basic understanding of related rules and regulations.
• Prepare and review the processing of monthly pension and disability payments.
• Review Qualified Domestic Relation Orders (QDROs) according to County guidelines.
• Maintain and update member information in database. Work with the ERP Implementation Team to ensure payment data integrity and systems security of retiree pension payments in the PeopleSoft module.
• Develop business processes.

Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) and Guaranteed Retirement Income Plan (GRIP)

• Review participation by County employees in these plans to determine eligibility and processing of refunds.
• Read and interpret retirement plan documents with a basic understanding of related rules and regulations.
• Review of distribution forms.

All Retirement Plans

• Analyze and research complex financial issues and prepare written/oral reports addressing issues related to payments and benefits from the County's retirement plans.
• Provide guidance and assistance to County retirees on matters pertaining to pension payment activities.
• Assist with planning and conducting educational seminars, communication, and events for employees.
• Recommend new approaches and draft procedures to enhance the efficiency of the processing of retirement plan activities.

This position may be underfilled as a Retirement Analyst, Grade N23. Once the employee is at full performance and meets the minimum requirements of the Proficiency Advancement process, they are eligible for a non-competitive promotion to the Senior Retirement Analyst level, Grade N26.

Minimum Qualifications

PLEASE NOTE: To be considered for this position, you MUST document on your resume the day-to-day administration of public pension plans, which includes the determination of eligibility, calculation of benefits, and coordination with service providers. Applicants who do not list this experience will not be considered.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in business administration, public administration, accounting, economics, finance or another field that provided a strong foundation in the area(s) of assignment.

Experience: If filled at the Retirement Analyst, Grade N23 Level: Three (3) years of professional experience in the day-to-day administration of public pension plans, which included determination of eligibility, calculation of benefits, coordination with service providers and application of a large number of eligibility and benefit variables across multiple plans, altogether vis-à-vis defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans.

Experience: If filled at the Senior Retirement Analyst, Grade N26 Level: Considerable (5 years) professional experience in the day-to-day administration of public pension plans, which included determination of eligibility, calculation of benefits, counsel of employees and retirees, coordination with service providers and application of a large number of eligibility and benefit variables across multiple plans, altogether vis-à-vis defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans.

Equivalency: An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted.

Preferred Criteria, Interview Preferences

• Experience with managing programs and projects.
• Experience with researching and identifying relevant sources of information and synthesizing and analyzing
  data of various complexity and importance.
• Experience with retirement benefits, including defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans.
• Experience with computer applications/software such as Oracle, PeopleSoft, and the Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, Word, and Access, to maintain databases and perform complex financial analysis.
• Experience with HRIS/pension systems & its functionalities in managing, reporting, improving retirement processes & services.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Office of Human Resources (OHR) reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position.

Montgomery County Government(MCG) is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should email OHR at Hiring@montgomerycountymd.gov. Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

MCG also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria or interview preference status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on the Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for an interview.

This will establish an Eligible List that may be used to fill both current and future vacancies.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.