Retirement Plan Consultant

Location Note: Hybrid or Remote

The Purpose of Your Role:

Do you want to work for a fun, growing organization where people truly make a difference? 

The Plan Consultant position offers a retirement plan professional an opportunity to service a book of clients supporting their retirement plan administration and recordkeeping. This position is customer service and compliance focused! You’ll be the day-to-day contact for your dedicated clients and responsible for the administration of retirement plans; communicating with clients; overseeing recordkeeping tasks, preparing valuation reports and conducting compliance testing.

What you'll bring to Sentinel:

• A passion for the retirement plan industry, consulting and connecting with clients.
• An ability to develop and maintain relationships with colleagues, clients, and external partners.
• Familiarity with a variety of retirement plan types and designs specifically 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, non-qualified and defined benefit.
• Experience performing retirement plan compliance testing and presenting the results to key stakeholders. Experience to include coverage test under IRC § 410(b) and general nondiscrimination test under IRC § 401(a)(4); ADP and ACP tests under IRC §§ 401(k) and (m); compensation ratio test under IRC §414(s); top heavy determination under IRC §416.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Developing and maintaining strong customer relationships across many different industries with varying levels of financial experience.
• Answering a wide variety of client questions related to retirement plan administration, recordkeeping and participant inquiries on a daily basis. (i.e. payroll contributions, distributions, investments, audits and plan reporting)
• Performing yearly compliance testing and annual valuations for qualified retirement plans to ensure that IRS guidelines are met.
• Calculate projected and actual plan contributions - employer matching contributions, including safe-harbor match; profit sharing contributions utilizing pro rata, integrated and new comparability allocation methods; self-employed contributions.
• Collaborating both internally and externally to facilitate the responsible handling of plan assets.
• Reviewing and interpreting retirement plan documents, amendments, notices and summary plan descriptions.
• Interact with other Sentinel departments and external business partners to ensure timely and accurate completion of annual nondiscrimination testing and reporting requirements and assist in the effective management of client relationships

About you: 

We are looking for a customer-focused consultant who can take the complex world of retirement plan administration and communicate it clearly and effectively to customers. You are detail-oriented with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment managing multiple priorities and meeting deadlines. The benefits industry is forever changing and we want someone who is flexible and willing to embrace that change.

What you need to have:

• At least 3 years of experience working in defined contribution plan administration with Third Party Administrator focus.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel including the use of formulas and overall ability to learn and use different software packages.
• Experience with Relius Administration software preferred
• ASPPA Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) or higher credential preferred

What you’ll be part of:

Our people care about our organization. We are a company with a mission to be the best in our industry and best within our company. Being part of this company means that you are part of something special.           

Sentinel was recently recognized by The Boston Globe as a Top Place to Work in 2020. In 2021, 2022, and 2023 Sentinel earned a Top Workplace USA Awards from Energage.

At Sentinel, we hire people with all kinds of awesome experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We like it that way. So even if you don’t meet every single requirement, please consider applying if you like what you see. Our priority is to find the brightest talent that can add to our team culture, those who actively contribute and who are excited about what they do.

Sentinel is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team. If you need reasonable adjustments at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.

Some of our Benefits:

• PTO (vacation, sick, personal time bank) - Unlimited FTO after 2 years of service
• 12 Paid Holidays (10 stated and 2 floating holidays)
• 2 Community Volunteer Days
• 5 Summer Half Days
• Medical, Dental, Vision
• Life Insurance
• LTD & STD
• Retirement Plan with 3.75% Employer Match
• Parental Leave

See What We Stand For: https://www.sentinelgroup.com/About-Us/Join-Our-Team

Sentinel Group proudly serves nearly than 5,000 clients throughout the U.S. For 35+ years, we’ve remained devoted to making a difference in the lives of our people, our clients and our community. With a 9-year average associate tenure among our 265 professionals, our team’s commitment to excellent service has positioned Sentinel as the only provider who makes benefits EASY: easy for your people; easy for your business; and easy for you.

Our ultimate goal is to help companies and their employees prepare for their future health, wealth and retirement needs. Whether it’s through retirement plans, group health insurance, reimbursement accounts or financial planning, we engineer simple solutions and continuously strive to make them better. Our in-house experts—and their commitment to excellence—define who we are.

 Sentinel is also one of the largest employee benefits firms in Massachusetts (Boston Business Journal) and was named a 2022 Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year in the Mentorship category (PLANADVISER Magazine).