Total Rewards & HR Operations Specialist

At Capital Investment Advisors (CIA), we strive to help clients reach their goals by focusing on our specialty: Income Investing. We are a fee-only financial advisory and portfolio management firm headquartered in Atlanta with offices throughout the U.S. Our advisors in Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona provide clients with a full range of financial advice. Since 1996, CIA has been providing financial strategy and management tailored to the client’s individual circumstances and objectives.  

Our tight-knit team has a mix of financial advisors, investment professionals, customer service managers and associates, operations specialists, sales and marketing personnel, working together to help create the best possible experience for our clients. Our Leadership Team is dedicated to employee growth both professionally and personally, and to making every CIA experience memorable.

Total Rewards & HR Operations Specialist

We are looking for a detail-oriented, technically skilled Total Rewards & HR Operations Specialist to own the tactical execution of payroll, benefits, and compensation administration while also driving strategic initiatives that strengthen our total rewards programs. This role will work closely with HR leadership to ensure flawless execution of core HR operations while building the infrastructure needed to support our continued growth.

The ideal candidate thrives on both precision and problem-solving - you'll need to process payroll flawlessly and think strategically about how to optimize our compensation and benefits programs for the future. This is the right role for someone who values operational excellence while also wanting to make a meaningful strategic impact.

Core Responsibilities:

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing for 100+ employees across 3 client IDs and multiple states
• Serve as the subject matter expert for Team Member inquiries related to health benefit plans and 401(k)
• Support leave of absence administration including STD, LTD, and FMLA coordination
• Calculate and submit quarterly 401(k) Safe Harbor matches
• Serve as primary liaison with payroll vendor, benefits brokers, and carriers to resolve issues
• Lead annual open enrollment planning and execution
• Ensure compliance with federal and state regulations including ACA reporting, Form 5500 filing, and multi-state payroll tax requirements
• Maintain HRIS data integrity and generate reports to support decision-making across the organization
• Handle complex payroll and benefits issues such as tax code corrections, W-2 discrepancies, retirement plan reporting, and carrier billing reconciliation
• Continuously evaluate and optimize payroll, benefits, and HR operations to improve accuracy, efficiency, and scalability
• Conduct regular market compensation benchmarking and provide data-driven recommendations to ensure competitive positioning
• Partner with HR leadership during review cycles to analyze pay equity and guide compensation decisions
• Support special projects related to workforce planning, pay equity analysis, and HR process improvement

Skills & Qualifications:

• 5+ years in a progressive HR environment with at least 3 years of hands-on experience processing payroll and administering benefits
• Bachelor's degree required
• Deep technical knowledge of payroll systems, benefits administration platforms, and HRIS technology (experience in Paycor a plus)
• Strong understanding of federal and multi-state compliance requirements (FLSA, ACA, ERISA, payroll tax regulations)
• Proven ability to manage complex, detail-intensive processes with a high degree of accuracy and minimal supervision
• Analytical mindset with experience using data to identify trends, solve problems, and make recommendations
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to manage competing priorities during peak periods (open enrollment, year-end, merit cycles)
• Communicates confidently and effectively with Team Members at all levels of the organization
• Comfortable leveraging AI tools and emerging technologies to improve efficiency, automate workflows, and enhance data analysis within HR operations.
• Proficiency in Excel and experience building reports, dashboards, or financial models
• Comfort with ambiguity and re-prioritizing tasks daily
• Can work with little oversight but knows when to escalate
• Maintains discretion in working with sensitive and confidential information
• Committed to a culture of compliance
• Exhibits the Capital Investment Advisors five Core Values in everything they do

Capital Investment Advisors would like to thank all applicants, however only those who qualify for an interview will be contacted. Capital Investment Advisors is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law.