Compensation and Benefits Specialist

About Cobalt Service Partners

Cobalt Service Partners is one of the fastest-growing commercial security technology platforms in the country. We partner with and acquire leading security integrators nationwide, and today more than 20 companies make up the Cobalt family, all coming together under one national brand. Every company that joins us brings its people with it, and those people need to be paid right, covered well, and able to get a straight answer when they have a question. None of this is a nice-to-have. When a new company joins the platform, its employees cannot have a gap in coverage or a missed paycheck. Getting comp and benefits right is how we earn the trust of every team that joins us, and how we keep it.

Position overview

Cobalt Service Partners is looking for a Compensation & Benefits Specialist to administer and improve the compensation and benefits programs across all of our partner companies. This is a hybrid role based in Nashville, Tennessee, with 2 days a week onsite.

This seat owns compensation and benefits for the platform from start to finish. You will be the go-to expert on how our people are paid and covered, and you will know our plans, our bands, and our compliance calendar well enough to see a problem coming before it reaches an employee or Finance. Every renewal closes on time, every new company is onboarded without a coverage gap, and every number you hand off has already been checked.

What you will do

• Keep compensation records across all partner companies accurate and current, and share them with Finance on a rolling basis
• Calculate and pay out bonus and commission plans using our established frameworks, and check every payout with Finance before it goes out
• Maintain Cobalt's job architecture and comp bands, and update them every year and whenever we acquire a new company
• Benchmark open and existing roles against market survey data, and analyze pay equity across the platform
• Support the annual merit cycle by building the tools, tracking submissions, and reporting results to Finance and Leadership
• Manage the annual benefits renewal and open enrollment across all partner companies, from planning through execution
• Move newly acquired companies onto Cobalt's benefits plan, including census, enrollment, and carrier transitions
• Serve as the main day-to-day contact for our broker and carriers, and resolve issues within SLA
• Administer the 401(k) program and coordinate true-ups
• Own platform-wide ACA and EEOC reporting, investor reporting, and comp and benefits recordkeeping
• Draft, send, and store offer letters and separation agreements, and run semi-monthly payroll through our PEO
• Publish our benefits policies and be the person employees and managers go to for answers
• Assist with Profits Interest Unit (PIU) administration as needed

What success looks like

In your first year, a strong year looks like:

• Annual benefits renewal completed on time with no coverage gaps
• Every newly acquired company enrolled on Cobalt's benefits plan within 60 days of close
• Compensation records 100 percent accurate, with Finance holding current records at all times
• Zero payout errors and zero missed or erroneous payroll runs
• Comp bands refreshed on schedule and an annual pay equity review shared with the Chief People Officer
• No adverse action on 401(k), ACA, or EEOC compliance

Who you will work with

You will not carry the platform alone. You will work closely with:

• The Chief People Officer, who you report to directly
• Finance, who relies on your records, payout calculations, and merit reporting
• Partner company HRBPs, who you support on payroll and benefits questions
• Payroll and HR Ops, who you coordinate with to keep every payroll accurate
• Our broker and carriers, who you manage day to day

What you will bring

• Comp and benefits expertise. You know benefits administration, comp plan mechanics, open enrollment, market benchmarking, and the compliance that comes with them (ACA, ERISA, COBRA, 401(k))
• You are numerically sharp. You build and QC comp calculations, bonus payout tables, and benefits cost models in Excel or Sheets, and you never hand off a number you have not checked
• Analytical and financially minded. You think through the cost of a decision, model the scenarios, and present the tradeoffs clearly
• You teach yourself. A new plan type, tax detail, or carrier change does not slow you down
• You build processes that last. You can run open enrollment, merit cycles, and acquisition onboarding across multiple companies and document SOPs that hold up when things change
• You are naturally organized and detail-oriented, and you get uncomfortable when something falls through the cracks
• You handle sensitive information carefully and look out for employees and the company together
• Experience with HRIS, payroll, and benefits platforms (e.g., Miter, ADP, Principal, Small Improvements) is a plus. Multi-entity, PEO, or M&A integration experience is a plus

Compensation and benefits

• Competitive base salary plus annual bonus
• Hybrid schedule with 2 days a week in our Nashville office
• 401(k) plus company match
• PTO and paid holidays
• Full health benefits: medical, dental, and vision available
• Voluntary professional development opportunities
• Company laptop

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