Senior Benefits Program Manager, Absence Management

About the team The Global Benefits team designs and operates Zillow’s health, welfare, time off, and family support programs across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Serbia, and Germany, delivering a consistent, employee‑centered benefits experience that reflects our values of wellbeing, belonging, and financial security. Within that team, the Leave of Absence (LOA) group manages U.S. and global leave and disability programs, balancing compassionate support for employees with strong compliance, vendor governance, and cost stewardship. We partner closely with HR Business Partners, People Legal, Payroll, the Employee Service Center, and People Tech to simplify complex leave rules, improve internal and vendor workflows, and use data to guide decisions and continuous improvement. About the role We’re looking for a highly experienced leave-of-absence (LOA) professional who will use their experience and data-driven insights to inform decision-making, continuously improve processes, and deliver a best-in-class employee experience. In this role, you will partner with key stakeholders across the business, including HR Business Partners, People Legal, Payroll, and others to lead the following programs: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Short Term Disability (STD), Long Term Disability (LTD), and Parental Leave (Bonding). You will get to Lead LOA vendor implementations, day-to-day vendor management, and optimization to ensure high-quality case management and support services. Partner with Tech to configure and maintain Workday leave modules and integrations with third-party vendors (file feeds, return files, status automation, pay triggers, accumulators). Develop and track key metrics on leave incidence, denial rates, average duration, claim types, and accommodation trends. Build and implement dashboards to provide up-to-date, self-service resources. Provide regular reports and insights to senior leadership, and make data-driven recommendations to identify patterns and pain points and propose improvements. Translate complex leave rules (state programs, company top‑ups, concurrency with FMLA/ADA) into system logic and testing scenarios. Responsible for self-insured disability pay - troubleshoot systemic issues that create pay errors or inaccurate leave status and implement long-term fixes. Support employee inquiries. Lead compliance and policy governance for global LOA programs. Through feedback from stakeholders, design and continuous prioritization of improvements to features, standard operating procedures, and process workflows to ensure compliance, scalability, and employee-friendliness. Work cross-functionally to develop and scale policies and handbook updates. Lead change management and communications for LOA-related change initiatives. Educate managers and employees on program resources and responsibilities. Stay current with evolving federal, state, country, and local leave regulations to ensure ongoing compliance. Support LOA specialists as back-up for managing and resolving escalated issues and day-to-day claims management. This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions. In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $83,200.00 - $132,800.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont the standard base pay range for this role is $79,000.00 - $126,200.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In addition to a competitive base sa ... (truncated, view full listing at source)