Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Benefits Specialist Career Market Report 2026

1,257 active jobs. 407 companies. Median salary $76K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

1,257
Active Job Openings
407
Companies Hiring
$76K
Median Salary (US)
67%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Benefits Specialist market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 67% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $76K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $55K to $148K.

Remote roles pay 43% above the US national median

Remote-first employers competing nationally for talent. The premium reflects company quality (remote-first firms tend to be well-funded), not a work-mode bonus.

Benefits Administration is the most-demanded skill at 18%

Vendor Management demand rose +5.2pp — fastest-growing skill

aoglobelife leads hiring with 61 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Manager → Director (+$46K, +38%)

Salary increase: +$46K · Sample: Manager → Director

AI automation risk: medium-high (score 70/100)

Score: 70/100 · AI/LLM demand: 16% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Manager23$107K$120K$148K
Junior22$50K$65K$120K
Mid-Level17$62K$71K$100K
Senior16$85K$104K$143K
Director11$145K$166K$184K
Lead5$95K$117K$180K

What jumps out

Manager → Director: +$46K (38%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States103$70KUSD
Remote10$100KUSD
United Kingdom4$26KGBP
Canada3$85KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site1.7%
Remote6.8%
Hybrid1.8%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

Benefits Administration
18%
AI/LLM
16%
HRIS
14%
Project Management
11%
Labor Law
9%
Vendor Management
5%
Data Analysis
5%
Advocacy
5%
Talent Acquisition
4%

Skills on the Rise

Vendor Management ↑+5.2ppData Analysis ↑+5.0ppTalent Acquisition ↑+4.0ppHRIS ↑+4.0ppBenefits Administration ↑+3.6pp

Declining in Demand

Journalism ↓-20.0ppExcel ↓-17.1ppCustomer Service ↓-15.9ppAttention to Detail ↓-13.5ppRisk Management ↓-8.0pp

Generic skills excluded: Recruiting. These appear in most postings across all roles.

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
aoglobelife614.9%
spadepartners564.5%
Wachter322.5%
lunaagencies272.1%
Hubinternational262.1%
Steerbridge241.9%
Hcvt181.4%
Finn181.4%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States519
Remote74
United Kingdom28
Germany26
Canada23
India16
Vietnam8
Thailand7

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree48.6%411
Master's Degree29.7%251
Bachelor's Degree10.2%86
MBA0.4%3
PhD / Doctorate0.2%2
High School / GED0.1%1

Certifications

SHRM (2%)PHR (2%)CPA (1%)

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