Global Benefits Lead

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together. About the Team The People Team at Appian plays a pivotal role in powering company growth by attracting, developing, and supporting world-class talent. As our team expands globally, the Benefits group ensures our employees across North America, EMEA, and APJ receive robust, competitive, and seamless benefit support. Our work empowers the team behind Appian’s AI-Powered Process Automation and Enterprise-Grade Orchestration platforms to perform at their best every day. The Opportunity As Appian continues its rapid expansion, we need a proactive, execution-oriented Global Benefits Lead to scale our U.S. and international benefits programs. Sitting at our headquarters in McLean, VA, you will serve as a core operational partner managing U.S. health, welfare, and retirement administration while supporting benefits delivery across EMEA and APJ. This role offers high visibility, a high degree of ownership, and the opportunity to leverage innovative automation to modernize benefit workflows for a modern global workforce. What You’ll Do • Lead Day-to-Day U.S. Benefits Administration: Support end-to-end U.S. health and welfare plans (medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life/AD&D, leaves) and the U.S. 401(k) program in partnership with financial advisors and plan administrators. • Support International Benefits Delivery: Partner with local brokers, vendors, and regional HR teams to execute renewals, manage implementations, and align benefits administration across EMEA and APJ with local statutory requirements. • Manage Compliance & Vendor Relationships: Oversee compliance requirements (ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA) and partner with international stakeholders on governance, vendor invoice audits, implementation, and performance monitoring. • Optimize Operations & Workflow Automation: Modernize administration by identifying efficiency gains, leveraging AI tools, and streamlining benefits enrollment workflows within enterprise tools like Workday . • Drive Strategic Initiatives & Analytics: Analyze claims data, utilization trends, and vendor reporting to deliver insights, while leading critical execution cycles like Open Enrollment, system configuration, and employee communications. Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field (required). • 5+ years of experience in benefits administration with demonstrated ownership of complex, multi-region programs. • Deep operational expertise in U.S. health, welfare, leave, and retirement plan administration. • Proven experience leveraging enterprise HRIS platforms, specifically Workday . • Strong analytical, spreadsheet, and data-auditing skills with a track record of driving operational efficiency. Preferred Qualifications • Exposure to international benefits administration across EMEA and APJ regions. • Experience integrating AI-driven workflows or modern tech tools into HR and benefits operations. • Enterprise Ecosystem Experience: We value experience within enterprise platform ecosystems such as Salesforce or ServiceNow , as these systems translate exceptionally well into our Enterprise-Grade Orchestration environment. The base salary range represents a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the