Director, Go-To Market - Public Sector

Nelnet Servicing•Lincoln, CO

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Go-to-Market - Public Sector leads commercial strategy and market development for Nelnet Diversified Services’ emerging product portfolio in the SLED (State, Local, and Education) market. This is a hands-on, high-intensity operator role - not an oversight function. The Director is expected to be in market personally: conducting direct customer conversations, owning early sales motions, running pricing and demand experiments, and generating the commercial evidence that determines whether products deserve continued investment. This person reduces commercial risk early in the product lifecycle by uncovering what is true in the market, not what is assumed. The Director works closely with the product innovation team, business development leadership, and the SLED sales function to ensure Nelnet Diversified Services brings the right offerings to market with clarity on customer need, competitive positioning, and a viable path to adoption. Initial product focus includes HOPE (expansion to new markets), an institutional accreditation tool, and GrantPro pathways. This role is structured as a player-coach engagement. The Director is expected to execute personally in the near term - owning customer conversations, early deals, and Google relationship activation - while simultaneously building the practice framework, commercial playbook, and team structure that enables scale. Investment in team growth will follow demonstrated commercial traction. This role reports to the senior leadership of Nelnet Diversified Services. A critical element of this role is the candidate’s ability to activate and leverage established relationships within the Google Public Sector ecosystem. The ideal candidate brings an existing network spanning Google’s industry vertical experts, PSO and program leadership, and field teams - and knows how to stay top-of-mind with the right people to generate referrals, co-sell opportunities, and access to Google-aligned accounts. Nelnet believes in a hybrid work environment that accommodates both in-office and remote work. This model promotes a positive work-life balance and culture, enabling in-person collaboration when possible while also providing benefits associated with remote work. The standard hybrid work schedule includes 24 hours of in-office work each non-travel week, for associates that reside within 30 miles of an office. This is subject to change, based on manager discretion. At this time, we are unable to consider candidates that reside in these states: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Public Administration, Marketing, or a related field.
7+ years of experience in go-to-market strategy, market development, or business development roles, with direct personal ownership of customer-facing commercial activities - not oversight of others doing them.
Demonstrated experience selling or taking products to market in the SLED sector (State, Local, and/or Education).
Established working history and active network within the Google Public Sector ecosystem, including direct experience engaging with Google’s public sector sales, partner, or field teams.
Proven ability to sell and validate unfinished or early-stage products - comfortable owning conversations with skeptical buyers and translating field learnings into actionable commercial strategy.
Experience running pricing and demand experiments in live market conditions; comfort operating with incomplete information and ambiguity.
Experience working cross-functionally with product, sales, and executive stakeholders in a matrixed environment.
Market and customer orientation - ability to build insight from the outside in, not inside out.
Commercial instincts - knows what good looks like for a market opportunity and can make a confident go/no-go case.
Relationship development - builds trust with government and education buyers over long procurement cycles.
Strategic communication - distills complex market dynamics into clear recommendations for executive audiences.
Cross-functional influence - drives alignment across product, sales, and BD without direct authority.
Discipline and prioritization - manages multiple products and markets without losing focus on what matters most.
Hunter sales mindset - strong commercial acumen with the drive to open doors, run sales conversations, and close early engagements personally.
Rapid experimentation and fast-cycle learning - triangulates insights from real customer engagements quickly and adjusts approach without waiting for perfect information.
Deep customer empathy and active listening - can hear what buyers are not saying and use that to sharpen product positioning and commercial strategy.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) or demonstrated equivalent through career experience.
Experience with public sector procurement mechanisms, including cooperative purchasing vehicles, RFP processes, and sole-source justifications.
Background in EdTech, government technology, financial services, or adjacent B2B markets serving public institutions.
Experience with early-stage or emerging product commercialization in an established enterprise, including founder-style or fractional GTM roles where ambiguity and rapid learning are the norm.
Familiarity with grant management, accreditation, or financial aid technology markets.
Experience with Google Cloud Marketplace, Carahsoft, and cooperative purchasing vehicles (Internet2, E+I, Sourcewell) as distribution channels - including private listings, marketplace listing management, and working with Carahsoft to activate public sector buyer access.

Responsibilities

Lead market research and direct customer discovery for target SLED segments - including K-12, higher education, state agencies, and local government - through personal, hands-on engagement with buyers.
Develop and pressure-test ICPs, buyer personas, demand signals, and buying triggers in real market conditions.
Understand which commercial pillars (student attrition, retention, and engagement) a given product addresses and whether buyers will actually pay for and use it.
Run pricing and packaging experiments and validate revenue model assumptions through live customer engagements, not internal modeling alone.
Assess market size, competitive landscape, procurement dynamics, and buyer readiness for each product in the portfolio.
Identify commercial friction early - before scale investment occurs - and surface those findings to product and leadership with clear, evidence-based go/pivot/kill recommendations.
Develop go-to-market recommendations, including target segments, channel strategy, pricing considerations, and sequencing of market entry.
Evaluate whether and how Nelnet Diversified Services products can be positioned within existing SLED procurement vehicles (e.g., Sourcewell, NASPO ValuePoint, state contracts).
Build and manage a pipeline of early adopters through direct outreach and customer conversations - determining who will buy, why they will buy, and how they will buy.
Own early sales motions personally: outreach, product demos, willingness-to-pay discussions, offer testing, and design-partner negotiations.
Secure design partners, pilot participants, letters of intent, and early paid engagements - ensuring pilots involve real users and real commitment, not theoretical interest.
Build and maintain relationships with key decision-makers, influencers, and procurement officers in target SLED markets.
Represent Nelnet Diversified Services at relevant industry events, association meetings, and government forums.
Support the development of partner and channel relationships that accelerate market access.
Leverage established relationships within the Google Public Sector ecosystem - including Google’s industry vertical experts, PSO and program leadership, and field teams - to generate referrals, identify co-selling opportunities, and stay positioned as a preferred partner when relevant accounts surface.
Drive Google Cloud Marketplace strategy and Carahsoft private listings as a primary channel to compress SLED sales cycles - identifying which products are ready for listing, managing the listing process, and activating buyer access through Carahsoft and cooperative purchasing vehicles (Internet2, E+I).
Partner with the product innovation team to translate market and customer feedback into product requirements and roadmap input.
Work with business development leadership to align BD strategy with market intelligence and commercial priorities.
Collaborate with the SLED sales function (once in place) to hand off qualified opportunities and ensure consistent market messaging.
Develop sales enablement materials including positioning frameworks, competitive overviews, and customer-facing narratives.
Define and track key metrics for market development activity, pipeline generation, and commercial validation milestones.
Provide regular updates to leadership on market conditions, opportunity pipeline, and go/no-go recommendations.
Maintain a disciplined view of resource allocation across the product portfolio based on market evidence and commercial potential.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
HSA and FSA
Generous earned time off
401K/student loan repayment
Life insurance & AD&D insurance
Employee assistance program
Employee stock purchase program
Tuition reimbursement
Performance-based incentive pay
Short- and long-term disability
Robust wellness program
Professional development and training opportunities
Opportunity to shape SLED go-to market strategy and influence solution packaging.
Direct visibility and interaction with executive leadership.
Fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with significant growth potential.