Engagement Manager - Client Growth

Nelnet Servicing•Lincoln, NE

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Nelnet is hiring an Engagement Manager to plan and execute client onboarding and implementation projects, serving as the primary point of accountability throughout the transition from Sales to ongoing account management. The role translates client contract or agreement commitments into executable project plans and holds delivery to agreed budgets, timelines, scope, and quality standards. It also coordinates stakeholders, resources, dependencies, risks, and program-level responsibilities across multiple concurrent engagements. This is a hybrid position based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is currently open to candidates who live within 30 miles of the Lincoln office. The standard hybrid schedule for associates within 30 miles of an office is a 24/16-hour in-office/work-from-home split, subject to manager discretion.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
5–8 years of project and/or program management experience.
Experience in end-to-end client onboarding and implementation, ideally including exposure to contract or SOW terms and translating them into delivery scope.
Experience holding delivery accountable to budgets and timelines and communicating variances to stakeholders.
Experience with project management tools.
Demonstrated effectiveness in project management and program-level process management and optimization.
Ability to interpret and operationalize contractual or agreement terms into project plans and success criteria.
Strong financial acumen for tracking and defending project budgets.
Excellent workflow management skills and experience.
Skills in innovation, change management implementation, process re-engineering, and process improvement.
Strong organization, prioritization, proactive thinking, risk identification, and execution skills across multiple concurrent implementations.
Ability to maintain attention to detail while taking a strategic, program-level view.
Client-focused approach and comfort managing internal and external relationships.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level status reporting.
Results orientation and ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
Ability to coordinate effectively with all organizational levels, including senior leadership.
Excellent relationship-building skills, particularly during the sales-to-delivery handoff.
Must live within 30 miles of the Lincoln, Nebraska office.

Nice To Haves

PMP certification.
Program management credentials such as PgMP.

Responsibilities

Plan and successfully execute multiple concurrent client onboarding and implementation projects through cross-functional collaboration.
Serve as the primary point of accountability for clients during implementation and translate signed contracts or agreements into executable project plans.
Perform analysis and due diligence, and establish attainable project objectives and requirements that reflect contractual commitments and internal success criteria.
Deliver implementations within agreed cost, time, scope, and quality constraints.
Support internal implementations that deliver client value and work with the Growth Program Management team to identify capabilities and cross-sell opportunities.
Hold engagements to approved budgets and timelines, identify variances, and drive corrective action.
Validate that delivery scope and pace align with client contract terms or potential agreements, escalating discrepancies proactively.
Track success criteria, KPIs, and critical-path milestones, and provide accurate status reports to internal and client stakeholders.
Coordinate resourcing and dependencies across functional teams, providing program-level coordination above individual project execution.
Identify, log, and manage risks through mitigation and resolution, considering impacts to Nelnet and the client.
Align business and client stakeholders on risk exposure and trade-offs, and work with senior leaders to escalate issues and recommend paths forward.
Provide timely issue-resolution updates to impacted stakeholders.
Act as the key handoff point between Sales or contracting and account management, ensuring negotiated commitments carry through implementation.
Partner with Sales to understand deal-specific commitments and develop the internal plan to deliver them.
Support a smooth transition from implementation into steady-state account management.
Coordinate and promote continuous improvement of onboarding and implementation workflows, procedures, processes, and standards.
Support and facilitate retrospectives to improve onboarding and implementation.
Use AI tools embedded in the onboarding process to improve delivery efficiency and quality.