Engagement Manager - Client Growth

Nelnet•Lincoln, NE

23h•$75,000 - $100,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Nelnet is seeking an Engagement Manager for its Consumer Servicing Client Onboarding organization. The role supports client growth by owning the client implementation lifecycle from the Sales-to-Management transition through onboarding completion. The Engagement Manager is the primary point of accountability for clients during implementation and translates signed agreements into executable plans that meet contractual commitments and internal success criteria. The position plans and executes multiple concurrent onboarding and implementation projects, keeping delivery aligned with approved budget, timeline, scope, and quality expectations. It coordinates cross-functional resources and dependencies, tracks milestones and KPIs, manages risks and issues, and provides regular status updates to client and internal stakeholders. The role also supports program-level responsibilities, continuous improvement, retrospectives, and the use of embedded AI tools to improve delivery efficiency and quality. This is a hybrid role based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is currently open to candidates living within 30 miles of the Lincoln office. The standard hybrid schedule is a 24/16-hour in-office/work-from-home split for associates who live within 30 miles of an office, 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 how they translate into delivery scope.
Experience holding delivery accountable to a budget and timeline and communicating variances to stakeholders.
Experience with project management tools.
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.
Knowledge or experience in innovation and change management implementation, and process re-engineering and improvement.
Strong organization and prioritization skills across multiple concurrent implementations.
Proactive thinking, risk identification, and execution abilities.
Attention to detail while maintaining a strategic, program-level perspective.
Client-focused approach and comfort managing internal and external relationships.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level status reporting.
Results-oriented approach and ability to manage multiple priorities and competing 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 Nelnet's 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 objectives and project requirements aligned with 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.
Keep engagements within approved budgets and timelines, identify variances, and drive corrective action.
Validate that delivery scope and pace remain aligned with client contract terms or potential agreements, and escalate discrepancies.
Track success criteria, KPIs, and critical-path milestones, and provide accurate status reporting to internal and client stakeholders.
Coordinate resources and dependencies across functional teams.
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 ensure decisions are made with shared visibility.
Work with senior leaders on issues, escalate appropriately, and recommend paths forward.
Provide timely issue-resolution updates to impacted stakeholders.
Bridge the Sales and contracting process with ongoing account management, ensuring agreement commitments are carried through implementation.
Partner with Sales to understand deal-specific commitments and build the internal delivery plan.
Support a smooth transition to steady-state account management after implementation.
Coordinate and promote continuous improvement of onboarding 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.