Product Manager-NBS-SGO Disbursements

Nelnet•Lincoln, NE

2d•$120,000 - $140,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Nelnet Business Services (NBS), a division of Nelnet, Inc., provides payment technology and education services to higher education institutions, K-12 schools, students, families, and supporters. The SGO Product Management function leads the vision, strategy, roadmap, and ongoing management of SGO Compass, including scholarship disbursements, fund management, payment processing, and financial transaction capabilities. The Product Manager, SGO Disbursements reports to the Managing Director, Product SGO and leads strategy, roadmap development, prioritization, and execution for the Disbursements product module within the SGO Compass ecosystem. The role translates market, client, and institutional needs into scalable platform solutions and owns the experience from approved scholarship awards through payment authorization, disbursement, settlement, reconciliation, and exception resolution. It supports multiple payment models and recipient types, with responsibility for measurable outcomes in payment accuracy, disbursement timeliness, transaction efficiency, financial controls, and recipient experience. The role conducts market and K-12 research, competitive intelligence, product strategy and requirements development, prioritization, stakeholder engagement, and go-to-market planning. It evaluates payment technologies, financial services partnerships, disbursement models, state scholarship program requirements, qualified educational expense controls, and emerging financial technology capabilities. It works extensively with business development, operations, engineering, product marketing, Finance, Treasury, Legal, Compliance, payment providers, and other teams to develop and deliver solutions. This position offers a hybrid work option. Associates living within 30 miles of an office location may work remotely for part of the week, with in-office presence three days per week. The annual compensation range is $120,000-$140,000, depending on experience. Visa sponsorship is not available; candidates must already be authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, information technology, financial technology, computer science, or a related field.
Minimum 6-8 years of product management experience.
Experience with disbursement and payout products, including ACH, prepaid or virtual card issuance, and digital wallets.
Experience with marketplace or closed-loop spend products, such as HSA/FSA-style card programs.
Experience building and managing provider or merchant networks.
Experience with payment- or disbursement-specific fraud prevention.
Proven track record defining, developing, launching, and managing successful products in an Agile environment, supported by market research, data-driven product decisions, and human-centered design principles.
Experience leading organizational change, communicating change effectively, and supporting stakeholder alignment and adoption.
Excellent strategic thinking and product strategy skills.
Ability to successfully manage product roadmaps.
Strong data-driven decision-making skills.
Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders.
Skill in customer-centric discovery and developing insights.
Proven ability to define product strategy and deliver measurable outcomes.
Familiarity with treasury management principles, including funding, settlement, and liquidity.
Familiarity with card issuing programs, including issuing bank and program manager relationships.
Strong risk management background.
Working knowledge of money movement compliance requirements, including AML/BSA and state money transmitter regulations.
Proven ability to develop and execute strategy for a two-sided marketplace, balancing provider and consumer needs.
Must already be authorized to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Product management certification.
Additional education or professional training in payment systems, financial services, treasury management, banking, or financial technology.

Responsibilities

Own and execute the end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for the Disbursement solution, including payment authorization, funds availability, recipient verification, payment execution, settlement, reconciliation, and financial exception management.
Lead discovery and research with SGOs, schools, families, financial institutions, payment providers, merchants, and other stakeholders to validate problems and define solutions.
Translate stakeholder insights into prioritized product requirements that balance scalability, client needs, operating models, recipient experiences, program requirements, financial controls, and operational efficiency.
Define, track, and optimize product metrics to drive business outcomes and continuous improvement.
Partner with engineering to deliver complex modernization and platform initiatives through iterative releases.
Drive strategic initiatives, including AI-enabled capabilities within the product ecosystem.
Partner with Legal, Compliance, and Finance to ensure compliance with payment, security, regulatory, financial recordkeeping, money movement, and scholarship program requirements.
Lead go-to-market readiness and support value delivery and adoption among SGO financial operations, school payment recipients, approved vendors, families, and implementation partners.
Influence cross-product roadmap alignment and represent the customer voice in executive discussions using data-driven recommendations.
Evaluate and implement disbursement delivery models, including in-house, hybrid, and partner-led approaches, considering regulatory obligations, financial risk, scalability, cost, and recipient experience.
Define capabilities for direct school payments, approved educational service provider payments, and eligible family reimbursements, including documentation, approval workflows, and restrictions.
Establish requirements for payee verification, bank account validation, payment destination controls, fraud prevention, duplicate payment detection, and segregation of financial duties.
Own capabilities for payment status tracking, failed payments, returns, refunds, reversals, recovery, settlement confirmation, and reconciliation across financial systems and payment providers.
Define configurable controls for scholarship fund balances, award commitments, available funds, eligible expense categories, payment limits, and program restrictions.
Partner with Finance, Treasury, Legal, Compliance, and payment providers to define secure, scalable money movement processes and controls.
Evaluate market conditions, K-12 and education trends, SGO needs, payment experiences, financial technology developments, program requirements, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and emerging opportunities to inform product strategy.
Collaborate across the SGO team, FACTS Division, Nelnet Business Services, and other Nelnet functions to translate organizational strategy into product initiatives and measurable outcomes.
Lead roadmap development and prioritization in alignment with FACTS’ mission, vision, North Star goal, and strategic plan.
Promote a continuous product management culture that incorporates stakeholder perspectives, communicates prioritization decisions, and supports alignment, engagement, and adoption throughout the product life cycle.
Improve product effectiveness and efficiency while balancing new features, partner needs, student outcomes, compliance risks, revenue generation, and development resources.
Own the product life cycle for Disbursement and other assigned roadmap areas, maintaining appropriate P&L performance in partnership with stakeholders.
Establish feedback loops with partners, staff, and students to evaluate product performance and outcomes and identify improvements.
Collaborate with product marketing on go-to-market strategies, including pilots that test opportunities aligned with strategic priorities and establish scalable implementation models.
Gather and document requirements for reliable, scalable product features, including recipient verification, qualified expense validation, payment approvals, fund availability checks, disbursement execution, settlement, reconciliation, refunds, reversals, and financial reporting.
Evaluate pilot results and product performance data, turning findings into recommendations and presentations for internal and external audiences.
Oversee the product backlog and prioritize features according to business value, strategic alignment, stakeholder needs, feasibility, and expected student outcomes.
Develop KPIs to measure progress against strategic priorities and implementation goals.
Partner with Marketing on internal and external communications about product innovations, development, industry trends, and student outcomes, supporting lead development, stakeholder engagement, product adoption, and organizational learning.
Build product culture and operational capabilities through repeatable processes, governance practices, documentation standards, and change management approaches.
Own the approved-award-to-payment-completion experience, ensuring funds are committed, validated, authorized, disbursed, settled, reconciled, and accurately reflected in SGO financial records with transaction visibility, auditability, and exception management.
Define configurable capabilities for qualified educational expense validation, school and vendor payments, family reimbursements, documentation, spending limits, approvals, duplicate funding controls, and applicable state and federal program restrictions.
Model and uphold FACTS’ core values.