Product Manager-NBS-SGO Donor

Nelnet Servicing•Lincoln, NE

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Nelnet Business Services (NBS), a division of Nelnet, provides payment technology and education services to higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and individuals worldwide. The SGO Product Management function leads development and execution of the SGO Compass product vision, strategy, and roadmap in collaboration with business development, engineering, product marketing, and other teams. This role ensures products align with organizational strategy, address market and stakeholder needs, support measurable student outcomes, and achieve sustainable financial performance. Reporting to the Managing Director, Product SGO, the Product Manager leads strategy, roadmap development, prioritization, and execution for the SGO Compass core solution ecosystem, with responsibility for delivery of the Donor product module. The role translates market, client, and institutional needs into scalable platform solutions, drives cross-functional alignment, and advances the business’s competitive position. Work includes market and K-12 research, competitive intelligence, product strategy and requirements, stakeholder engagement, prioritization, and go-to-market planning. The role owns the product lifecycle and roadmap for Donor and other assigned products, including discovery, requirements, backlog management, delivery, measurement, and continuous improvement. It partners across product, engineering, marketing, operations, and business teams to develop donor and giving capabilities, support compliance and reliable payment processes, and improve donor experience and fundraising outcomes. The position is hybrid: associates living within 30 miles of an office may work remotely 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, IT, or a related field.
Minimum 6–8 years of product management experience.
Experience with donor and giving products associated with scholarships, philanthropy, or social impact.
Experience building and managing provider or merchant networks.
Experience with fraud prevention specific to donations and giving.
Track record of defining, developing, launching, and managing successful products in an Agile environment, supported by market research, data-driven decisions, and human-centered design.
Experience leading organizational change, communicating change, 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 others cross-functionally.
Skill in customer-centric discovery and developing insights.
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.
Ability to translate organizational strategic goals into actionable product strategies, roadmaps, priorities, and innovation initiatives.
Ability to build effective cross-functional partnerships and collaborate across an organization to achieve shared objectives.
Strong written, verbal, analytical, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate across a broad range of stakeholders.
Commitment to improving student outcomes and expanding K-12 opportunities for underserved and underrepresented students.
Ability to travel for business meetings, partner engagements, and other customer-facing activities.
Must already be authorized to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Additional education or professional training in financial technology, payments, nonprofit management, or digital commerce.
Advanced degree preferred.
Product management certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Own and execute the end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for engagement with SGOs, foundations, individuals and institutional donors, payment partners, and other stakeholders.
Lead discovery, client engagement, and research to validate problems and define solutions.
Translate insights into prioritized, scalable product requirements, balancing donation conversion, contribution volume, donor retention, payment success, transaction costs, and funds available for scholarship awards.
Define, track, and optimize product metrics to drive business outcomes and continuous improvement.
Partner with engineering on modernization and platform initiatives delivered through iterative releases, including improvements to donor engagement, fraud detection, operational efficiency, and fundraising intelligence.
Drive strategic initiatives such as AI-enabled product capabilities.
Ensure compliance with payment, security, and regulatory requirements, including donor onboarding, SGO implementation, training, and launch communications.
Lead go-to-market readiness and support clear value delivery and adoption among stakeholders.
Influence cross-product roadmap alignment to create cohesive client and end-user experiences, donor insights, market intelligence, and measurable product performance.
Represent the voice of the customer in executive discussions using data-driven recommendations.
Evaluate market conditions, K-12 trends, donor behavior, fundraising needs, federal and state scholarship tax-credit programs, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and emerging opportunities to inform product strategy and innovation.
Collaborate across SGO, FACTS, Nelnet Business Services, and other Nelnet functions to translate organizational strategy into product initiatives and measurable outcomes.
Lead Donor and Giving roadmap development and prioritization, ensuring alignment with FACTS’ mission, vision, North Star goal, and strategic plan.
Promote a continuous product management culture that incorporates stakeholder perspectives and supports prioritization transparency, alignment, engagement, and adoption throughout the product lifecycle, coordinating across Giving, Fund Management, SGO Administration, and Disbursement.
Drive measurable improvements in product effectiveness and efficiency while balancing features, partner needs, student outcomes, compliance, revenue, donor experience, fundraising needs, payment costs, financial risks, and available development resources.
Own the product lifecycle for Donor and other assigned roadmap areas, including growth, maturity, and decline, while maintaining appropriate P&L performance with stakeholders.
Establish feedback loops with partners, staff, and students to assess needs, experiences, product performance, and outcomes and identify improvements.
Collaborate on and execute go-to-market strategies with product marketing, including pilots aligned with strategic priorities and scalable models for implementation, donor adoption, fundraising readiness, and expansion into additional giving models and markets.
Gather, define, and document product requirements for reliable, scalable features, including donor registration, identity and eligibility verification, contribution processing, payment settlement, reconciliation, refunds, donor acknowledgements, tax-credit documentation, and integrations with SGO fund management.
Evaluate pilot results and product performance data, converting findings into recommendations and presentations for internal and external audiences.
Manage the product backlog and prioritize features based on business value, strategic alignment, stakeholder needs, feasibility, student outcomes, regulatory obligations, fundraising impact, donor experience, and financial performance.
Develop KPIs for strategic priorities and implementation goals, including contribution volume, active donors, acquisition and retention, average contribution, conversion, payment success, processing costs, reconciliation accuracy, and SGO fundraising performance.
Partner with Marketing on internal and external communications about product innovation, development, industry trends, and student outcomes, supporting lead development, stakeholder engagement, adoption, and organizational learning.
Build product culture and operational capabilities through repeatable processes, governance, documentation standards, and change management across FACTS.
Model and uphold FACTS’ core values.
Travel for business meetings, partner engagements, and other customer-facing activities.