Product Owner - NBS

Nelnet•Lincoln, NE

1d•$85,000 - $90,000•Onsite

About The Position

Nelnet Business Services (NBS), a division of Nelnet, Inc., provides payment technology and education services to more than 1,200 higher education institutions, nearly 12,000 K-12 schools, and millions of individual students, families, and supporters across the globe. Our culture of service enables us to form long-lasting and trusted partnerships, while our focus on creativity and innovative solutions empowers our customer communities to thrive. The Product Owner coordinates product development, release planning, and manages the overall successful delivery of new and existing products. This position supports state reporting within a student information system, working closely with state education agencies to translate reporting requirements and data interoperability standards into product solutions. This position focuses on developing skills and abilities under the guidance of both management and more experienced Product Owner II positions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
1+ years related experience or existing product knowledge.
Ability to prioritize and manage multiple concurrent projects.
Flexibility to adapt quickly to new requirements, situations, programs, and services.
Ability to read and interpret technical specifications (data layouts, schemas, business rules) and translate them into clear requirements for development teams.
Comfort working with data — understanding data elements, relationships, and quality/validation concepts — without needing to be a developer.
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical audiences (developers, data engineers) and non-technical audiences (state agency staff, school district users).
Strong attention to detail and comfort operating under externally imposed, non-negotiable deadlines (state submission windows).
Strong customer focus.
Ability to be a team player.
Good time management and organizational skills.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Strong problem solving skills.
Demonstrated respect, collaboration, and pride in ownership.
Ability to adapt to change.
Focus on delivering value.

Nice To Haves

Experience with K-12 education data, state reporting, or student information systems preferred.
Familiarity with education data interoperability standards and frameworks (e.g., Ed-Fi, SIF, OneRoster, CEDS) or comparable experience working with structured data exchange (APIs, file-based submissions, data schemas) preferred.

Responsibilities

Works very closely with agile development teams to create use cases, requirements, and estimates in support of company objectives.
Serves as a liaison between state education agencies and the development team — interpreting state reporting requirements, data collection specifications, and compliance deadlines, and translating them into actionable requirements and user stories.
Monitors changes to state reporting requirements, data standards, and submission schedules; assesses impact and prioritizes work accordingly.
Collaborates with development teams on data interoperability solutions, including data mapping, validation rules, and exchange between the student information system and external systems (state agencies, assessment vendors, and other education platforms).
Builds and maintains working relationships with state agency contacts, participating in state-hosted workgroups, technical calls, and specification reviews on behalf of the team.
Involved in documenting release notes and managing the analytics behind the customer's journey through products.
Spends a significant amount of time validating UX mocks and early-stage simulations with clients.
Works with development teams to ensure solutions meet market expectations.
Works with sales, technical sales, marketing and product manager to provide content for sales, user training and documentation tools.
Ensures client documentation is updated and effective including release notes and roadmaps.
Works with clients directly and manages a client feedback tool to ensure voice of the customer is heard and felt in each product.