Product Manager-NBS-SGO Disbursements

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 SGO Product Management function leads the development, execution, and ongoing management of SGO Compass North Star product vision, strategy, and roadmap, including scholarship disbursements, fund management, payment processing, and financial transaction capabilities, in collaboration with business development, engineering, product marketing, and other cross-functional departments. This role ensures that products align with FACTS’ organizational strategy, meet market and stakeholder needs, deliver measurable student outcomes, enable timely and accurate distribution of scholarship funds, and achieve sustainable financial performance.
This Product Manager, SGO Disbursements reports to the Managing Director, Product SGO with extensive collaboration and leadership on the SGO product strategy, Compass core solution ecosystem roadmap development, prioritization and execution, and leads the delivery of the Disbursement’s product module within the ecosystem. This role drives complex initiatives by translating market, client, and institutional needs into scalable platform solutions while influencing cross-functional alignment. The position owns the product experience from approved scholarship awards through payment authorization, disbursement, settlement, reconciliation, and exception resolution, supporting multiple payment models and recipient types. The position is responsible for delivering measurable outcomes in payment accuracy, disbursement timeliness, transaction efficiency, financial controls, and recipient experience and advancing the business’ competitive position with key clients.
The Product Manager will engage in market and K12 research, competitive intelligence, product strategy, requirements development, prioritization, stakeholder engagement with business development, operations, engineering, and product marketing, and go-to-market planning. The role will also evaluate payment technologies, financial services partnerships, disbursement models, state scholarship program requirements, qualified educational expense controls, and emerging financial technology capabilities to support the evolving needs of SGOs, schools, families, and approved service providers.

JOB 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 within the SGO Compass ecosystem.

• Lead discovery efforts, including client engagement and research engagement with SGOs, schools, families, financial institutions, payment providers, merchants, and other stakeholders, to validate problems and define solutions.

• Translate insights into prioritized product requirements balancing scalability and client needs, SGO operating models, payment recipient experiences, state program requirements, financial controls, and operational efficiency.

• Define, track, and optimize key 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 such as AI-enabled capabilities within the product ecosystem. 

• Ensure compliance with payment, security, and regulatory requirements, including applicable federal and state scholarship program rules, eligible expense restrictions, payment security standards, financial recordkeeping, and money movement obligations in partnership with Legal, Compliance, and Finance.

• Lead go-to-market readiness and ensure clear value delivery and adoption across stakeholders, including SGO financial operations, school payment recipients, approved vendors, families, and implementation partners.

• Influence cross-product roadmap alignment to create cohesive client and end-user experiences. 

• Represent the voice of the customer in executive discussions using data-driven recommendations.

• Lead the evaluation and product implementation of disbursement delivery models, including in-house, hybrid, and partner-led approaches, considering regulatory obligations, financial risk, scalability, cost, and recipient experience.

• Define disbursement capabilities supporting direct payments to schools, payments to approved educational service providers, and eligible family reimbursements, including supporting documentation, approval workflows, and payment restrictions.

• Establish product requirements for approved payee verification, bank account validation, payment destination controls, fraud prevention, duplicate payment detection, and segregation of financial duties.

• Own product 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 applicable state or program restrictions.

• Partner with Finance, Treasury, Legal, Compliance, and payment providers to define secure, scalable money movement processes and appropriate controls over the disbursement lifecycle.

SGO Compass – Product Strategy, Roadmap and Management  

• Evaluate market conditions, K12 trends, education trends, SGO disbursement needs, school and family payment experiences, financial technology developments, federal and state scholarship program requirements, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and emerging opportunities to inform product strategy, differentiation, and innovation. 
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams across the SGO team, FACTS Division, Nelnet Business Services, and other Nelnet business functions to translate organizational strategy into actionable product initiatives and measurable outcomes. 
• Lead product roadmap development and prioritization, ensuring products are equitable and aligned with FACTS’ mission, vision, North Star goal, and strategic plan. 
• Facilitate a continuous product management culture that incorporates stakeholder perspectives, explains prioritization and implementation decisions, and supports alignment, engagement, and adoption throughout the product life cycle. 
• Drive continuous, measurable improvements in product effectiveness and efficiency by balancing new features with partner needs, student outcomes, compliance risks, revenue generation, and available development resources. 
• Own the product life cycle for the Disbursement and other designated parts of the roadmap assigned to this role, including growth, maturity, and decline, while maintaining appropriate P&L performance in partnership with key cross-functional stakeholders and other relevant teams. 
• Establish stakeholder feedback loops to understand the needs and experiences of partners, staff, and students; evaluate product performance and outcomes; and identify opportunities for improvement. 
• Collaborate and execute go-to-market strategies, in partnership with product marketing, for SGO Compass and other assigned products, including pilot initiatives that test promising opportunities aligned with FACTS’ strategic priorities and establish scalable models for future implementation. 
• Gather, define, and document product requirements to support the design, development, testing, and launch of reliable, scalable, and well-designed 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, translating findings into actionable recommendations and presentations for internal and external audiences. 
• Oversee the product backlog, prioritizing future features according to business value, strategic alignment, stakeholder needs, feasibility, and expected student outcomes. 
• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress against strategic priorities and product implementation goals. 
• Partner with Marketing to develop internal and external communications highlighting product innovations, new product development, industry trends, and student outcomes while supporting lead development, stakeholder engagement, product adoption, and organizational learning.
• Build and strengthen a product culture and operations capabilities through repeatable processes, governance practices, documentation standards, and change management approaches across FACTS.
• Approved-Award-to-Payment-Completion Lifecycle. Own the end-to-end approved-award-to-payment-completion product experience, ensuring scholarship funds are appropriately committed, validated, authorized, disbursed, settled, reconciled, and accurately reflected in SGO financial records, with complete transaction visibility, auditability, and exception management.
• Qualified Educational Expense and Payment Controls. Define configurable product capabilities supporting qualified educational expense validation, school and vendor payments, family reimbursements, expense documentation, program-specific spending limits, payment approvals, duplicate funding controls, and applicable state and federal scholarship program restrictions.
• Model and uphold FACTS’ core values. 

EDUCATION: 

• Bachelor’s degree required in business, finance, information technology, financial technology, computer science, or related fields.
• Advanced degree preferred.  
• Product management certification preferred. 
• Additional education or professional training in payment systems, financial services, treasury management, banking, or financial technology is desirable.

EXPERIENCE: 

• Minimum 6-8 years of product management experience. 

• Experience with disbursement and payout products, including ACH, prepaid/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 fraud prevention specific to payments or disbursements. 

• Proven track record of defining, developing, launching, and managing successful products in an Agile environment, supported by effective market research, data-driven product decisions, and human-centered design principles. 

• Experience leading organizational change, communicating change effectively, and supporting stakeholder alignment and adoption. 

COMPETENCIES – SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES:

• Excellent strategic thinking and product strategy skills. 

• Ability to successfully manage product roadmaps.  

• Strong data-driven decision-making. 

• Ability to influence others cross-functionally. 

• 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 

Annual compensation range for this role is $120,000-$140,000 depending on experience.

This position offers a hybrid work option. Nelnet values flexibility and understands the importance of work-life integration. Our hybrid work environment allows associates living within 30 miles of an office location to work remotely for part of the week, while also fostering collaboration and team connection through in-office presence three days per week.

Please note that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position. To be considered, candidates must already be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future sponsorship.

Our benefits package includes medical, dental, vision, HSA and FSA, generous earned time off, 401K/student loan repayment, life insurance & AD&D insurance, employee assistance program, employee stock purchase program, tuition reimbursement, performance-based incentive pay, short- and long-term disability, and a robust wellness program. Click here to learn more about our benefits: Benefits & Perks - Nelnet Inc

Nelnet is committed to providing a welcoming and respectful workplace where all associates have the opportunity to succeed. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we ensure that all qualified applicants are considered for employment. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion/creed, national origin, gender, sex, marital status, age, disability, use of a guide dog or service animal, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law. We value the unique contributions of every team member and believe that a positive work environment benefits everyone.

Nelnet is a Drug Free and Tobacco Free Workplace.

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