Product Manager-NBS-SGO Disbursements

Nelnet Business Solutions; United States; Sur place; USD 120 000 - 160 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Nelnet Business Services (NBS) is seeking a Product Manager for the SGO Disbursements module within the Compass ecosystem. You will own the end-to-end product strategy, from scholarship awards through payment authorization, disbursement, settlement, and reconciliation, coordinating with schools, SGOs, and financial partners.

The role focuses on delivering timely disbursements, accurate payments, and strong financial controls, while exploring AI-enabled enhancements and maintaining regulatory

Qualifications

• Experience in product management within financial payments or edtech is a plus.
• Strong ability to translate market needs into actionable requirements.
• Collaboration across engineering, operations, marketing, legal, and finance.

Responsabilités

• Own end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for the Disbursement solution within the SGO Compass ecosystem.
• Lead discovery with SGOs, schools, families, financial institutions, and partners to validate problems and define solutions.
• Define and track key product metrics to drive outcomes and continuous improvement.
• Partner with engineering to deliver modernization and platform initiatives via iterative releases.
• Drive strategic initiatives including AI-enabled features within the ecosystem.
• Ensure compliance with payment, security, and regulatory requirements with Legal and Compliance.

Description du poste

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 with in 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 an d 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 road map 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, pa