Product Owner

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.

Job Profile Summary

The Product Owner coordinates product development, release planning, and manages the overall successful delivery of new and existing products. This position supports the reporting and analytics products within a student information system — including embedded Power BI reports, district and school dashboards, and self-service report-building tools used by K-12 administrators and educators. The Product Owner works closely with school and district users to understand the questions they need answered and translates those needs into data-driven product solutions.

Job Responsibilities

1. Works very closely with agile development teams to create use cases, requirements, and estimates in support of company objectives.

2. Serves as a liaison between school and district users (administrators, data coordinators, and educators) and the development team — understanding the decisions they need to make and translating reporting and analytics needs into actionable requirements and user stories.

3. Defines and maintains clear metric and data definitions (e.g., attendance rates, grade distributions, enrollment and demographic measures) so that reports are consistent, accurate, and trusted across products.

4. Collaborates with development and data teams on the underlying data model — including source data views, relationships, calculations, and data quality — to ensure reports reflect the student information system accurately.

5. Manages the lifecycle of the standard report and dashboard catalog, including prioritizing new reports, coordinating releases and updates to customers, and retiring outdated content.

6. Shapes the self-service reporting experience, including how users build, save, share, and find reports, and how roles and permissions control access to student data.

7. Ensures reporting solutions respect student data privacy requirements (e.g., FERPA) and appropriate data access boundaries between districts, schools, and user roles.

8. Uses product usage analytics (report views, favorites, active users) to understand adoption, measure value, and inform prioritization.

9. Spends a significant amount of time validating report mockups, prototypes, and early-stage dashboards with clients.

10. Works with sales, technical sales, marketing and product manager to provide content for sales, user training and documentation tools.

11. Ensures client documentation is updated and effective including release notes, report definitions, and roadmaps.

12. Works with clients directly and manages a client feedback tool to ensure voice of the customer is heard and felt in each product.

Education

1. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Experience

1. 1+ years related experience or existing product knowledge.

2. Experience with business intelligence or reporting tools — Microsoft Power BI strongly preferred (building reports, understanding data models, basic DAX or Power Query).

3. Experience with K-12 education data or student information systems preferred.

4. Ability to read and write basic SQL queries, or comparable experience exploring and validating data, preferred.

Competencies — Skills/Knowledge/Abilities

1. Ability to prioritize and manage multiple concurrent projects.

2. Flexibility to adapt quickly to new requirements, situations, programs, and services.

3. Understanding of data visualization best practices and the ability to design reports that clearly answer a user's question.

4. Comfort working with data — understanding data elements, relationships, calculations, and quality/validation concepts — without needing to be a developer.

5. Ability to turn loosely defined questions ("How are my students doing?") into specific, measurable requirements.

6. Ability to communicate effectively with both technical audiences (developers, data engineers) and non-technical audiences (school and district users).

7. Strong attention to detail, particularly in validating that numbers are accurate and consistent.

8. Analytical thinking: Forms a hypothesis, tests it against the data, and knows when the data supports a conclusion and when it doesn't.

9. Data storytelling: Designs reports and insights that answer the user's question and point to an action, not just display numbers.

10. Strong customer focus.

11. Ability to be a team player.

12. Good time management and organizational skills.

13. Strong written and oral communication skills.

14. Strong problem-solving skills.

15. Demonstrated respect, collaboration, and pride in ownership.

16. Ability to adapt to change.

17. Focus on delivering value.

***Pay Range for this role is - $85,000 to $90,000

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 our Lincon Nebraska 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.  

Qualified individuals with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations in order to apply or compete for positions at Nelnet may request such accommodations by contacting Corporate Recruiting at 402-486-5725 or [email protected].

Nelnet is a Drug Free and Tobacco Free Workplace.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

We may use automated or artificial intelligence enabled tools to assist with the initial review of applications, such as identifying relevant skills or experience. These tools are used to support human review and do not make hiring decisions. A recruiter reviews applications and determines which candidates move forward in the hiring process. For more information, see our Privacy Policy and Pre-Use Notice: Automated Tools in Hiring