IT Delivery Lead – Technical Diversification – Rapid Innovation

Nelnet is a diversified and innovative company committed to enriching lives through the power of service as a student loan servicer, professional services company, consumer loan originator and servicer, payments processor, renewable energy solutions, and K-12 and higher education expert. For over 40 years, Nelnet has been serving its customers, associates, and communities.

The perks of working at Nelnet go beyond our benefits package. When you join the Nelnet team, you're part of a community invested in the success of each individual. That support comes through in our work, as we are united by our mission of creating opportunities for people where they live, learn, and work.

The IT Delivery Lead is responsible for balancing hands-on delivery, leadership, and project management execution in support of Technical Diversification initiatives. This role serves as a key delivery partner to cross-functional scrum teams, ensuring work is planned, executed, and delivered effectively while enabling teams to operate with clarity, focus, and momentum.

The initial assignment for this role will support the delivery of an AI-powered workforce onboarding, training, and case support platform for State Health and Human Services agencies, initially focused on Child Support Services, with the goal of improving how new frontline staff learn, gain confidence, and perform complex, high-stakes casework. Built on Google Cloud, the first phase of the project is planned to run through June 2026, with plans to leverage Google services like Gemini 3, Vertex AI and Gemini Live API to deliver support call simulation and coaching feedback features. We are working toward expanding the development effort after June to include future phases focused on full case support, advanced analytics and client-facing functionality.

This Delivery Lead will play a critical role in driving delivery for the MVP phase, coordinating timelines, dependencies, risks, and stakeholder communication. Following completion of the initial project phase, this role will transition to supporting subsequent priority initiatives within the Technical Diversification Innovation team as organizational needs evolve.

Individual Contributor:

• Actively contribute as a member of the development team, engaging in coding, testing, support, and/or release management activities, such as:
• Write, review, and maintain code to ensure quality and functionality.
• Participate in pair programming, code reviews, and test automation efforts.
• Write and execute unit and integration tests in collaboration with QA to ensure comprehensive test coverage.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date technical documentation, including documenting code and system design decisions.
• Coordinate and manage the path to production, including release planning, scheduling, and ensuring successful and timely deployments.

Leadership Activities:

• Own day-to-day delivery execution for cross-functional scrum teams, ensuring alignment to project scope, timelines, and delivery commitments.
• Develop, maintain, and manage delivery plans, sprint plans, milestone tracking, forecasts, and release schedules for assigned initiatives.
• Manage and prioritize the product backlog in partnership with product owners and technical leads, ensuring work is well-defined, sequenced, and ready for execution.
• Track delivery progress, dependencies, risks, and impediments; proactively mitigate issues and escalate as necessary to protect delivery outcomes.
• Lead required delivery ceremonies and status communications, applying agile and scrum practices pragmatically to support predictable, high-quality delivery.

Technical Expertise:

• Solid understanding of the delivery goals of the team , stakeholders, and expected outcome of initiatives.
• Ability to represent technical debt and initiatives for backlog prioritization.
• Leadership Agility: Promotes agile principles and fosters an Agile mindset within the team.
• Decision Making: Capable of strategizing and planning effectively in the face of an uncertain future state.
• Demonstrated identification of appropriate deliverables and a clear course of action to meet requirements.
• Considers all relevant factors and uses appropriate decision-making criteria.

Technical Skills:

As an individual contributor, will exercise proficiency in one of more of the following technical skillsets: 

• Analysis
• Quality Assurance
• Technical Architecture
• Software Engineering
• Familiarity with technical documentation, security, and compliance processes and expected outputs. Ensures processes and policies are adhered to by the team.
• Structured systematic approaches and whole system thinking.
• Facilitation and negotiation skills. Workflow/Gap-analysis,
• Process Modeling,
• Use Case Analysis, Process and Context Diagramming, Data and/or Requirements Modeling.
• Additional skills will vary depending on the contributor role they perform within the team.

Relationship Building:

• Develops internal and external trusting, professional relationships. Purposefully develops networks to build value through collaboration.
• Impacts others' thinking, decisions, or behavior through inclusive practices and relationship building. Drives action through influence, not authority.
• Self-Leadership: Demonstrates authenticity, courage, and trustworthiness in leadership.
• Shows self-awareness and actively seeks personal growth and development.
• Manages ambiguity, learns from setbacks, and adapts to changing situations.
• Time & Project Management: Strong time management, project management, and administrative skills.
• Ensures transparency in work, ticket management, and roadmap coordination.

EDUCATION:

Bachelor’s Degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience.

EXPERIENCE:

Minimum of 5 years of experience supporting software delivery in an engineering, business analysis, quality assurance, or delivery leadership role, including hands-on contribution and responsibility for delivery outcomes.

COMPETENCIES – SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE / ABILITIES:

• Strong project management and delivery leadership skills, including planning, execution, dependency management, and risk mitigation.
• Solid understanding of agile and scrum practices, with the ability to apply them pragmatically rather than dogmatically.
• Ability to balance hands-on contribution with delivery leadership responsibilities.
• Technical fluency sufficient to collaborate effectively with engineers and understand system impacts, regardless of primary discipline.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to provide clarity and transparency to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous or evolving environments while maintaining delivery focus and accountability.
• Proven ability to build trust, influence without authority, and foster productive working relationships across teams.

Salary range for this IT58 Pay Band: $80,342 - $176,752

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: LINK.

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 corporaterecruiting@nelnet.net.

Nelnet is a Drug Free and Tobacco Free Workplace.