Nelnet Business Services (NBS), a division of Nelnet, Inc., provides payment technology, education services, and learning management solutions to education and faith-based organizations, serving more than 1,300 higher education institutions, 11,500 K-12 schools, 3,500 churches, 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.

As a Nelnet company, the perks at NBS go beyond our benefits package. You’re part of a community, invested in you as an individual and united by our mission to create opportunities for people where they live, learn and work.

Nelnet Business Services (NBS) is seeking a collaborative, customer-focused Manager I, Marketing Strategy to support growth, retention, and engagement across a portfolio of products and services supporting Nelnet Campus Commerce.

This role connects NCC business strategy with marketing execution—driving adoption, renewal, and customer loyalty across our payment solutions through strategic communication, lifecycle engagement programs, and coordinated campaign delivery. Partnering closely with NCC Product, Sales, Customer Success, BrandOps, and RevOps, you’ll translate product marketing priorities into actionable growth and retention plans that deepen school and partner relationships, strengthen NCC’s market positioning, and deliver measurable revenue impact.

This role manages a small cross-functional team focused on lifecycle marketing, customer engagement, and campaign execution.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead marketing efforts, through a team, focused on customer retention, renewals, and satisfaction across assigned business areas while managing to business priorities and ROI.

• Develop and execute lifecycle campaigns for onboarding, renewal, advocacy, and expansion.

• Partner with Customer Success and Product teams to identify key drivers of customer satisfaction and proactively address churn risk.

• Create and manage customer communications that promote feature adoption, platform engagement, and user education.

• Establish metrics for retention performance, including engagement rates, churn reduction, and expansion revenue.

• Support go-to-market (GTM) execution for product launches and updates, ensuring alignment between marketing, sales, and customer success initiatives.

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to reduce proactively churn though the identification of customer satisfaction drivers.

• Manage communications that promote feature adoption, platform engagement, and user education.

• Define & track retention metrics such as engagement rates, churn reduction, and expansion revenue.

• Support go-to-market (GTM) execution for product launches and updates, ensuring alignment within internal stakeholder initiatives.

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to develop messaging frameworks, activation playbooks, email nurtures, and engagement strategies across Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and Product-Led Growth (PLG) motions.

• Gather and synthesize customer feedback and data to inform campaign and content strategy.

• Maintain buyer and user personas to drive post-sale engagement.

• Present campaign results, retention insights, and customer trends to key stakeholders to guide marketing and investment decisions.

• Assist in managing and tracking marketing budgets for assigned campaigns, ensuring spend aligns with business priorities and demonstrates measurable ROI.

• Partner with Events and Partnerships to integrate customer marketing strategies into conference, user group, and training experiences.

• Manage and mentor a small team of specialists or coordinators focused on customer marketing execution and retention initiatives.

• Foster a collaborative, data-driven, and growth-minded team culture aligned to NBS’s standards of operational excellence—ownership, communication, craft, follow-through, and growth.

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent (Business Administration, Communications, or Marketing preferred).

EXPERIENCE:

• 5+ years of experience in marketing, customer engagement, or lifecycle marketing—preferably in SaaS or B2B environments or the equivalent is required.

• 1–2 years of team or project leadership experience is required.

• Experience in higher education environments, especially in roles interacting with finance, billing, or student services teams, is required.

• Experience supporting community platforms, large-scale user conferences and events, customer onboarding tools, or customer success tech stacks is preferred.

• Experience with marketing automation, CRM, and analytics platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Pendo) is preferred.

• Familiarity with ABM, PLG, and lifecycle marketing strategies is preferred.

COMPETENCIES – SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES:

• Customer Engagement - Strong understanding of customer lifecycle marketing and the drivers of retention and engagement.

• Communication – Excellent communication and storytelling skills for diverse audiences, including executives and customer-facing teams. Comfortable presenting campaign insights and recommendations to leadership.

• Data Analysis - Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize data into insights that shape strategy and measure ROI.

• Technical Knowledge - Proficiency with marketing automation, CRM, and analytics platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Pendo).

• Leadership Style - Empathetic leader with the ability to influence without authority and thrive in a matrixed organization.

• Cross-Functional Leadership – Lead, coach, and align diverse teams across organizational boundaries to achieve shared goals.

• Business Acumen - Working knowledge of marketing budget management, forecasting, and performance reporting.

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.