Fast Facts

Join Nelnet Business Services as the Lead Data Steward, responsible for driving data governance strategies and practices, ensuring high-quality and secure data management.

Responsibilities: Lead execution of data governance strategies, conduct root cause analysis, prioritize tasks, and maintain data catalogs while ensuring organizational acceptance of data standards.

Skills: Expertise in data governance, strong analytical skills, proficiency in SQL, excellent communication abilities, and operational familiarity with data management tools.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree preferred in Business, Technology or Computer Science, with over 5 years of experience in data management and certifications in data governance.

Location: Position based in Lincoln, USA, with no specified travel requirements.

Compensation: $90000 - $130000 / Annually

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.

The Lead Data Steward provides influence and direction for data management practices and reports to the Data Governance Practice Manager. This position collaborates with Data Asset, Product, Development, stakeholder groups, and domain specific subject matter experts to ensure data is accessible, trustworthy, usable, and secure.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

1.   Play a leading role in the execution of data governance strategies.

2.   Lead the identification of critical data management issues.

3.   Conduct analysis and research data management issues to identify core challenges and determine root cause(s).

4.   Collaborate to identify trends, draw informed conclusions, and recommend remediation actions based on the analysis.

5.   Articulate data management challenges into actionable remediation tasks and define project scopes and objectives.

6.   Develop and maintain detailed project plans, road maps and documentation to monitor and report progress.

7.   Assist with task prioritization to effectively drive throughput and ensure successful delivery.

8.   Maintain and continuously develop a data catalog to further enrich the documentation and context for our data assets. 

9.   Provide recommendations for new or improved data standards, business rules and policies, as well as assist in developing the program road map.

10.   Establish and monitor key data management and governance metrics for critical data.

11.   Advise on various projects and initiatives ensuring changes, impacting the quality or availability of data, are identified and managed to ensure adherence with standards. 

12.   Drive organizational acceptance of data and process standards, policies, and definitions for critical / related enterprise data. 

13.   Build strong relationships and work collaboratively to translate data challenges into engineering requirements.

14.   Maintain Data Steward Council as a working group to communicate strategic initiatives and maintain consistency of critical enterprise, operational and analytical data.

15.   Promote data governance across the organization by facilitating presentations and workshops, as well as advising relevant stakeholders on data governance related matters with a focus on business use of data.

Pay range for this opening: $90,000 - $130,000

EDUCATION: 

1.   Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Technology or Computer Science, preferred 

2.   Certification(s) or designation(s) in data governance or data management disciplines, preferred.

EXPERIENCE: 

1.   5+ years of experience in data management disciplines, or equivalent combination of education & experience.

2.   Experience developing and maintaining a data catalog, a plus.

3.   Experience leading collaboration efforts to improve production or master data, product information management, product documentation, or similar.

COMPETENCIES – SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES:

1.   Excellent communication skills (verbal, written and visual), with the ability to explain complex issues concisely, persuade others, and foster lasting partnerships with colleagues and management. 

2.   Functional understanding of data governance, specifically stewardship.

3.   Excellent planning, organization, execution, and task management skills. 

4.   Ability to conduct effective root-cause analysis on identified problems.

5.   Operational familiarity in the use of data catalogs, metadata management, data quality, master data management, and/or data stewardship tools and platforms

6.   Strong analytical skills including Excel workbook manipulation.

7.   SQL or similar coding skills, preferred.

8.   Broad business acumen and comfort with technical concepts.

9.   Subject matter expertise in data quality management, metadata management, reference and master data management, or document and content management, a plus.

10.   Deep curiosity for exploring how data is used across the organization, and a drive to improve the quality of the data to support operational efficiencies and complex decision making. 

11.   Track record of dealing well with ambiguity, prioritizing needs, and delivering measurable. 

12.   Ability to think beyond existing processes and strive for an unconstrained, optimized design.

13.   Self-starter who welcomes responsibility, thrives in an evolving organization, and is ability to bring structure to unstructured situations 

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[email protected].

Nelnet is a Drug Free and Tobacco Free Workplace.