IT Manager, Workday Platform

The IT Manager, Workday Platform leads the technical team responsible for operating, configuring, and extending the organization's Workday platform. This role does not own HCM or Financials functional strategy — those areas are owned by the HRIS team (HCM) and the Accounting/Finance team (FINS). Instead, this role owns the technical delivery, platform health, and team performance that allow those business owners to succeed on Workday.

The ideal candidate is, first and foremost, a strong people leader with a track record of managing technical staff (engineers and/or developers) and a skilled relationship manager who can operate credibly with both technical staff and non-technical business stakeholders. Direct Workday experience is a plus, but the ability to lead a technical SaaS platform team and manage cross-functional stakeholder relationships is the core requirement.

This position offers a hybrid work option. Nelnet values flexibility and understands the importance of work-life integration. Our hybrid work environment allows associates within 30 miles of an office to work remotely for part of the week, while also fostering collaboration and team connection through in-office presence.

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 as security clearance is required.

Compensation range for this role is $120,000-$130,000 annually, depending on experience.

Essential Functions

Team Leadership

• Directly manage, coach, and develop a team of Workday Operations Engineers and Developers.
• Own hiring, onboarding, performance management, career development, and workload/capacity planning for the team.
• Establish clear goals, priorities, and accountability structures for technical staff delivering platform work.
• Build a healthy team culture with strong engineering/operational discipline (documentation, change control, testing, release hygiene).

Stakeholder & Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary technical partner to the HRIS team (owner of the HCM space) and the Accounting/Finance team (owner of the FINS space).
• Translate functional requirements from HRIS and Finance stakeholders into prioritized, resourced technical work for the platform team.
• Build trust-based relationships with business stakeholders, managing expectations around timelines, platform constraints, and trade-offs.
• Facilitate governance forums (e.g., intake, prioritization, release planning) between the technical team and functional business owners.
• Represent the Workday platform team in IT leadership discussions, communicating status, risk, and resourcing needs.

Platform Operations & Delivery

• Understand Workday as a SaaS platform — including its vendor-managed release cadence, configuration-vs-customization model, tenant management, integration architecture, and security model — well enough to manage a team operating within those constraints.
• Oversee day-to-day platform operations: incident management, change management, integration support, and release/upgrade coordination.
• Ensure the technical team delivers reliable, secure, and well-governed platform services that create measurable value for HCM and FINS stakeholders.
• Partner with security, data governance, and other IT functions as needed to support platform integrity.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify and drive improvements to team processes, delivery practices, and platform reliability.
• Monitor and report on team performance, platform health, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience (typically 5+ years) leading technical teams — e.g., engineers, developers, or platform operations staff — including direct hiring, coaching, and performance management responsibility.
• Demonstrated success managing relationships with non-technical business stakeholders who own functional requirements, including negotiating priorities and managing expectations.
• Working understanding of SaaS platform delivery models (vendor release cycles, configuration vs. customization, integration patterns, tenant/environment management) and the ability to apply that understanding to team and stakeholder management, even without Workday-specific experience.
• Ability to obtain and maintain federal security clearance.
• Experience running or overseeing operational processes such as incident management, change management, and release coordination for a business-critical platform.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to flex between technical detail (with engineers/developers) and business impact (with functional stakeholders and leadership).
• Bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with the Workday platform (HCM, Financial Management, Extend, integrations, or reporting).
• Experience partnering specifically with HRIS and/or Finance/Accounting functions.
• Familiarity with ITSM tooling (e.g., ServiceNow) and IT service management practices.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, PMP, or Workday-specific credentials).

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.