IT Software Architect - .NET/Web

We are looking for IT Software Architects who can work collaboratively within IT Delivery and across Business Operational areas to help design and deliver pragmatic solutions based on business value and NDS IT technology direction. This role provides technical leadership to agile teams and is also expected to pull work from the product backlog periodically., * Provides overarching architectural leadership across a portfolio of related applications, partnering with application architects, site reliability engineers, and delivery teams to maintain technical alignment and departmental consistency.

• Establishes and sustains the overall architecture practice, design standards, reference patterns, and a shared design language, and captures decisions as Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) maintained in source control.

• Serves as a consulting architect to delivery teams: reviews designs, facilitates architectural decisions, and guides teams toward pragmatic solutions rather than owning delivery for them.

• Owns and continuously improves the developer experience, identifying and removing technology and process impediments at the team level so engineers can do their best work.

• Builds bridges across organizational boundaries, aligning groups that plan, prioritize, and deliver work differently toward shared technical outcomes.

• Develops durable partnerships with infrastructure and platform teams, understanding their priorities and constraints and aligning delivery and platform roadmaps so teams are unblocked rather than escalated around.

• Leads adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices across development roles, serving as a power user, setting expectations for responsible use, and coaching teams on where AI adds leverage.

• Drives cost optimization for both application and platform spend, making architectural trade-offs with total cost of ownership in view.

• Identifies, quantifies, and sequences technical debt remediation and post-implementation cleanup as an explicit part of the delivery plan.

• Provides architectural leadership during incident management and post-incident review, ensuring systemic causes are addressed at the design level.

• Understands the business domain of products supported and the business drivers behind the work, so teams understand the “why” behind technical direction.

• Ensures technology solution architecture and design principles are aligned with NDS IT Delivery technology direction.

• Knowledgeable of all existing services, components and technologies to ensure maximum technology reuse.

• Understands and exhibits skills to protect data, systems and networks and maintains secure, reliable, redundant, and accessible systems.

• Independently identifies and pursues opportunities to improve solution architecture across the enterprise.

• Engages with Agile teams to deliver high quality, working software solutions in alignment with team commitments.

• Explores and pursues technical skills outside of current job family; actively seeks to remain technically current and increase expertise and abilities.

• Strives to align personal passion and career desires with opportunities and company needs.

• Works in concert with Solution Architects to drive Nelnet technology solution architecture.

Nelnet believes in a hybrid work environment that accommodates both in-office and remote work. This model promotes a positive work-life balance and culture, enabling in-person collaboration when possible while also providing benefits associated with remote work. The standard hybrid work schedule includes a 3/2 (in-office/work-from-home) split for associates that reside within 30 miles of an office. This is subject to change, based on manager discretion.

BS / MS in Computer Science, Engineering, related discipline or equivalent experience, * Minimum 6 years of experience in software development with a strong expertise in at least one key competency.

• 2 to 3 years of experience as a technical or development leader with a demonstrated ability to deliver medium to large scale technology solutions.

COMPETENCIES - SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES:

Architecture & Technical Practice

• Solid grounding in architecture practice that transfers across languages and platforms, organizing code and systems in a way that makes sense, integration patterns, and technology-agnostic design judgment.
• Working depth in the predominant application stack: Microsoft .NET frameworks (C# and ASP.NET), Microsoft IIS, RESTful web services, service-based architecture, message-based processing, SQL Server and/or other relational databases, and full stack development.
• Secure development practices; knowledge in the area of NIST compliance, ISSO2 strongly desired.
• Source control and CI/CD practice (GitLab or equivalent), including managing architecture artifacts and ADRs as code.
• Understanding of best practices, standards and methods to integrate applications within the organization and with external partners.
• In-depth knowledge of the full software development lifecycle; with exposure to agile or iterative approaches to delivery preferred.
• Working knowledge of developer experience practices ,build and deployment pipelines, local development setup, feedback loops, and the process friction that slows teams down.
• Understanding of technical debt: how it accumulates, how to quantify it, and how to plan post-implementation cleanup.
• Understanding of application and platform cost drivers, with the ability to optimize spend without compromising reliability.
• Hands-on fluency with AI development tooling and a track record of driving adoption across engineering teams.
• Collaboration tools including JIRA, Confluence and/or Microsoft Teams.
• Understanding of best practices, standards and methods to integrate applications within the organization and with external partners.
• Strong verbal and written communication skill; with the ability to communicate at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and business functions.
• Strong analytical skills to determine effective approaches to business solutions.

LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE

• Strong verbal and written communication skill; with the ability to communicate at all levels of the organization.
• Lateral thinking, inspects and reframes the question before solving it, rather than resolving the immediate problem and moving on.
• Builds trust and credibility across distributed groups and partner organizations; influences technical direction without direct authority.
• Good understanding of how the business operates, with the ability to connect technical decisions to business outcomes.
• Strong analytical skills to determine effective approaches to business solutions.

**STRONG TECHNICAL COMPETENCY IN THE FOLLOWING **

• Microsoft .net frameworks C# and ASP .net
• Microsoft IIS
• Restful Web Services
• Service Based Architecture
• Message Based Processing
• SQL Server and/or other relational databases
• Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS)
• Full Stack Development Experience
• Secure Development Practices
• Collaboration tools including JIRA, Confluence and/or Microsoft Teams

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., 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

You may know Nelnet as the nation’s largest student loan servicer - but we do more than that. A lot more. We’re also a professional services company, consumer loan originator and servicer, payment processor, renewable energy innovator, and K-12 and higher education expert (and that’s just a shortlist). For over 40 years, we’ve been serving our customers, associates, and communities to make dreams possible.