Senior Manager, Product Management

When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.

We're on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.

Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We're changing. Because students need a better way.

We're looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students-and for each other.

This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It's where you're empowered to bring your authentic self to work.

Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you-from physical and mental to financial and professional. You'll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.

We're obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking "why not?" when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.

Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.

Role Overview

As a Senior Manager of Product Management, you will serve as a senior product owner within a team of product owner managers responsible for the oversight, performance, and evolution of our flagship Private Student Lending (PSL) product. This role partners closely with the Head of Product Management and peers across the product organization to ensure the product is well-managed, competitive, and positioned to deliver durable value.

This position is designed for a traditional product owner - someone who brings strong judgment, critical thinking, and collaboration skills to define what should be built and why, then work effectively across the organization to bring the right ideas to market. It is not an agile delivery or project management role, nor is it a standalone strategy role. Instead, it emphasizes ownership, prioritization, and disciplined execution within a clearly defined business.

You will operate as part of a broader product leadership team, with clear areas of responsibility and natural overlap, contributing to shared outcomes while stewarding specific aspects of the PSL product with accountability and care.

What You'll Contribute

• Act as a senior product owner supporting the ongoing management and evolution of our PSL product alongside a team of peer product leaders.
• Bring structured thinking and sound judgment to help identify, shape, and advance a focused set of high-impact product ideas at any given time.
• Partner closely with Business Strategy, Credit, Distribution, Marketing, Technology, Operations, Risk, Legal, Compliance, and Finance to translate priorities into executable product direction.
• Help ensure that product decisions balance customer needs, business objectives, risk considerations, and operational realities.
• Contribute to a strong culture of ownership, collaboration, and accountability across the product organization.

What You'll Do

• Support the definition and refinement of product direction, informed by customer insights, performance data, market dynamics, and strategic priorities.
• Clearly articulate product opportunities, tradeoffs, and recommendations - focusing on a manageable set of well-reasoned initiatives rather than volume of ideas.
• Define product requirements, value propositions, and success metrics that enable effective execution and measurement.
• Lead day-to-day product stewardship, working cross-functionally to ensure initiatives are thoughtfully designed, well-sequenced, and ready for market.
• Prepare clear, concise executive-level materials that communicate performance, insights, and recommendations.
• Monitor competitive trends and evolving customer needs to inform incremental innovation and longer-term enhancements.
• Uphold strong governance and controls across the product lifecycle, ensuring the product remains compliant, operationally sound, and financially well understood.

What You Have

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field (MBA or advanced degree preferred).
• 5+ years of experience in financial services, product management, product strategy, consulting, FinTech, or related roles.
• Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize data, research, and context into practical recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize effectively and focus teams on the most valuable opportunities.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience influencing across functions and seniority levels.
• Comfort operating within complex, matrixed organizations.
• Familiarity with agile concepts as a prioritization and iteration framework - not as a delivery management function.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination by employers, in compensation and employment opportunities, against qualified individuals with disabilities who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the "essential functions" of a job. A function may be essential for any of several reasons, including: the job exists to perform that function, the employee holding the job was hired for his/her expertise in performing the function, or only a limited number of employees are available to perform that function.

Feeling your best helps you do your best:

Our benefits take care of the whole you-so you can build your work around your life (not the other way around!).

• Competitive base salaries

• Bonus incentives

• Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed

• Support for financial-well-being and retirement 401k with employer match

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more

• Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance

• Flexible hybrid working arrangements.

• Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs

• Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)

• Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives

• Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs

• Career development and training opportunities

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Sallie Mae is proud to be an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, gender identity, disability, Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Click here to view the U.S. Pay Transparency Policy, here for federal job applicant notices, and here to view the California Employee Privacy Notice.

Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation please call (855) 756-2007 and choose option 9. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.