GCP Gemini Enterprise Engineer

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 youre 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.

This role owns the technical build and deployment of Nelnets GenAI solutions on Google Cloud specifically the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform Googles 2026 evolution of Vertex AI unifying model selection agent building and orchestration with what were formerly separate Vertex AI and Agentspace products. The GCP / Gemini Enterprise Engineer translates the Forward Deployed Engineers scoped delivery backlog into working agentic solutions model integrations and data connections that meet client requirements and Nelnets engineering standards.

Operating as the core build engineer within Nelnets GenAI delivery team this role is responsible for the technical implementation of agentic assistants retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and model integrations for higher education and SLED clients in close collaboration with the Data Engineer on data readiness and the AgentOps Engineer on infrastructure and deployment. The Forward Deployed Engineer and Engagement Manager own client scoping and relationship management; this role owns solution build quality technical architecture and delivery execution.

Comepnsation range for this role: $130000-$150000 based on experience

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 24 hours of in-office work each week for associates that reside within 30 miles of an office. This is subject to change based on manager discretion.

At this time we are unable to consider external candidates that reside in these states: Alabama California Connecticut Hawaii Illinois Maine Massachusetts Michigan New Jersey New York Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington.

NOTE: Internal Associates working in a remote capacity may be considered

for this position.

Key Responsibilities:

Agentic Solution Development

• Design build and deploy agentic assistants and GenAI applications on the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Agent Builder Workspace Studio Model Garden) translating backlog items from the Forward Deployed Engineer into working solutions.
• Implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and grounding using the platforms search and grounding capabilities.
• Integrate Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and multi-agent orchestration patterns where engagements require them.

Model Selection & Tuning

• Evaluate and select appropriate foundation models from Model Garden (including Gemini and third-party models) based on client use case cost and performance requirements.
• Fine-tune or prompt-engineer models to meet accuracy safety and compliance requirements specific to higher education and SLED data.
• Monitor model performance and iterate based on client feedback and delivery retrospectives.
• Build and maintain evaluation harnesses and regression test sets to validate agent accuracy grounding and hallucination rates prior to release with added rigor for student-facing and FERPA-sensitive use cases.

Platform & Integration Engineering

• Build live API and tool-calling integrations so agentic solutions can take real-time actions in client systems (SIS ERP casework systems) distinct from the batch data pipelines the Data Engineer builds for analytics and RAG ingestion; partner with the Data Engineer on shared data access patterns and the AgentOps Engineer on infrastructure.
• Maintain technical documentation of solution architecture model configurations and integration points for internal reuse.
• Build solutions for reuse across engagements converting one-off client work into repeatable playbooks and connectors.

Delivery Execution & Quality

• Execute against the delivery backlog owned by the Forward Deployed Engineer providing technical estimates flagging build risks and delivering working solutions on schedule.
• Participate in technical discovery sessions with the Forward Deployed Engineer to validate feasibility before commitments are made to clients.
• Conduct code and configuration reviews to maintain quality and security standards across the practice.
• Serve as the quality gate in release readiness confirming evaluation and regression test results before a build moves to production alongside the AgentOps Engineers operational readiness sign-off.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with the Data Engineer to ensure data pipelines and classification support agentic solution requirements.
• Partner with the AgentOps Engineer on deployment monitoring and environment management.
• Provide technical input to the Forward Deployed Engineer and Engagement Manager on scope risk and timeline.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Hands-on experience building and deploying GenAI/agentic AI solutions (e.g. LLM-based assistants RAG pipelines multi-agent orchestration) in production required. Direct experience with the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Agent Builder Model Garden Workspace Studio) or its predecessor Vertex AI strongly preferred; candidates with deep GenAI experience on other platforms (e.g. AWS Bedrock Azure AI Foundry OpenAI/Anthropic APIs) who can ramp quickly on Googles stack will be considered.
• Experience with large language models and prompt engineering fine-tuning or grounding techniques; direct experience with Gemini models (Gemini API / Gemini Enterprise) preferred.
• Familiarity with the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and multi-agent orchestration patterns.
• Working knowledge of cloud data compute and access-control services supporting AI workloads (e.g. BigQuery/Snowflake Cloud Run/GKE or equivalent container platforms IAM) sufficient to ramp quickly on Google Clouds specific implementations.
• Google Cloud certification preferred (Professional Machine Learning Engineer or Professional Cloud Architect) demonstrating hands-on technical fluency; foundational/business-oriented certifications (e.g. Generative AI Leader) do not satisfy this preference.
• Experience building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and integrating LLM-based solutions with enterprise data sources.
• Software engineering fundamentals sufficient to build production-quality maintainable integrations (Python and/or relevant SDKs).
• Experience building evaluation harnesses or test suites for LLM/agent outputs (accuracy groundedness hallucination rate) and running regression tests before releases.
• Ability to work from a scoped backlog and translate technical requirements from the Forward Deployed Engineer into working solutions.

Desired Competencies:

• Demonstrates strong technical judgment in selecting the right model architecture and approach for a given client constraint.
• Builds for reuse translating one-off client work into repeatable technical assets.
• Communicates technical trade-offs clearly to the Forward Deployed Engineer and Engagement Manager.
• Adapts quickly to platform and product changes given the pace of change in Googles AI product stack.
• Takes ownership of solution quality from build through deployment.
• Collaborates effectively with Data Engineering and AgentOps counterparts.
• Maintains composure and problem-solving focus when technical blockers threaten delivery timelines.
• Seeks continuous learning given the fast-evolving nature of the Google Cloud AI and agent platform.

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.

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: Benefits & Perks - Nelnet Inc.

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 Talent Acquisition at

Nelnet is a Drug Free and Tobacco Free Workplace.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

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