Hire an Interim Product Owner
Looking to hire an interim Product Owner or Product Manager in Amsterdam or elsewhere in the Netherlands? I'm Jasper Venema, an independent interim Product Owner and Product Manager with eight years in product and eleven in tech. I work through my own business, Venema Consulting & Innovatie (KVK 42066462), from Bussum, half an hour from central Amsterdam. You'd bring me in when someone is on leave, when a role has been empty for too long, or when the goal has gone fuzzy. There's no agency behind me and no "we". It's just me: I take the role over for a while and hand it back in one piece.
It tends to matter most in the busy, messy months, when someone has just left or the platform is creaking under growth. That's when a roadmap either keeps moving or quietly stalls.
When do you hire a temporary Product Owner?
There are roughly three situations where it makes sense. They often overlap, but it helps to know which one you're starting from.
Bridging
Your Product Owner or Product Manager is out for a while, on maternity leave, off sick or on a sabbatical, or you're still looking for the right permanent hire. That search often takes months, and meanwhile the decisions pile up. I take the role over, keep the team shipping, and hand it back when your colleague returns or the new hire starts. We agree the end date at the start, so nobody gets surprised.
Accelerating
The team is working, but it needs to go faster or be sharper about what it builds. Maybe a launch is coming up, or a discovery won't get unstuck. Then I'm an extra, experienced pair of hands who gets things moving without needing three months to settle in.
Setting direction
Sometimes the real question is whether you're doing the right work at all. A product has to be built up from nothing, a team lacks structure, or a portfolio is overdue for some hard choices. That's closer to interim Head of Product work: resetting priorities, picking a direction and making sure the strategy actually gets carried out.
How I work, and how I hand over
I spend the first week or two mostly listening, to the team and to customers, and finding out what has already been tried. After that I decide where I should lead and where the team is better off steering itself. By the second week I'll be taking most of the day-to-day decisions.
The part I care about most is how I leave. From the first day I keep light handover notes, so nothing depends on one person, including me. When I go, the team should be able to carry on without me. And if you're still looking for a permanent hire, I'm happy to help recruit and onboard my own successor, if you want that.
Why you might pick me
Enterprise data and AI
Most of my work has been on data and AI products in large organisations. At Randstad Groep Nederland I built a data lake from scratch that handles billions of transactions a day, and at Heineken I owned a global AI-driven sales application. If your product sits in that corner, I won't need months to find my way around.
I prototype with AI
I'm not an engineer, but these days I build my own prototypes and side projects with AI tools like Claude Code. That makes me a better sparring partner for engineers, it lets me test an idea before anyone has to build it properly, and it means I can speak the language of engineering. A prototype isn't production software, and building them has only made me respect the people who build the real thing more.
Who I've worked with
At Heineken I was the Senior PM on a global AI-driven sales application, built for the UK, Italy and South Africa, which I took from prototype to MVP. At Randstad Groep Nederland I built the RGN DataHub from the ground up, grew the team from 2 to 8 and brought the platform's costs down by roughly 20%. Through 25Friday I was interim Product Lead and Head of Product for clients including Purple, levvr.io and BrainsFirst, which meant a lot of time with CEOs and investors on product strategy. Before that I was Product Owner at Endouble (we launched Etos and Gall&Gall and halved the development time per site), Product Manager at JobAdder in Sydney (80+ user interviews), and interim Data Steward at Rabobank.
I have an MSc in Business Administration (Entrepreneurship & Innovation track, Amsterdam Business School) and a BSc in Beta-Gamma (UvA), plus PRINCE2 Foundation and certifications from Pendo and Mind the Product. At 25Friday I hosted the three-part Product Guru Insights series, interviewing Randy Silver, Saeed Khan and Janet Bumpas. And in July 2026 Toptal admitted me to its network as a Verified Expert in Product Management, which puts me in the top 3% of freelance product managers.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to hire a freelance Product Owner?
Somewhere around €95–150/hr, depending on scope and duration (an indicative band; I confirm the actual rate per engagement). A longer, full-time engagement usually lands at the lower end, and a short, tightly scoped job at the higher end. We agree it before we start, so the invoice holds no surprises.
How long does a typical engagement run?
Anything from one to twelve months, though three to twelve usually works best. That's long enough to settle in, ship something that matters and hand over properly. Shorter works for a tightly scoped problem, and longer is fine if it's going well.
What's the difference between a freelance and an interim Product Owner?
Not much, in practice. A freelance Product Owner is usually hired per project or by the hour, while an interim Product Owner steps into an existing role for a while and takes responsibility for the team and the roadmap. I do both through Venema Consulting & Innovatie, and the work is the same either way: take it over, keep it on course, and hand it back in good shape.
Currently not available, but always happy to talk
At the moment I'm not taking on new interim engagements. Want to get acquainted or stay in touch anyway? The first step is a 30-minute call to see whether we're a fit. Get in touch or find me on LinkedIn.
Not there yet? Read what former colleagues and clients say first, or have a look at my career.