Hire an Interim Product Owner
Looking to hire an interim Product Owner or Product Manager in Amsterdam or anywhere in the Netherlands, available now? I'm Jasper Venema — an independent interim Product Owner and Product Manager with 10+ years of product experience, working as Venema Consulting & Innovatie (KVK 42066462) out of Bussum/Amsterdam. I step in when your product needs a steady hand: covering leave, an unfilled role, or a goal that needs sharpening. No agency, no "we" — just one experienced product professional who takes the baton and hands it back cleanly.
Good product ownership isn't a luxury for when you happen to have time. It's exactly in the busy, messy periods — a departure, a growth spurt, a platform under strain — that it decides whether your roadmap stalls or keeps moving.
When do you hire a temporary Product Owner?
In practice, the requests I get fall into three shapes. They often overlap, but it helps to know which one is your starting point.
Bridging
Your Product Owner or Product Manager is temporarily out — maternity leave, sickness, sabbatical — or you're still searching for the right permanent hire. Finding that hire often takes months, and while the seat sits empty the decisions pile up. I take over the role, keep the team shipping, and hand it back cleanly once your colleague returns or your new hire starts. Defined end date, no surprises.
Accelerating
The team is running, but it needs to move faster or sharper. A launch approaching, a discovery that's stuck, a backlog that's lost its direction. Here I'm an extra pair of experienced hands that gets things moving — without three months of ramp-up.
Setting direction
Sometimes the question isn't "who does the work" but "are we doing the right work". A product that needs standing up from zero, a team that lacks structure, or a portfolio where hard choices are overdue. This sits closer to the interim Head of Product side: resetting priorities, setting course, and making sure strategy actually gets executed.
How I work — and how I hand over
The first week or two are mostly about listening: to the team, to customer signals, to what's already been tried. From there I decide where I lead and where the team stays in the driver's seat. By week two I'm taking most of the live decisions.
The real difference is in how I leave. I believe in takeover, not just bridging. From day one I work on lightweight handover documentation, so continuity never hangs on one person — not on your team member, and not on me. I don't just deliver a product; I deliver a team that can carry on without me. That's the goal, not a nice farewell drink.
Why me — and not just anyone available
Enterprise data & AI, not an e-commerce generalist
The centre of gravity in my work is data and AI products at enterprise scale. At Randstad I built a 400TB+ data lake processing billions of daily transactions; at Heineken I led a global, AI-powered sales application. That's a different craft than optimising a webshop — and if your challenge lives there, it saves months of ramp-up.
The PO who builds
I don't just talk about technology, I talk with it. These days I build prototypes and side projects myself with AI tools. That makes me a sharper counterpart for engineers, it speeds up validation, and it means I genuinely speak the language of engineering. A prototype isn't production software — that experience only deepened my respect for it — but being able to build changes the quality of every decision.
Who I've worked with
Framed honestly: these are engagements and roles, not logos to wave around. I've worked at Heineken (Senior PM, a global AI sales app across the UK, Italy and South Africa), at Randstad (the RGN DataHub from the ground up, team grown 2 to 8, ~20% cost reduction), and as interim Product Lead / Head of Product via 25Friday for clients including Purple, levvr.io and BrainsFirst. Before that: Product Owner at Endouble (launched Etos and Gall&Gall, 50% less development time), Product Manager at JobAdder in Sydney (80+ user interviews), and interim Data Steward at Rabobank. MBA from Amsterdam Business School, BSc Beta-Gamma from the UvA, and Mind the Product training.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to hire a freelance Product Owner?
My rate is around €95–150/hr, depending on scope and duration (indicative band — I confirm the final rate per engagement). A longer, full-time interim engagement typically sits lower than a short, tightly scoped piece of work. We agree it clearly up front — no surprises on the invoice.
How long does a typical engagement run?
Three to twelve months works best: enough time to land, ship something meaningful, and hand over cleanly. Shorter is possible for a tightly scoped problem; longer if the fit is right.
What's the difference between a freelance and an interim Product Owner?
In practice they overlap heavily. A freelance Product Owner is usually hired per project or per hour; in an interim role you step temporarily into an existing position and take responsibility for the team and roadmap. I do both under Venema Consulting & Innovatie — whatever you call it, the work is the same: take it over, keep it on course, and leave it handed over.
Available now — let's talk
My calendar is clear and I can start within days, in Amsterdam, across the Netherlands, or remote in EMEA. A good partnership starts with an honest 30-minute conversation. Get in touch or find me on LinkedIn.