Hire a Product Owner or Product Manager — without the agency markup
Looking to hire a product owner in Amsterdam or elsewhere in the Netherlands — interim, freelance or contract — and ideally directly, without a middleman? You're in the right place. I'm Jasper Venema, an independent interim Product Owner and Product Manager with 10+ years of experience. You hire me directly through Venema Consulting & Innovatie (KVK 42066462) — no agency in between, so no agency markup. Available now, across the Netherlands and remote in EMEA.
The problem with hiring through an agency
Most organisations looking for an interim product owner start with a staffing agency or a marketplace. Understandable — they're visible and easy to find. But there's a cost: a markup of often 20 to 40% on top of what the professional actually earns, an account manager as an extra link in the chain, and a matching process that can drag on for weeks.
Hiring directly is simply faster, sharper on price, and gives you one point of contact: the person who also does the work. No noise between you and the person carrying your roadmap. This isn't a swipe at agencies — they have their place — but for a defined interim engagement, the direct route is usually the sensible one.
What you get
I get hired in roughly three situations:
- Cover for leave or absence — maternity, parental, sick or sabbatical leave. A defined end date and a clean handover: I take the baton, keep team and roadmap moving, and hand it back when your colleague returns.
- Bridging an unfilled role — finding the right permanent Product Owner or Product Manager often takes months. I keep pace and quality up so you can recruit calmly, without compromising.
- A specific challenge — a discovery, a launch, a turnaround, or standing up or sunsetting a product. An extra pair of experienced product hands for a clear goal.
Whether you need a temporary product owner, an interim product manager, or an interim head of product — if I can add value, I'm in.
Transparency: rate and what an engagement looks like
My hourly rate sits in the €95–150/hr band, depending on scope and duration (indicative band — I confirm the final rate per engagement). No intermediary's markup, no hidden costs — what you pay goes to the work.
An engagement starts with a 30-minute intro call to settle scope, timeline and expectations. From there I capture the agreement in a clear contractor agreement, and I can start within days. Three to twelve months tends to work best — enough time to land properly, ship something meaningful, and hand over cleanly. Shorter is possible for a tightly scoped problem.
How I work — and why the handover matters
The first one or two weeks are mostly about listening: to the team, to customer signals, to what's already been tried. From there I sharpen the focus and decide where I lead versus where the team stays in the driver's seat.
Three things set me apart. I'm an enterprise data and AI product operator, not an e-commerce generalist — think the 400TB data platform at Randstad and AI-powered sales tooling at Heineken. I'm also the PO who builds things myself: I prototype with AI tools and talk with the technology, not just about it. And I'm mildly obsessed with the handover — takeover, not just bridging. From day one I work on lightweight handover documentation. I don't just deliver a product, but a team that can carry on without me.
Proof: track record
- Heineken — Senior Product Manager on Eazle, a global AI-powered sales app serving markets in the UK, Italy and South Africa.
- Randstad — built the RGN DataHub: a 400TB+ data lake handling billions of daily transactions, ~20% cost reduction, team grown from 2 to 8.
- 25Friday — interim Product Lead and Head of Product across clients (incl. Purple, levvr.io, BrainsFirst); co-host of the Product Circle meetup.
- Endouble — as Product Owner, launched the first enterprise customers (Etos & Gall&Gall), with a 50% reduction in development time per site.
- JobAdder (Sydney) — redesigned the candidate experience based on 80+ user interviews.
Background: MBA from Amsterdam Business School, BSc Beta-Gamma (UvA), and Mind the Product training. Sectors: energy/FMCG, HR-tech & talent acquisition, SaaS/PaaS, and enterprise data & AI.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost, and is there really no markup?
My rate is between €95–150/hr, depending on scope and duration (indicative band — I confirm the final rate per engagement). You hire me directly through Venema Consulting & Innovatie — there's no staffing agency or marketplace in between, so no markup on my rate.
How quickly can you start?
Right away. My calendar is clear, and after a short intro call I can be up and running within days — no weeks-long matching procedure.
What contract form, and how does the freelance/ZZP side work?
I work as an independent contractor (ZZP in the Netherlands) and invoice through Venema Consulting & Innovatie. We capture the engagement in a clear agreement; working via a model agreement (modelovereenkomst) is no problem.
Let's talk
Want to hire a Product Owner or Product Manager without the hassle and without the agency markup? Book a no-obligation 30-minute intro call. Get in touch or find me on LinkedIn.