Hire a Product Owner or Product Manager directly, without a middleman

Want to hire a product owner in Amsterdam or elsewhere in the Netherlands, on an interim, freelance or contract basis, and preferably directly, without a middleman? Then you've come to the right place. I'm Jasper Venema, an independent interim Product Owner and Product Manager with eleven years in tech, more than eight of them in product. You hire me directly through Venema Consulting & Innovatie (KVK 42066462), so there's no agency in between and no agency markup. At the moment I'm not available for new engagements.

The problem with hiring through an agency

Most organisations looking for an interim product owner start with a staffing agency or a marketplace, which makes sense, because they're visible and easy to find. But it costs you something: a markup of often 20 to 40% on top of what the professional earns, an account manager as an extra link in the chain, and a matching process that can take weeks.

Hiring directly is quicker and cheaper, and you deal with one person: the one actually doing the work. Agencies have their place, but for a clearly defined interim engagement going direct is usually the sensible choice.

When it makes sense

Someone is going on maternity, parental, sick or sabbatical leave. There's an end date, and until then I take the role on, keep the team and the roadmap moving, and hand it back when your colleague returns.
A role is open and the right permanent Product Owner or Product Manager is still months away. I keep things moving so you can recruit calmly, without compromising.
There's a specific job to do: a discovery, a launch, a turnaround, or standing up or winding down a product.

Whether you need a temporary product owner, an interim product manager or an interim head of product: if I can help, I'm in.

What it costs and how it works

My rate is somewhere in the €95–150/hr range, depending on scope and duration (an indicative band; I confirm the actual rate per engagement). There's no intermediary's markup on top and there are no hidden costs, so everything you pay goes into the work.

It starts with a 30-minute intro call about scope, timing and what you expect. After that I put what we agreed into a plain contractor agreement. Engagements run from one to twelve months, and three to twelve tends to work best, because that's long enough to settle in, ship something that matters and hand over properly. Shorter is possible for a tightly scoped problem.

How I work, and why the handover matters

In the first week or two I mostly listen. I want to hear from the team, see what customers are saying and learn what's already been tried before I change anything. Then I sharpen the focus and work out where I should lead and where the team can keep steering.

Most of my experience is with data and AI products in large organisations, like the data platform at Randstad and the AI-driven sales tooling at Heineken. I also build prototypes myself, with AI tools, which makes my conversations with engineers a lot more concrete. And I take the handover seriously: I keep light handover notes from the first day, so that when I leave you have a team that can carry on without me. If it helps, I'll also help recruit my own successor.

Track record

At Heineken I was Senior Product Manager on Eazle Advise, a global AI-driven sales application built for the UK, Italy and South Africa, which I took from prototype to MVP. The prototype, roadmap, backlog and solution architecture were mine.
At Randstad Groep Nederland I built the RGN DataHub from the ground up. It connects roughly 300 source systems and handles billions of transactions a day. We brought the platform's costs down by about 20%, and the team grew from 2 to 8.
Through 25Friday I was interim Product Lead and Head of Product for clients including Purple, levvr.io and BrainsFirst, working with their CEOs and investors on product strategy. That was as much about people as product: I replaced engineers, led teams and advised management on how to set up their product organisation, from CTO through to frontend and design. I also co-hosted the Product Circle meetup.
At Endouble, as Product Owner, I launched the first enterprise customers (Etos and Gall&Gall) and halved the development time per site.
At JobAdder in Sydney I redesigned the candidate experience based on 80+ user interviews.

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. Since July 2026 I've also been a Toptal Verified Expert in Product Management (top 3%). The sectors I've worked in are energy, FMCG, HR-tech and talent acquisition, SaaS/PaaS, and enterprise data and AI.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost, and is there really no markup?

Between €95 and €150 an hour, depending on scope and duration (an indicative band; I confirm the actual rate per engagement). And yes, really: you hire me directly through Venema Consulting & Innovatie, so there's no staffing agency or marketplace in between and nothing added to my rate.

How quickly can you start?

Not at the moment: I'm not taking on new engagements right now. Normally, after a short intro call I can get going quickly, without weeks of matching first.

What contract form, and how does the freelance/ZZP side work?

I work as an independent contractor (ZZP, as it's called in the Netherlands) and invoice through Venema Consulting & Innovatie. We put the engagement in a clear agreement, and if you'd like to use a model agreement (modelovereenkomst), that's fine too.

Let's talk

Want to hire a Product Owner or Product Manager without the hassle of a middleman? Book a free 30-minute intro call. Get in touch or find me on LinkedIn.

Rather see some evidence first? Have a look at what former colleagues and clients say, my career or the products I build with AI.