Head of Product Development in Soest, Utrecht at Jobgether

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Head of Product Development based in Netherlands.

This is a newly created department-head role with direct exposure to the CEO and end-to-end ownership of physical consumer product development.
You will turn customer insights into products that are specified, manufactured, priced, launched, and continuously improved.
The role combines customer research, product design, overseas manufacturing, commercial decision-making, and post-launch performance management.
You will use evidence from reviews, search behavior, social content, surveys, interviews, and testing to determine what products should be built and how they should be positioned.
You will also establish a disciplined feedback loop between launch predictions and actual commercial results.
Alongside individual product ownership, you will lead a small team and shape the research, analysis, and scoring systems that support product decisions.
The position is fully remote, with flexibility around a required daily overlap with US Eastern Time.

• Own the complete product development lifecycle, from identifying customer needs and opportunities through product specification, manufacturing, launch, pricing, and post-launch performance.
• Build and maintain a detailed understanding of target customers, including purchase motivations, customer segments, purchase occasions, price and quality perceptions, trust signals, complaints, and return drivers.
• Use customer reviews, search behavior, social media, surveys, interviews, concept testing, and pricing research to generate actionable product insights and continuously validate assumptions.
• Define and prioritize the new product pipeline, determining which opportunities should move forward, wait, or be discontinued based on customer and commercial evidence.
• Own product and offer design decisions, including materials, construction, specifications, packaging, sizing, color assortment, and market positioning.
• Manage product development with overseas factories and manufacturing partners, including specifications, samples, quality standards, and production requirements.
• Monitor live products and lead continuous improvement initiatives, investigating negative feedback to identify root causes and determining when products should be redesigned, relaunched, expanded, or discontinued.
• Establish a results-oriented feedback loop comparing launch forecasts and assumptions with actual product performance and using those learnings to improve future decisions.
• Balance pricing, product costs, and expected margins when evaluating product and offer opportunities.
• Lead and develop the product analysts and sourcing/production coordinator, set priorities, review their work, and raise the overall quality and effectiveness of the team.
• Guide the development and use of research and scoring tools, including AI-supported workflows, while maintaining appropriate human oversight and validation.

• Demonstrated experience developing and launching at least three physical consumer products sold to US consumers, with ownership of customer insights, product and offer decisions, and commercial results.
• Experience launching at least one product primarily through an online channel, such as direct-to-consumer, Amazon, or another marketplace.
• At least five years of experience within a consumer products company, brand, or retailer serving US consumers.
• Evidence of making difficult product decisions based on customer insights, including having stopped, redesigned, or challenged a product or concept because of research or customer feedback.
• Strong understanding of customer research methodologies, including interviews, surveys, concept testing, pricing tests, review analysis, and social listening, as well as the strengths and limitations of each approach.
• Strong understanding of how US consumers evaluate products online, including imagery, reviews, ratings, pricing and price anchors, comparisons, and social proof.
• Hands-on product development expertise covering specifications, materials, samples, quality standards, and manufacturing relationships, including overseas production.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to evaluate price, cost, margin, customer value, and product quality together.
• Experience leading at least three people, with a demonstrated ability to improve the quality and effectiveness of their work.
• Practical experience using AI tools in research or product development, combined with appropriate human review and validation.
• Excellent written English and the ability to communicate product insights, decisions, specifications, and recommendations clearly and precisely.
• Comfortable working in a fully remote environment with required overlap from 9 AM to 1 PM US Eastern Time, while maintaining flexibility outside those hours.
• This role is specifically focused on physical consumer products; backgrounds centered exclusively on software or digital product management, marketing or brand management without product ownership, sourcing or merchandising without customer and offer ownership, or product development exclusively for non-US markets are not aligned with the role.

• Fully remote position.
• Flexible working schedule outside the required 9 AM–1 PM Eastern Time overlap.
• Direct reporting relationship with the CEO and significant visibility within the organization.
• End-to-end ownership of product development and commercial outcomes.
• Opportunity to shape a newly created product development function and establish its processes, tools, and standards.
• Leadership responsibility for a dedicated product and sourcing/production team.
• Opportunity to work across customer research, product development, manufacturing, pricing, and commercial strategy.
• Ability to use and shape AI-supported research and product development workflows.
• International exposure through collaboration with overseas manufacturing partners.
• Compensation and additional benefits to be determined according to the local employment package.