Head of Product at Nearfield… · Rotterdam

About Nearfield Instruments

Nearfield Instruments (NFI) is a fast-growing scale-up high-tech company. We design, develop, integrate, market and service advanced metrology machines. Our machines enables our customers - the world’s leading chipmakers – to increase the production yields, and thus, functionality of their microchips, which in turn leads to smaller, more powerful consumer electronics.

Founded in 2016, we bring together the most creative minds (approx. 380 employees) in science and technology and develop a one-of-a-kind, revolutionary high throughput Scanning Probe Microscopy system.

Head of Product

Nearfield Instruments | Rotterdam and Eindhoven, the Netherlands | On-site | International travel ~35%

The opportunity

Nearfield Instruments is scaling rapidly in one of the world’s most demanding industries: semiconductor manufacturing.

As Head of Product, you will lead the product-management process: translating customer problems, market dynamics and technology possibilities into clear product definitions, portfolio choices and development priorities.

The role is centered on the why and the what: identifying the problems worth solving, defining the intended product outcomes and requirements, and making evidence-based choices about where Nearfield should invest.

You combine deep customer understanding with systems thinking and technical judgement. You create clarity early in the product lifecycle, before solutions are committed, and guide teams from problem discovery through product definition and roadmap decisions.

You will bring clarity to which customer problems we address, which capabilities matter most, how requirements are prioritized and how products evolve over time. This role reports to the Director of Product and Program Management.

What you will do

Product discovery, strategy & portfolio

· Own and continuously develop Nearfield’s product strategy, portfolio logic and product-management process.

· Lead structured discovery to identify, validate and frame the customer problems that matter most.

· Translate company strategy, market developments, customer challenges and technology opportunities into clear product theses and investment priorities.

· Drive portfolio choices across customer value, strategic fit, technical feasibility, development effort, risk and time-to-impact.

· Define the intended product outcomes, scope boundaries and decision criteria before development commitments are made.

Product definition & roadmap

· Own the integrated product roadmap and connect validated customer problems, product requirements, business priorities and technology development.

· Translate complex and sometimes ambiguous customer needs into measurable product outcomes, system-level requirements and clear acceptance criteria.

· Lead early product definition with System Engineering and Development & Engineering, exploring solution options and making deliberate trade-offs before execution begins.

· Maintain roadmap integrity through explicit assumptions, dependencies, decision gates and lifecycle priorities.

Customer problem & market insight

· Develop a deep understanding of the workflows, constraints and unmet needs of leading semiconductor manufacturers.

· Plan and lead customer discovery with users, technical stakeholders and commercial teams, distinguishing stated requests from underlying problems.

· Work with the Product Marketing team to combine customer evidence, market developments, competitive insight, installed-base learning and product data into well-founded product opportunities.

· Build a strong understanding of alternative solutions and competitive capabilities to inform product choices and requirements.

· Lead strategic customer conversations on future use cases, problem evolution, performance needs and technology readiness.

Cross-functional leadership

· Act as the connecting point between customers, Sales, System Engineering, Development & Engineering and Operations during discovery, definition and lifecycle decisions.

· Create alignment on problem statements, product outcomes, requirements and priorities so teams understand both what we are building and why.

· Challenge assumptions, expose uncertainties and bring structure to complex product decisions.

· Drive decisions using customer evidence, strategic value, technical feasibility, lifecycle impact and risk.

· Establish lightweight discovery, requirements and governance practices that improve decision quality without unnecessary bureaucracy.

Build the product organization

· Further professionalize product management as Nearfield continues to scale.

· Define clear ownership, decision rights and interfaces across discovery, product definition, roadmap governance and lifecycle management.

· Build and develop a high-performing product management capability with strong technical depth and customer-problem orientation.

· Create an environment characterized by curiosity, customer evidence, accountability, speed and fact-based decisions.

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What you bring

· MSc or PhD in a relevant technical discipline such as Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics or a related field.

· Significant experience in product management, product strategy, product definition or product leadership within a complex high-tech environment.

· Experience with sophisticated capital equipment, semiconductor equipment, metrology, inspection or another highly technical B2B environment is strongly preferred.

· A proven ability to discover and frame complex customer problems and translate them into product outcomes, requirements and investment choices.

· Strong understanding of product lifecycle management, from customer discovery and early product definition through industrialization, adoption and lifecycle evolution.

· Experience working directly with demanding global customers in early-stage discovery, requirements definition and roadmap discussions.

· Ability to operate effectively across engineering, commercial and operational organizations.

· Strong strategic judgement combined with a hands-on approach.

· Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence senior technical and commercial stakeholders.

What makes you successful at Nearfield

You are comfortable when the answer is not obvious.

You can move from a strategic discussion about the future of semiconductor metrology to a detailed conversation about customer workflows, system requirements and technical trade-offs without losing sight of the bigger picture.

You ask difficult questions, separate problems from proposed solutions, simplify complexity and make explicit choices.

Most importantly, you think like an owner. You do not see product management as coordinating a process or promoting a finished product. You take responsibility for ensuring that Nearfield defines and builds the right products, for the right customers, at the right time.

What we offer

· A highly influential leadership position in a fast-growing Dutch deep-tech company.

· The opportunity to shape the product direction of technology used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

· Direct interaction with leading semiconductor customers and technology experts.

· A high degree of ownership and room to shape the product management organization.

· An international, technically sophisticated environment where decisions have visible impact.

Locations: Rotterdam and Eindhoven, the Netherlands Working model: On-site, with travel to the Rotterdam headquarters as needed

Recruitment, consultancy and/or other agency?

We appreciate the interest, but we source all our candidates directly. We understand that you as an intermediary want to present candidates to our interesting positions. This is not how we have structured our recruitment.

This means that all profiles offered to Nearfield Instruments will be treated as direct applications. Unless we have explicitly agreed otherwise.