Program Owner (Software)

Job description

This is a rare dual-ownership role: you'll shape the architecture and hold external development partners to a high standard, while building and growing an internal software team whose work directly safeguards the integrity of pipelines and industrial installations worldwide. Location: Head office in Tricht, in the Utrecht/Gelderland region About Intero Integrity Intero Integrity is an internationally operating specialist in the inspection, maintenance and emission monitoring of pipelines and industrial assets. We develop our inspection technology entirely in-house. From ultrasonic measurement systems and FPGA signal processing to the software our analysts use to interpret hundreds of kilometres of pipeline data. The inspection results our software produces are used for safety-critical decisions about the integrity of pipelines and industrial installations such as heat exchangers. Reliability and correctness are therefore not a nice-to-have, but an absolute requirement. We operate across Europe, North America and the Middle East. Our software products sit at the heart of that work: they are used every day by our data analysis organisation around the world. Whatever you build here has a direct, global impact. The opportunity This is a role for someone who wants ownership of something that matters. Our software products are used by our entire data analysis organisation worldwide, and we are investing in evolving them together with an external development partner. As Program Owner you take full ownership of this: you set the direction, safeguard the quality and bring the work to production. What makes this role rare is the combination. On one side you guide and grow our internal software developers, and there is a clear path to take on leaderschip of the department as it matures. On the other side you manage our external partners: you hold them to a high standard, protect scope and budget, and make sure the value they create stays with Intero. Few roles let you shape both the team and the delivery. Because our data is used for decisions about the integrity of pipelines and installations, a strong sense of software quality and risk runs through everything you do. If you are looking for a place where your technical judgement, your leadership and your ownership all count, and where the products you steward are relied on across the globe, this is it. What you will do Ownership & partner governance You take ownership of the software programme end to end and are the primary point of contact towards our external partners You manage scope, planning and budget, and hold external parties to a high standard of quality and delivery You critically assess partners' architecture proposals and technology choices and form an independent view, including on topics outside your own specialism You flag risks early, escalate where necessary and safeguard the long-term maintainability of our software You ensure commitments on IP transfer, documentation and knowledge retention are met, so value created stays with Intero Guiding & growing the internal team You guide our internal software developers day to day and help them grow, with real scope to take on leadership of the department as it matures You establish engineering standards: coding guidelines, review processes, testing strategies and tooling policy You set up CI/CD, the development environment and quality assurance as structural practices You ensure architectural knowledge and domain expertise are documented and transferable, so the team can operate fully independently You build a development culture where ownership, quality and continuous improvement are the norm Architecture & product direction You safeguard the architectural direction and keep it coherent across the whole organisation and programme You translate business and service roadmaps into concrete product decisions You connect the data science and hardware teams to the software architecture, ensuring their requirements are structurally built in You keep an eye on how our products evolve to serve the global data analysis organisation better Stakeholder management You report clearly on progress, choices and risks to R&D leadership and management You stay closely connected with commercial and operational teams so the product roadmap stays aligned with the business You are the voice of the software products in investment and progress discussions What you bring Experience & expertise Demonstrable experience leading complex software development programmes, preferably with external development partners or co-sourcing Experience building, leading or growing a software or engineering team: setting standards, shaping culture, developing people Sufficient technical depth (preferably a C#/.NET background or equivalent) to independently assess and challenge the architecture choices of external parties. You don't need to build it yourself, but you need to know whether it holds up A sharp sense for risk and quality, ideally from a domain where software has a direct impact on safety or reliability (industrial, medical, NDT or similar) Excellent communication skills: equally at ease with a solutions architect and with a board of directors A strong advantage Experience with cloud development, preferably Azure Knowledge of data-intensive environments: large datasets, signal data, streaming or batch processing Affinity with AI/ML and what it means to operationalise machine learning in production Background in industrial or medical inspection technology, industrial automation or another safety-critical domain How you work For us, seniority goes beyond years of experience. We are looking for someone who understands that technical and organisational choices affect the product, the organisation and our customers, and who takes ownership of that. You: Take ownership without waiting to be asked, and bring structure where not everything is fixed yet Get up to speed with what's already in place, form your own view and move forward without reinventing everything from scratch Make decisions with incomplete information and explain them clearly Take responsibility for quality, also outside your own remit, and recognise that in a safety-critical domain the bar is higher Are a pragmatist with a long-term perspective: you know when to push ahead and when to slow down to lay the foundations properly What we offer This is not a generic management vacancy. You get real ownership of software products that our data analysis organisation relies on around the world, the chance to grow an internal team, and the mandate to hold external partners to a high standard, in a domain where technology genuinely matters. Salary & terms of employment Gross monthly salary between € 6.283,- and € 8.081,- based on a 40-hour week, depending on knowledge and experience Year-end bonus, dependent on company results 25 holiday days per year Hybrid working (3 days per week at the office in Tricht as standard) and flexible working hours Collective pension scheme, with Intero contributing 50% of the premium Laptop and phone provided Working environment Technically challenging problems at the intersection of software, hardware and data Collaboration with experienced specialists across a range of technical disciplines Free fruit at work, access to the Intero Gym, company fitness options and a bike leasing scheme An international, technically driven working environment with plenty of room for ownership and initiative Ready to take ownership? Do you want to own software products with global impact, grow a team around you and get the best out of external partners? Then we would like to meet you. Send your application and CV or LinkedIn profile to . Questions about this vacancy? Get in touch with our Corporate Recruiter Veroniek Smits at the same address. Please note that for this role we do not work with recruitment agencies, and we're unable to accept unsolicited candidate submissions or related fees.