Job description
Location:
Amsterdam - Netherlands
Type:
Fulltime
Intelic builds the software that makes uncrewed systems work in contested environments. Our platform, Nexus, is a C2 system for heterogeneous drone fleets operating where comms break down and GPS drops out. We integrate with NATO battle management systems, deploy with Ukrainian forces in active operations, and work directly with the Dutch Ministry of Defence and allied partners to define what next-generation drone warfare looks like. We are transitioning from a project-driven organization to a product-led one; building empowered product teams, each owning a piece of Nexus. But our delivery commitments to defense partners don't pause while we mature. We need someone who can operate at the level above individual teams: orchestrating delivery across multiple product initiatives, aligning project commitments with product vision, and acting as the connective tissue between what we promise partners and what our teams ship.
Why this role exists
Intelic's work with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, allied stakeholders, and operational units in Ukraine runs through framework agreements with multiple concurrent initiatives. Each initiative involves its own requirements, milestones, and stakeholders but they share dependencies, engineering capacity, and a single product roadmap. Right now, no one owns the full picture across these initiatives. Engineering leads own their team's delivery. Product owns the roadmap. Operations owns what happens in the field. But the orchestration layer (ensuring that the portfolio of commitments stays coherent, that delivery timelines across teams are realistic, that partner communications reflect actual progress, and that project work stays aligned with where the product is heading) that role does not exist yet. This is it. You will be the person who makes Intelic's delivery machine work at scale, without turning it into a bureaucracy.
What you will own
• Cross-initiative orchestration: you maintain the delivery picture across all initiatives under our framework agreements. You know what every team is delivering, when it's due, what depends on what, and where the risks are. You surface conflicts before they become crises.
• Alignment between project commitments and product vision: defense partners have contractual deliverables with specific timelines. Product teams have a roadmap driven by strategic priorities. You are the person who ensures these stay in sync, flagging when partner commitments risk pulling teams away from product direction, and when product priorities risk breaking delivery promises.
• Stakeholder communication and reporting: you own the delivery narrative to external partners. You consolidate progress across teams into coherent partner updates, milestone reports, and governance communications. You ensure the Dutch MoD and allied stakeholders always have a clear, accurate picture of where things stand.
• Delivery process and cadence: you establish and maintain the rhythms that keep delivery on track: cross-team syncs, dependency reviews, milestone tracking, risk escalation paths. You bring enough structure to create clarity without slowing teams down.
• Risk, dependency, and capacity management: you track cross-team dependencies and shared resource constraints. You work with engineering and product leadership to ensure capacity allocation reflects actual commitments, and you escalate trade-offs that need leadership decisions.
• Proposal and planning support: when new initiatives or framework extensions are scoped, you provide the delivery perspective: what is realistic, what conflicts with existing commitments, and what needs to be true for new timelines to hold.
• Scaling delivery practices: as Intelic grows, you shape how the company delivers across teams. You build the practices, tools, and norms that let us scale without losing speed or accountability.
Note: this role involves (inter)national travel, including to operational environments.
What we are looking for
This role requires someone who combines defense domain experience with strong delivery leadership. You need to understand how defense institutions operate and how product teams deliver, and you need the judgment to bridge both worlds.
Experience
• 7+ years in delivery management, program management, or senior project management in technology-driven environments. You have orchestrated delivery across multiple teams or workstreams simultaneously, not just managed single projects.
• Military or defense background: at least 2 years working within or directly alongside armed forces, a ministry of defence, or a defense contractor. You understand how defense organizations make decisions, procure technology, structure framework agreements, and communicate.
• Product-led delivery experience: you have worked in or alongside empowered product teams. You understand the difference between a feature factory and a product organization, and you know how to protect team autonomy while ensuring external commitments are met.
• Defense procurement familiarity: you have navigated government procurement processes, framework agreements, or similar institutional buying cycles. Experience with Dutch or NATO procurement structures is a strong plus.
Skills and capabilities
• Portfolio-level thinking: you naturally operate at the level above individual teams. You see dependencies, conflicts, and trade-offs across workstreams and surface them before they become problems.
• Structured communication: you can brief a ministry partner on delivery progress in the morning and facilitate a cross-team dependency review in the afternoon. Written and verbal communication in English is essential; Dutch is a strong plus.
• Delivery discipline without bureaucracy: you know how to create clarity and accountability through lightweight processes, regular cadences, and transparent tracking without introducing overhead that slows empowered teams down.
• Technical fluency: you do not need to write code, but you are comfortable working with software and systems engineers. You understand enough about C2 systems, APIs, and software delivery to have credible conversations about feasibility and timelines.
• Bias to action: given incomplete information, you move forward with a reasonable plan and adapt, rather than waiting for perfect clarity.
Preferred qualifications
• PMP, PRINCE2, SAFe, or Agile certifications
• Experience with complex systems integration or defense technology platforms (BMS, C2, ISR)
• NATO or multi-national defense program experience
• Familiarity with uncrewed systems (UxV) or autonomous platforms
• Operational deployment experience; you have been in or supported field operations, not just managed them from a desk
You will thrive here if
• You think in portfolios, not projects. Your instinct is to zoom out, see how initiatives connect, and ensure the whole is coherent, not just that individual pieces are on track.
• You protect product teams from delivery chaos. You see your role as creating the conditions for empowered teams to do their best work, not as directing their output.
• You are comfortable with defense stakeholders. You understand how ministries and military organizations operate, and you can navigate their communication expectations and decision-making structures without losing your startup pace.
• You bring clarity to ambiguity. When commitments are unclear, timelines conflict, or priorities shift, you are the person who maps it out, names the trade-offs, and drives a decision.
• You are drawn to the mission. European security, defense technology, keeping people safe — this is not just another delivery role to you.
Your first year
• You have established a clear delivery picture across all framework agreement initiatives, and leadership and partners trust your view of where things stand.
• You have built the cross-team orchestration cadence: the syncs, reviews, and reporting rhythms that keep delivery coherent across product teams.
• You have become the primary delivery voice to external stakeholders, consolidating progress into clear, credible partner communications.
• You have identified and resolved at least one significant cross-team dependency or capacity conflict before it impacted a partner commitment.
• You have shaped how Intelic thinks about delivery at scale, contributing practices that will outlast any single project.
How we work
We run delivery with a bias toward clarity, accountability, and real-world impact. Planning is structured with clear milestones and owners, adapted to the pace of each engagement. We use GitHub, Linear, Slack, and Notion for collaboration. Product teams follow Agile practices with autonomy over how they deliver. We track progress through OKRs, regular partner check-ins, and real-world validation with operators in the field.
Why Intelic
• Real ownership. You own how Intelic delivers; not just a single project, but the system that makes delivery work across teams and partners.
• Shape the company. We are building our delivery function from the ground up. How you work becomes how we work.
• See your decisions in the field. Your orchestration directly affects how technology gets deployed in real operations.
• Learn fast. Direct partner contact, cross-functional ownership, and a team that takes craft seriously.
• The mission is real. We build technology that makes Europe safer. That is not a tagline.
Benefits
• Travel allowance
• Flexible pension plan
• 25 vacation days + 8% holiday allowance
• Stock Appreciation Rights program
• Office at NDSM wharf, Amsterdam Noord, overlooking het IJ
• Urban Sports corporate membership
• Lease a Bike option
We look forward to receiving your application and getting to know you. If you have any questions, please contact our recruiter Liliia at liliia@intelic.ai.