Product Owner – Digital Solutions

Our client is an international aviation technology company developing innovative IoT-based asset tracking solutions for the aviation industry. Their technology provides airlines and aviation operators with continuous visibility of critical aviation assets, helping customers improve asset utilisation, reduce losses, control costs, and increase operational efficiency.

 
They are seeking a Regional Implementation Manager to take ownership of customer implementation and adoption across Europe, the UK, Middle East, and Africa. This highly customer-facing role combines aviation operations, IoT technology, implementation, data analysis, and customer success, working directly with customers from pre-sales trials through to deployment, training, adoption, and ROI realisation.

Key Responsibilities
Customer Deployment & Implementation

• Plan and coordinate IoT device installations across ULD fleets and Ground Services Equipment.
• Conduct site surveys covering connectivity, ULD populations, operational flows and site constraints.
• Supervise installations carried out by qualified technical/MRO personnel.
• Ensure devices are correctly commissioned, connected and generating reliable operational data.
• Train customer teams and ground handling personnel on equipment handling and basic troubleshooting.
• Diagnose field issues and coordinate with technical support teams where required.

Customer Success & ROI

• Establish operational baselines before deployment and measure improvements after implementation.
• Translate telemetry and operational data into actionable customer insights.
• Analyse areas such as asset utilization, dwell time, idle time, station imbalance, demurrage exposure, damage, repair patterns and asset loss.
• Develop and present ROI and performance reviews to ULD Control, Cargo Operations and senior management.
• Drive continued platform adoption and ensure customers achieve measurable value from the solution.

Account Development

• Act as the primary regional contact for customers.
• Conduct onboarding and regular business reviews.
• Identify opportunities to expand solutions across additional fleets, airports/stations or product applications.
• Support the commercial team in converting expansion opportunities.
• Gather customer feedback and operational requirements to support future product development.

Pre-Sales Support

• Support customer meetings, tenders/RFPs and technical discussions.
• Demonstrate the software and technology platform to operational and management stakeholders.
• Conduct site assessments and trials.
• Design and execute proof-of-value deployments with clearly defined success criteria.

Regional Operations

• Manage regional devices, components and spare-parts inventory.
• Forecast stock requirements and coordinate replacements and returns.
• Coordinate international shipments, customs documentation and import requirements.
• Maintain accurate records of deployed devices across customer locations.

Candidate Profile

Essential Experience

• Strong practical understanding of IoT devices, including field deployment, connectivity, troubleshooting and data quality.
• Direct aviation experience involving ULD management, ULD Control, cargo operations, ground handling or ULD pooling.
• Experience using operational data to develop and demonstrate measurable ROI.
• Customer-facing technical experience covering both pre-sales and post-sales implementation.
• Strong problem-solving mentality and ability to operate independently in customer environments.
• Comfortable analysing data and using digital/AI tools to prepare customer-facing analysis and reporting.
• Professional fluency in English.
• Existing right to work in the EU.
• Willingness to travel approximately 30% and work occasionally outside standard office hours due to aviation operations.
• Ability to obtain the required airport/airside security clearance.

Highly Desirable

• Knowledge of IATA ULD Regulations and ULD control processes.
• Understanding of ULD economics, including utilization, demurrage, repair cycles and lease-versus-own models.
• Knowledge of cellular IoT technologies such as LTE-M, NB-IoT, Cat 1 bis, BLE and GNSS.
• Experience with IoT, telematics or asset-tracking platforms.
• Comfortable working with spreadsheets, dashboards and operational data.
• Experience coordinating MRO-qualified or third-party technical teams.
• Experience managing inventory or field logistics across multiple countries.
• Previous airside, ramp safety or dangerous goods exposure.
• Additional European languages such as German, Spanish, French or Dutch.
• Experience introducing new technology to traditional or operationally conservative customers.
• Willingness to travel approximately 30% across EMEA, including overnight stays and occasional weekends

Our client is an international aviation technology business developing an innovative IoT-enabled asset tracking and digital intelligence platform for the aviation sector.
 
The solution combines tracking devices installed on Unit Load Devices (ULDs) and other aviation equipment with a software platform that converts real-time telemetry into operational intelligence. This enables airlines and aviation operators to improve fleet visibility, asset utilization, network balancing, damage and repair tracking, demurrage management and operational efficiency.
 
The business is looking for a Product Owner – Digital Solutions to take ownership of an existing software development program and drive it through its next stage of development and commercialization.
 
This is not purely a traditional Agile Product Owner role. It combines product ownership, software program management, aviation domain knowledge, supplier management and IoT technology.
 
Development is delivered through external software partners across Europe and Asia. You will own the product roadmap and requirements while directly managing the relationship, performance and deliverables of outsourced development teams.

The First 90 Days
Your initial priority will be to establish a clear and independent view of the current program and bring structure and control to its delivery.
You will:
•  Establish the true status of scope, schedule, quality and committed deliverables.
•  Review documentation, testing, CI/CD maturity and previous acceptance history.
•  Assess supplier performance and development capability.
•  Establish clear ownership between the business and external development teams.
•  Identify delivery risks, gaps and priorities.
•  Build a realistic roadmap toward a working customer platform.
From there, you will take ownership of product prioritisation and functional trade-offs within the agreed roadmap and budget.
 
Key Responsibilities
Product Ownership
•  Own the software platform roadmap, release plan, scope and schedule.
•  Translate customer requirements and commercial commitments into a clear, prioritised and buildable backlog.
•  Maintain a credible view of overall program status for senior leadership.
•  Identify and escalate delivery risks before commitments are missed.
•  Manage dependencies between software, device firmware, connectivity and hardware.
 
External Development & Supplier Management
•  Act as the primary interface with outsourced software development partners.
•  Define statements of work, deliverables, acceptance criteria and development milestones.
•  Support supplier contract negotiations alongside Procurement and Legal.
•  Lead sprint reviews, acceptance testing, defect management, SLA reviews and change control.
•  Hold suppliers accountable for quality, timelines and agreed deliverables.
•  Manage issues falling between multiple suppliers and ensure clear ownership.
•  Protect the business around source code, data ownership, IP, documentation, escrow and supplier transition.
•  Establish appropriate controls around AI-generated code, including licensing, review and quality standards.
 
Software Delivery & Technical Governance
•  Establish expectations around modern Agile and CI/CD practices.
•  Review supplier development pipelines, automated testing, release processes and test coverage.
•  Define and monitor non-functional requirements including availability, latency, scalability, observability and data retention.
•  Understand and manage cloud infrastructure costs and platform unit economics.
•  Ensure appropriate security and data protection standards, including GDPR and customer security requirements.
 
Requirements & Customer Engagement
•  Work directly with airline ULD Control, Cargo Operations and IT teams to understand operational requirements.
•  Translate real-world aviation challenges into clear software specifications.
•  Understand areas including ULD stock positioning, utilization, demurrage, damage attribution and repair cycles.
•  Determine where IoT and telemetry data can realistically create operational value.
•  Support commercial teams with technical input for proposals, RFPs, security questionnaires and customer roadmap discussions.
•  Feed lessons from live deployments directly into future product development.
 
During the early development stage, the role may also have hands-on involvement in customer implementations until dedicated implementation resources are fully established.
 
Essential
•  Strong practical understanding of ULD management within the aviation industry, including ULD Control, stock positioning, utilization, demurrage, damage and repair cycles.
•  Clear understanding of how IoT, sensor and telemetry data can support aviation operations.
•  Proven experience managing significant software development programs delivered through external/outsourced development partners.
•  Strong supplier and commercial management experience covering contracting, deliverables, acceptance and escalation.
•  Experience managing multiple suppliers or teams with interconnected deliverables.
•  Proven ability to take over an existing software program, assess its true status and establish control.
•  Practical understanding of Agile software development, CI/CD and modern software delivery practices.
•  Working understanding of AI applications, including analytics, forecasting and AI-assisted software development.
•  Comfortable working with distributed international teams across different cultures and time zones.
•  Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence without direct authority.
•  Professional fluency in English.
•  Existing right to work in the EU and ability to work from Alkmaar without relocation support.
•  Ability to travel internationally as required.Highly Desirable
•  Hands-on understanding of cloud infrastructure, solution architecture and database design.
•  Familiarity with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
•  Experience with AI-assisted software development tools and their implications for code quality and governance.
•  Knowledge of IATA ULD Regulations and ULD messaging standards such as UCM/SCM, Cargo-IMP or Cargo-XML.
•  Experience with IoT device fleets and technologies such as LTE-M, NB-IoT, Cat 1 bis, BLE and telemetry ingestion.
•  Understanding of firmware release coordination and device management.
•  Experience with IoT or telemetry platforms.
•  Experience working in a scale-up, start-up or new-product environment where processes and governance had to be created rather than inherited.
•  Additional European languages advantageous; Dutch is helpful but not mandatory.