Product Manager “Wi-Fi as a Service”

Do you want to ensure that thousands of students, faculty, and researchers stay connected anytime, anywhere? In this role, you’ll combine technical expertise, strategic planning, and stakeholder management. You’ll lead the ongoing development of a critical Wi-Fi service and make a significant impact on the digital infrastructure of Dutch education and research.

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research.
As a Product Manager at SURFwireless, you’ll play a key role in this by strategically developing the Wi-Fi service and ensuring that it remains reliable, future-proof, and perfectly aligned with our members’ needs.

Working at SURF means working for a unique and open organization. You can see this in everything: the structure of the organization, the setup of the project teams, the culture in our offices, and the atmosphere among colleagues. SURF offers excellent employment conditions and takes a flexible approach to work-life balance. Employees enjoy working independently. In addition, everyone is given the space and freedom to utilize and develop their talents as effectively and broadly as possible.

The team you will join

You will be joining the Campus Networks team, where we develop reliable and innovative network services for education and research. These include services such as eduroam, iotroam, and SURFwireless, as well as new developments like Smart Campus and private 6G.

SURFwireless is a mature and widely used service, with over 12,500 access points at more than 50 locations across 29 institutions. The service has grown significantly in recent years and is now poised for the next step in scaling and further development.

Collaboration is central to the team. We work closely together, share knowledge, and support one another where needed. The atmosphere is open and collegial: we communicate clearly, help each other move forward, and prioritize the collective result. You’ll work with colleagues with diverse areas of expertise and have frequent contact with institutions, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

What you will do

As Product Manager for SURFwireless, you ensure that students, faculty, and researchers can use the Wi-Fi network seamlessly. You are responsible for setting the strategic direction and translating it into tactical and operational activities. In this role, you have both financial and functional ownership and ensure alignment with other services within the SURF portfolio and the broader network and infrastructure chain. You play a key role in further scaling up the service and making it future-proof. You initiate improvements and new developments that contribute to further growth and professionalization.

You constantly navigate between technology, business, and stakeholder management. You ensure coherence in execution, focus on quality and results, and maintain an overview of processes, finances, and collaboration from strategy through implementation.

Your other responsibilities:

• Developing and monitoring the product strategy and roadmap, in line with the SURF portfolio;
• Preparing business plans, business cases, and budgets, and reporting on progress and results;
• Managing and coordinating implementation within the team (including the technical product manager, specialist, and service manager);
• Streamlining and monitoring administrative, financial, and contractual processes (including CMDB and CRM);
• Organizing collaboration and communication among stakeholders, including meetings, training sessions, and documentation;
• Building and maintaining a strong network within educational institutions and partners;
• Serving as a liaison between technical teams and management and actively managing stakeholder interests;
• Monitoring and analyzing contract agreements and supplier relationships, and actively making adjustments based on KPIs and insights.

Your skills and experience

You are a driven product manager who effortlessly bridges the gap between technology and business. You have an eye for both the substance of the matter and the interests of stakeholders, and you know how to bring different parties together. You work in a structured manner, maintain a clear overview, and are able to translate strategic decisions into concrete results.

In addition, you have:

• a university-level education and mindset;
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience in product management of digital or ICT services, campus network technologies, and business models;
• knowledge of or affinity with network technology (particularly Wi-Fi, eduroam, IPv4/IPv6, Ethernet);
• experience with business cases, financial management, and process improvement;
• experience with stakeholder management in a complex environment;
• strong communication skills in Dutch and English.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.