Functional Application Specialist Workforce & Resource Management

Van Oord; Rotterdam; Hybrid; EUR 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Travel allowance

32 leave days per year

Bonus

Pension scheme

Health insurance (optional)

Flexible hybrid working

Learning and development opportunities

Employee communities

Job summary

Van Oord in Rotterdam is seeking a Functional Application Specialist within the Ship Management Department. You bridge business and IT, ensuring the application supports planners and end users worldwide, with emphasis on reliability and continuous improvement.

This hybrid role combines stakeholder management, problem-solving across teams, documentation, testing of new features, and ownership of system quality and future readiness.

Qualifications

• Completed HBO-level education or equivalent.
• Several years of experience in a similar role.
• Experience with Workforce and Resource Management systems is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Act as liaison between users and IT to ensure the application aligns with business processes.
• Solve cross-team and more complex application issues.
• Provide functional support for (complex) requests from planners and other users.
• Proactively identify bottlenecks with key users and answer functional questions.
• Support testing of new functionalities and keep documentation up to date for business and technical teams.
• Escalate issues and collaborate with vendors and technical teams.
• Ensure the application complies with internal policies and external regulations.
• Communicate changes, updates, and incidents to stakeholders.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Strong communication

Analytical mindset

Proactive attitude

Willingness to work outside hours

Education

HBO-level education

Tools

Workforce Management

Resource Management systems

Job description

As a functional application administrator within the Ship Management Department (SMD), you contribute to a stable, future-proof application environment that supports our Planners and other users worldwide. You work closely with fellow functional application administrators and act as a bridge between the business, including planners and other end users, and IT. You ensure that the application fully supports business processes and is continuously improved.

Your responsibilities include:

• Acting as a liaison between users and IT to ensure the application aligns optimally with business processes;
• Solving cross-team and more complex application issues;
• Providing functional support for (complex) requests from planners and other users;
• Proactively identifying bottlenecks together with key users and answering functional questions;
• Supporting the testing of new functionalities and keeping relevant documentation up to date for both business and technical teams;
• Escalating issues when necessary and collaborating with vendors and technical teams;
• Ensuring the application complies with internal policies and external regulations;
• Actively communicating with stakeholders about changes, updates, and incidents.

With your contribution, you ensure that planners and other end users can work efficiently without unnecessary complexity, and that the collaboration between business and IT runs smoothly.

YOUR WORKPLACE

You will be part of the Ship Management Department, operating in an international environment with stakeholders around the world. Your base will be our headquarters in Rotterdam, overlooking the river Maas.

We offer a hybrid working environment (based on full-time employment: 3 days at the office and 2 days from home) and facilities such as an in-house gym to start or end your workday in an active way.

You are an analytical and proactive Functional Application Specialist who takes ownership and stands your ground. You are not afraid to take a position and are able to bring others along in your vision and proposed solutions. You are a full-fledged sparring partner for both the business and IT and know how to translate complex issues into clear and practical solutions.

As the functional owner of the application, you take responsibility for the quality, continuity and further development of the system. You are interested not only in the day-to-day operation, but also in understanding the impact of decisions on processes, users and the organisation as a whole.

Stakeholder management is an important part of the way you work. You share relevant information, seek alignment, move easily between different teams, disciplines and organisational levels, and know how to bring different interests together. You are a strong sparring partner for key users, colleagues, IT and suppliers, and you know when to connect people and when to make clear decisions.

You have strong communication skills and can explain complex topics clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. You switch easily between Dutch and English, both verbally and in writing, and feel comfortable working in an international environment.

In addition, you bring:

• A completed HBO-level education or equivalent working and thinking level.
• Several years of experience in a similar role, preferably within a larger and complex organisation.
• Demonstrable experience in functional application management and end-user support.
• Experience with Workforce and Resource Management systems or an affinity with the maritime sector is a plus.
• Experience in functional data management and an understanding of system dependencies are a plus.
• Knowledge of application modules, roles and authorisations.
• Preferably knowledge of IT Service Management, such as ITIL Incident, Problem and Change Management.
• Excellent command of both Dutch and English, both verbally and in writing.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• A proactive attitude, analytical mindset and attention to detail.
• Willingness to occasionally work outside office hours.

This role is a good fit for someone who is ready for the next step in their career: someone who wants to take on more responsibility, make a visible impact and further develop as the functional owner and key point of contact for an important system within our organisation.

Quality is central to the way you work. You actively contribute ideas for improvements and take responsibility for a stable and future-oriented application environment. You are not just the person who solves questions and issues, but are developing into a strong subject-matter expert, sparring partner and owner of the system.

If you do not meet all the criteria but strongly recognise yourself in this role and are ready for the next step, we would still like to hear from you.

At Van Oord, you contribute to our mission: building a better world for future generations. We offer:

• A competitive salary based on your experience and responsibilities;
• Travel allowance (€0.31 per km) and home office allowance (€2.15 per day);
• 32 leave days per year;
• A variable bonus;
• A solid pension scheme;
• Optional collective health insurance;
• Flexible hybrid working (up to 2 days per week from home based on full-time employment);
• Extensive learning and development opportunities, including GoodHabitz online courses;
• Access to communities such as Young Van Oord and Van Oord Women, and participation in sports and social events.

As a Functional Application Specialist, you play a key role in ensuring that our Workforce and Resource Management applications support the daily work of planners and other users as effectively as possible. You make sure that applications are reliable, user-friendly and continuously aligned with the needs of the business.

In this role, you:

• Ensure that planners and other end users can work efficiently with the applications they rely on every day.
• Translate business needs and operational challenges into practical functional solutions.
• Analyse complex application issues and work with users, IT colleagues and suppliers to resolve them.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, applications and the user experience.
• Contribute to the implementation and testing of new functionalities and changes.
• Ensure that application changes are properly documented and communicated to relevant stakeholders.
• Help maintain a stable and future-proof application environment by monitoring dependencies, data quality and system functionality.
• Build strong relationships with key users and stakeholders across the organisation and understand their needs.
• Contribute to a smooth collaboration between the business, IT and external suppliers.
• Keep an eye on developments in application management and Workforce & Resource Management and translate relevant developments into opportunities for Van Oord.

By combining your functional knowledge, understanding of the business and strong communication skills, you help ensure that our planners and other users have the right tools to do their work effectively. You are an important link between the people who use the applications and the teams responsible for developing and maintaining them.