Junior Consultant Data & Digitalisation

Vds Automation; Leeuwarden; Hybrid; EUR 36,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Udemy Business and certifications

Guidance from experienced colleagues

Hybrid and flexible office

Office in Leeuwarden

Job summary

VDS Automation in Leeuwarden is offering an entry-level Junior Consultant Data & Digitalisation role. You will engage with manufacturing clients, map processes, and translate needs into practical AI-driven digital solutions.

You’ll learn quickly, take on real projects, and contribute to data and AI initiatives within a small, hands-on team. The role emphasizes growth through customer work, collaboration with experienced colleagues, and opportunities to obtain Microsoft certifications while

Qualifications

• You have a higher professional or university degree (hbo/wo).
• Analytical with an interest in data, technology and AI.
• Curious, proactive and able to take responsibility.

Responsibilities

• Talk to customers to understand processes and bottlenecks.
• Collect data from different systems and make it visible.
• Develop dashboards and other digital solutions.
• Work with Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SQL and Python.
• Help translate information needs into practical digital solutions.
• Take on increasing responsibility for your own customers and projects.

Skills

Power BI

Microsoft Fabric

SQL

Python

Dashboards

Education

Higher professional or university degree

Tools

React

Job description

Curious about what you can do with data, AI and digitalisation in technical companies? And do you want to do more than understand how a process runs, and also build something that makes it visible?

Learning by doing Experienced colleagues who review your work A reply within 24 hours on working days

As Junior Consultant Data & Digitalisation you help manufacturing companies work smarter. You dig into processes, talk to employees, bring information needs to the surface and, together with your colleagues, translate them into practical digital solutions.

What will you be doing?

You work on a range of projects at companies in the manufacturing industry. Along the way you learn to pick up more and more parts of a project on your own.

You do not need to be able to do everything yet. We are looking for someone at the start of their career who learns fast, shows initiative and wants to develop at the intersection of consultancy, processes and technology.

For example, you will:

• Talk to customers to understand processes and bottlenecks.
• Collect data from different systems and make it visible.
• Find out which information the customer is missing, and how to make it visible.
• Develop dashboards, applications and other digital solutions.
• Work with tools including Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SQL and Python.
• Explore and apply new possibilities with AI.
• Implement solutions and bring users along in the new way of working.
• Take on more and more responsibility for your own customers and projects.

So you are not only analysing. You help build the solution yourself: something that shows the customer what is happening, so they can make better decisions themselves. It is their factory, you deliver the insight.

How we build: AI-first

We build AI-first. AI writes the first version, you decide whether it is good enough. You read the code, test it and adjust it. AI is a tool, not a colleague you take at their word.

That means you build real solutions here faster than you are used to. And we look less at the number of years on your CV.

You are not on your own. Experienced colleagues review your work and there are technical guidelines to fall back on.

New tools follow one another quickly. You have to enjoy that pace. You also get the room to propose yourself what we try next.

How you grow in your first year

No six-month induction before you are allowed to do anything. But always someone beside you who has done it before.

Month 1

Months 4 – 6

You lead customer conversations and present your own solution. Meanwhile you work on your first Microsoft certification.

Months 7 – 12

A customer or project of your own from start to finish, with colleagues to fall back on. From here you decide what you want to specialise in.

Projects you help with

Examples from the work we do for companies in the manufacturing and process industries. At first one part of them, later the whole project.

Making downtime visible on a production line

Reading machine data, recording downtime reasons and mapping OEE per shift. You build the report and come along when it is delivered.

Efficiency

Making downtime visible on a production line

Reading machine data, recording downtime reasons and mapping OEE per shift. You build the report and come along when it is delivered.

Making energy consumption per machine visible

Collecting metering data, linking it to production and turning it into a picture management can steer on. Also input for the Dutch energy-saving obligation.

Energy

Making energy consumption per machine visible

Collecting metering data, linking it to production and turning it into a picture management can steer on. Also input for the Dutch energy-saving obligation.

Replacing a paper record with an app

An app with which the floor records checks or batch data. You test it with the people who will use it and adapt it to their feedback.

Process

Replacing a paper record with an app

An app with which the floor records checks or batch data. You test it with the people who will use it and adapt it to their feedback.

Finding out whether AI really helps here

A customer question that AI might solve. A project like that often starts with someone who tries something with standard AI tools and shows what it delivers. If a custom model is needed, our AI & Machine Learning Engineer picks that up.

Our stack

Not yet at home in Power BI, Fabric or Python? No problem. You learn that here, during working hours and on real customer questions.

Data & reporting

• Microsoft Fabric
• Power BI
• SQL
• Python
• React

You do not need to be an experienced data consultant yet

Perhaps you already worked with data, process optimisation or programming during your studies. Or you have gained your first work experience, for example as Process Engineer, Business Analyst or Junior Consultant. We care more that you pick up new things quickly than that you have already worked with exactly our systems.

What we are looking for:

• You have a higher professional or university degree (hbo/wo).
• A background in, for example, Industrial Engineering & Management, Technology & Operations Management or Supply Chain Management is a good fit.
• You are analytical and enjoy getting to the bottom of processes.
• You enjoy building something people actually use.
• You have an affinity with data, technology and AI.
• You communicate easily and are not afraid to ask questions.
• You are curious and figure out for yourself how things work.
• You enjoy being given responsibility.
• You speak and write Dutch well.

“In week one you are already at the table with a customer. You learn by doing, not by first spending six months in a training programme.”

“In week one you are already at the table with a customer. You learn by doing, not by first spending six months in a training programme.” Keimpe Veenstra Consultant Data & Digitalisation · your future colleague

Why VDS Automation?

At VDS you do not end up in a large consultancy where you first have to shadow others for years before you get responsibility of your own. The team is small and the lines are short. Show that you can handle something? Then you get the room for it.

You work on real challenges at manufacturing companies and eventually see what your solution delivers. You also get plenty of freedom to try out new technology. New developments in data and AI are not just followed, but put into practice as quickly as possible.

Your development is taken seriously too. You get access to Udemy Business, can obtain Microsoft certifications and get room during working hours to build new knowledge.

We are also data partner of SC Cambuur. So before long you may well be sitting in the business seats at a match.

What do we offer you?

€ 3,250 – € 3,750 gross per month Depending on what you bring, for full-time.

32 to 40 hours a week Four or five days, arranged together.

25 holiday days Plenty of time to really rest.

Laptop and phone From the company, also for private use.

One-year contract with a view to permanent If it suits both sides, we carry on.

Hybrid and flexible Office, customer or home. You plan your week.

Udemy Business and certifications With time during working hours to obtain them.

Guidance from experienced colleagues They review your work and think along with you.

Our office in the heart of Leeuwarden. This is where the week starts and ends.

Your future colleagues

This is the whole team. Small enough that you know everyone, big enough that there is always someone who knows how something works.

Johannes Wibbens Head of Operations

Esther Bentveld Marketer

You This vacancy

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply as a graduate without work experience?

Yes. This is an entry-level role. An internship, graduation project or study project in which you worked with data, processes or programming is enough to talk about.

Do I need to be able to program?

You do not need to be an experienced programmer. You do work in code a lot: we build apps and automations code-first, with SQL and Python. AI often writes the first version; you learn to read, test and improve it. If you programmed something during your studies, that is enough to start with.

How will I be onboarded?

By joining real projects, with an experienced colleague who reviews your work. On top of that you have Udemy Business and time during working hours to learn and get certified.

How much time do I spend at customers?

At first you mostly go along with a colleague, about one day a week. That grows to one to two days once you have customers of your own. The customers are mostly in the north and east of the Netherlands.

Are you curious, analytical, not afraid of technology, and do you enjoy coming up with and delivering solutions together with customers? Then we would love to get to know you.

For this job opening VDS Automation works exclusively with JPD Personeelsdiensten. They guide the procedure; you will hear from us within 24 hours on working days.