Senior Technical Project Manager R&D

Nearfield Instruments; Rotterdam; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Nearfield Instruments is seeking a Senior Project Manager R&D to lead ambitious R&D programs that bring next-generation metrology solutions to market. You will guide cross-functional teams across hardware, software, and algorithms to meet performance targets and timelines.

You will build detailed project plans, manage risk, and ensure productization readiness, while collaborating with Product Marketing, Systems Engineering, and Design & Engineering.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading complex cross-functional R&D projects.
• Structured methodologies such as Agile or Stage-Gate are preferred.
• Strong planning, scheduling, and resource allocation skills.
• Excellent risk and issue management capabilities.
• Effective stakeholder management with technical and senior stakeholders.
• Data-driven approach to track progress and decision-making.
• Ability to translate business goals into actionable project plans.

Responsibilities

• Leading end-to-end R&D projects from concept through prototype and validation to productization.
• Developing and maintaining detailed project plans, timelines, resource allocation, deliverables, and risk management.
• Coordinating cross-functional project teams spanning multiple engineering disciplines.
• Driving alignment between technical development and customer or market requirements, with Product Marketing.
• Working with product development programs, design & engineering, and systems engineering to deliver productization.
• Monitoring progress against milestones and budget, escalating issues early and driving resolution.
• Ensuring projects comply with relevant quality and regulatory standards.
• Acting as a key liaison between R&D, Product Marketing, Systems Engineering, and Design & Engineering.
• Continuously improving planning and execution in a fast-moving, precision-focused environment.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Project management

Agile methodologies

Stage-Gate

Planning & scheduling

Risk management

Stakeholder management

Job description

As Senior Project Manager R&D, you will lead the execution of innovative, challenging R&D projects that bring our next-generation metrology solutions to market. Working closely with our R&D team, you enable a multi-disciplinary group spanning hardware, software, and algorithm development to deliver against an ambitious roadmap. Your role is pivotal in ensuring our technology meets customer performance requirements and delivery timelines - and you do this through structure, clear planning, and strong cross-functional leadership rather than deep domain expertise. You'll support the R&D Manager, who drives the overall technology roadmap.

What you're going to do

You will lead end-to-end R&D projects from concept through prototype and validation, all the way to productization readiness. You build and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, resource allocation, deliverables, risk; and you keep a complex, cross-functional team moving even when the path isn't fully defined yet.

Your main responsibilities include:

• Leading end-to-end R&D projects, from concept through prototype and validation to productization.

• Developing and maintaining detailed project plans, including timelines, resource allocation, deliverables, and risk management.

• Coordinating cross-functional project teams spanning multiple engineering disciplines.

• Driving alignment between technical development and customer or market requirements, in collaboration with product marketing.

• Working with product development programs, design & engineering, and systems engineering to deliver what's needed for productization.

• Monitoring progress against milestones and budget, escalating issues early and driving them to resolution.

• Ensuring projects comply with relevant quality and regulatory standards.

• Acting as a key liaison between R&D, Product Marketing, Systems Engineering, and Design & Engineering.

• Continuously improving how we plan and run projects, in a fast-moving, precision-focused environment.

Who you'll be working with

You will work closely with the R&D Manager and a multi-disciplinary engineering team, alongside Product Marketing, Systems Engineering, and Design & Engineering. You'll be the connective tissue between technical development and the customer and business requirements it needs to serve, building trust and alignment across teams, often without a formal reporting line to draw on.

Who you are

You are an experienced project manager who brings structure to ambiguity. You're equally comfortable building a detailed plan and adjusting it on the fly, and you know how to keep a multi-disciplinary team aligned and moving, even under pressure.

You have:

• Proven experience managing complex, cross-functional projects in a high-tech, engineering, or R&D environment, ideally using structured methodologies such as Agile or Stage-Gate.

• Strong planning and organizational skills, with the ability to manage scope, timelines, budget, and resources across a multi-disciplinary project.

• Solid risk and issue management skills - you spot problems early and drive them to resolution.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communicating effectively with technical teams, senior leadership, suppliers, and customers.

• A structured, data-driven approach to tracking progress and supporting decision-making.

• The ability to translate business goals and customer needs into clear, actionable project plans.

• Strong communication skills and the presence to build trust and motivate teams, including where no direct reporting line exists.

• Comfort working in a fast-paced, technical environment, even without deep prior knowledge of metrology or AFM technology - a technical affinity and the willingness to learn fast are what matter most.