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ABOUT US

Damen Offshore & Specialized Vessels (OSV) designs, builds and delivers complex maritime projects for markets such as defense & security, offshore, public transport and dredging. We operate in an international, multidisciplinary environment and work closely with customers, suppliers, subcontractors, engineering teams and shipyards around the world.

Within the Product Group Defense & Security, we focus on the development and sales of advanced military and governmental vessels. Our portfolio includes Offshore Patrol Vessels, auxiliaries, combatants, frigates, corvettes, landing platforms and other specialized platforms that combine proven Damen standards with customer-specific requirements.

We work on large, engineering-to-order projects where innovation, reliability, standardization and controlled execution are key. To strengthen our product organization, we are looking for a Product Specialist who can translate market and customer needs into technically feasible, competitive and standardized product solutions — and who can lead and develop the Design & Proposal Engineers working within the assigned product segment.

THE ROLE

As Product Specialist Defense & Security, you are responsible for the development, management and maintenance of an assigned product portfolio segment. You own the product segment standards, product roadmap, portfolio baselines and technical product governance, while ensuring that our products remain aligned with market developments, customer needs, Damen requirements and applicable risk and compliance standards.

In this role, you are not only a product authority, but also a leader of the assigned Design & Proposal team. You lead, coach and develop the Design & Proposal Engineers assigned to your product segment, ensuring capability, performance, quality and predictable delivery of product and proposal activities.

You work at the interface between Product, Sales, Business Development, Tender Management, Engineering and management. You ensure that proposals within your product segment are technically feasible, commercially relevant, aligned with product baselines, and delivered with predictable quality and timing in support of Sales and tender processes.

The role is part of the Defense & Security product organization and is intended for one of the assigned product segments, such as Auxiliaries or OPV / Combatants. Each Product Specialist owns a product segment and leads a dedicated Design & Proposal team.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

In this role, you will:

·       Own and manage the assigned product portfolio segment, including product baselines, reference designs, standard specifications, product knowledge and roadmap development.

·       Translate market developments, customer feedback, Sales Area input and project lessons learned into clear product improvements and development priorities.

·       Maintain product standards and configuration control, while balancing customer-specific flexibility with standardization and long-term portfolio integrity.

·       Safeguard the product philosophy and ensure that proposal and project deviations do not unintentionally erode the approved product baseline.

·       Oversee the preparation and delivery of technical proposals in cooperation with Sales, Tender Management and relevant engineering stakeholders.

·       Take ownership of technical proposal quality within the assigned product segment, including consistency with product standards, review readiness and sign-off support.

·       Ensure proposal content reflects customer requirements, product standards, scope boundaries, assumptions, exclusions, risks and required approvals.

·       Advise Sales, management and other stakeholders on product fit, feasibility, bid/no-bid considerations, standard versus custom solutions, development requirements, risks and assumptions.

·       Lead and manage the assigned Design & Proposal Engineers as direct reports, including objective setting, prioritization, workload planning, performance expectations and capability development.

·       Conduct regular coaching and feedback discussions, support development planning and contribute to annual review input in line with company procedures.

·       Support recruitment, onboarding, knowledge transfer and retention of the assigned Design & Proposal capability.

·       Drive continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned and implementing improvements into product standards, templates, proposal methods, product baselines and ways of working.

·       Ensure all product, proposal and people-leadership activities are executed in line with Damen governance, HSSEQ, ethics, export-control, compliance and approval processes.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

To be successful in this role, you bring:

·       An academic level of education or academic working and thinking level, preferably in Shipbuilding, Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering or a comparable technical discipline.

·       At least 10 years of relevant work experience in shipbuilding, naval architecture, marine engineering, product development, proposal development or a comparable complex technical environment.

·       Strong understanding of ship design, customer requirements, technical trade-offs, configuration control and standardization principles.

·       Experience with business development, Sales support and tender or proposal processes, preferably in an international defense, security or export environment.

·       The ability to act as a recognized product authority and translate specialist knowledge into clear consequences for product development, proposals and portfolio decisions.

·       Experience in leading, coordinating or coaching technical or proposal teams. Experience with direct people management, including objective setting, performance feedback and people development, is preferred, but not a necessity.

·       The ability to manage workload and priorities across tenders, product development and improvement work, and to identify resource constraints or priority conflicts in time.

·       Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to work effectively across multiple locations, including Gorinchem, Vlissingen and Abu Dhabi.

·       Excellent communication skills in English. Dutch language skills are considered an advantage.

·       Willingness to travel to customers, shipyards and other Damen locations when required.

COMPETENCIES

You are a strategic and structured product professional who can combine technical depth with commercial awareness. You create clarity in complex situations, make well-founded decisions and know how to balance customer focus with product standards, technical feasibility, risk management and long-term portfolio development.

You communicate clearly with different stakeholders, bring structure to product and proposal activities and are able to align Sales, Business Development, Product, Engineering and project interests.

As a people leader, you coach others, set clear expectations and actively support the development of the assigned Design & Proposal Engineers. You create a working environment in which people understand their priorities, receive useful feedback and can grow their product and proposal capabilities.

You take ownership, remain calm under pressure and are comfortable working in an international, multidisciplinary and compliance-sensitive environment.

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