Product Owner Passenger Forecasts

That is why you want to work as a Product Owner Passenger Forecasts at NS

• You provide direction to an essential NS product; by realizing passenger forecasts at any desired moment, NS can offer the right service to its passengers.
• You connect an experienced DevOps team with a wide field of stakeholders and make transparent choices regarding product value and priorities.
• You will be given the space to identify new applications for passenger forecasts, actively approach stakeholders, and strengthen product management within the PO team.

Danique: "The team is on the verge of going live with their product, which marks the beginning of a new phase. The shop is opening, and the possibilities for further development are endless. Think of improvements in quality, automation, or expansion to other forecasting moments. The challenge is to establish a mature product that is widely adopted within NS."

Within NS, the Passenger Flows Cluster develops the forecasting models and analysis tools that determine how we understand, predict, and translate passenger flows into strategic, tactical, and operational choices within the organization. These insights are essential for, among other things, rolling stock planning, timetabling, capacity choices, and passenger information, and also form an important foundation for NS's ambitions towards 2035. Within the cluster, we are working on a major renewal: the forecasting landscape is being designed to be more future-proof, robust, flexible, and more model-driven. We are on the verge of going live, which means the foundation is in place and the challenge lies in establishing a mature product.

Within the Passenger Flows cluster, you will work in Utrecht in product team Proteus on the passenger forecasts data product. This team is responsible for developing passenger forecasts at any desired moment. The mature DevOps team works in a strongly data-driven manner. The team began developing forecasts 7 weeks before execution. After going live, the focus will shift to further product development, implementation, and usage. This suits a Product Owner seeking ownership of a product with visible impact on mobility and decision-making throughout all of NS.

We have the ambition to take product management within the cluster to a higher level. Our cluster's ambitions are being continually expanded with new forecasting moments, new applications, and new models. You will work together with the other Product Owners in a product management team. Together you will determine the priorities, incorporating wishes from the business, the cluster, and the product teams. Within the cluster, there is one more team that needs a PO, and this role is still being assigned internally based on a match with content and team. You will play an important role in realizing our ambitions and professionalizing product management within the cluster by sharing knowledge and experience and inspiring fellow Product Owners.

Thanks to your strong product management and sense of diverse interests, you will be of invaluable importance in:

• Connecting the team and business and transparently weighing diverse interests.
• Prioritizing the backlog and translating needs into clear epics and features.
• Using data, metrics, and insights from forecasts and models to substantiate product choices.
• Discovering new applications for passenger forecasts, actively approaching new stakeholders, and thus stimulating demand and usage yourself in addition to pull from the business.
• Positioning the product within NS, alongside responding to existing business questions.
• Steering towards implementation and actual use of product improvements.

Curious about what your work week could look like as Product Owner Passenger Forecasts at NS? We will give you an example of your future agenda.

You will work within walking distance of Utrecht Central within the Train Service Development department. Train Service Development is responsible for combining specifications and assets into an integrated timetable and an optimal balance between customer wishes, KPIs, return on investment, and feasibility. As a Product Owner, you are active within the Passenger Flows cluster. This cluster is responsible for delivering and improving data, insights, and advice regarding passenger flows: both realized passenger numbers and forecasts for the future. The cluster consists of colleagues with various backgrounds, including data scientists, data engineers, software engineers, transport experts, and business analysts.

You will work daily with team Proteus, a mature and experienced DevOps team that works in a data-driven manner on passenger forecasts. Additionally, you will be an addition to the current product management team within the cluster, where you will be given the space to make independent product choices, connect complex interests, and develop new applications.

The role extends beyond the cluster itself: you build relationships with stakeholders throughout all of NS and make visible what value the product can deliver to various users. Wherever a product is delivered to passengers, our forecasts have a place; think of NS Stations, ComIT, Network Development, Operations Control, and Social Safety.

At NS, we find diversity and inclusion important; it makes collaboration more enjoyable and often leads to better results. What your background or personal beliefs are does not matter: we are primarily curious about your vision for the position of Product Owner Passenger Forecasts.

• You possess a university-level working and thinking ability.
• You have at least five years of relevant experience as a Product Owner or in comparable product management. The complexity of your previous responsibilities, independence, and maturity carry more weight than just the number of years.
• You have a demonstrable affinity with data and analysis and use data, metrics, and model outcomes to substantiate priorities and product choices. You have experience with backlog management, prioritization, and translating business needs into epics and features.
• You are familiar with working in a DevOps context and steer not only on delivery, but also on implementation and actual use.
• You see through interests and relationships, actively build relationships, and know how to connect existing and new stakeholders to the product. You probe into the underlying needs of the business and users and translate them into product value instead of accepting requests one-on-one.
• You take initiative, create new entry points, and steer towards results without losing sight of collaboration, support, and relationships.
• You get energy from autonomy, social impact, data, collaboration, and seeing a product grow visibly.

At NS, we believe it is important that we dare to address each other and that we can always speak our minds. We are looking for colleagues with courage, who are open to change. For this position, these are all crucial success factors to be able to achieve your goals in collaboration with your team and the business.

Working at NS means that you can make *the* difference in the dynamic world of sustainable mobility. You help keep the Netherlands accessible, for everyone. At NS, you get a lot of freedom. The possibilities to develop yourself are great. We promise you that no day is the same. And as one of the most beautiful employers in the Netherlands, we have even more to offer. For this position, including:

• A salary between € 4,488 and € 7,515 gross per month (scale 61) (based on 36 hours - scaling based on work experience).
• A 36-hour work week.
• 144 hours of statutory leave (based on full-time employment) + extra leave depending on age (at least one week).
• The possibility to exchange 3 Christian holidays for 3 non-Christian holidays.
• 3% end-of-year bonus, 8% holiday allowance, and an excellent pension scheme.
• Your train travel in 2nd class is free; travel in 1st class is possible with a small personal contribution.
• Your family travels for free during off-peak hours.
• Discount on European train travel once you have worked at NS for 1 year.
• Professional development opportunities
• A choice plan including, among others, a bicycle plan, extra pension accrual, or extra vacation days.
• Want to know more? View our employment conditions and collective labor agreement.
• The possibility of working from home and flexible working hours (in consultation).

Do you recognize yourself in this? You are an experienced Product Owner who enjoys working at the intersection of data, business, and technology. You certainly do not need to be a data scientist or model developer. However, you do understand data and model outcomes sufficiently to ask the right questions, determine product value, and provide direction to a DevOps team. You seek a role in which you do not just manage an existing backlog, but also create opportunities yourself, build relationships, and further grow a data product.

Apply directly via the application button, but no later than November 16, 2026. You will receive an automatic application confirmation within a few minutes. We will respond to your application within two weeks.

You can address your application to Cem Bayrak, Recruiter.

Any questions about the application process? Email the front office via recruitment@ns.nl.

Would you prefer to contact us by telephone? Then call our front office at 088-6713666.

• The first interviews will take place on Friday, November 20, 2026.
• A background check, including a VOG (Certificate of Conduct), is part of the application procedure. Please also consider the signing of an integrity statement and a non-disclosure agreement.
• We believe it is important that everyone who works with us feels at home. You can see this in everything we do, and therefore also in our hiring policy. Read more here.
• With this vacancy, we wish to recruit our new colleague ourselves. This is therefore not a call for acquisition. With this vacancy, we wish to recruit our new colleague ourselves. This is therefore not a call for acquisition. This position cannot be filled on an interim basis. For that, please view our hiring page.