Associate Practice Manager

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Associate Practice Manager to join our growing technical organisation in the Netherlands / Spain.

This is a senior people-management role for someone with a strong technical background who enjoys combining technical leadership, people development, resource management and delivery .

You will work closely with the existing Practice Manager and help lead a growing team of technical professionals. While overall accountability remains with the Practice Manager, you will take significant responsibility for the day-to-day management and development of team members.

What you’ll do

People & Leadership

• Manage and support a team of technical professionals.
• Lead performance and development conversations.
• Support career development and Individual Development Plans.
• Help team members identify opportunities for growth and progression.
• Work closely with Team Leads, Technical Leads, Consultants and Senior Consultants.

Resource & Practice Management

• Monitor team utilisation, resource allocation and bench activity.
• Identify redeployment opportunities and work with internal stakeholders to match people with suitable projects.
• Partner with Sales, Solutions and CVP teams to understand upcoming requirements.
• Help ensure the team is effectively utilised and has the right skills for future demand.
• Support reporting around headcount, utilisation, bench and resource planning.

Hiring & Technical Assessment

• Participate in the recruitment of new technical team members.
• Conduct technical and competency-based interviews.
• Assess candidates’ technical experience and suitability for the team.
• Help build the team as the organisation continues to grow.

Technology & Delivery

• Use your technical background to understand the capabilities and development needs of engineering professionals.
• Stay informed about current technology trends, including areas such as AI and LLMs .
• Support the team in understanding how technology is evolving and how this impacts our work.

Commercial Collaboration

• Work closely with Sales, Solutions and business stakeholders.
• Understand resource rates and basic commercial concepts such as utilisation, margin and GP.
• Support redeployment and project allocation decisions.
• Final P&L and pricing ownership remains with senior leadership.

What we’re looking for

Essential

• Strong technical/engineering background.
• Previous experience managing or leading technical teams.
• Experience as a Team Lead, Technical Lead, Engineering Lead, Engineering Manager or similar.
• Strong people-management and communication skills.
• Experience with performance management and/or career development.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Strong awareness of current technology trends.

Nice to have

• Experience with cloud technologies such as Azure, AWS or GCP .
• Experience in legacy, on-premise or enterprise technology environments.
• Resource management / workforce planning experience.
• Exposure to utilisation, bench management, redeployment or professional services environments.
• Understanding of commercial concepts such as rates, margin and GP.
• Experience working closely with Sales or Solutions teams.

Technology-specific experience is not mandatory — we’re open to candidates from different technical environments as long as they bring strong technical credibility and leadership experience.

Location & working model

• Based in the Netherlands.
• Dutch language skills are strongly preferred; English-speaking candidates can also be considered.
• Approximately 2 days per week in the office .

Why join?

This is an opportunity to take on a broad leadership role within a growing technical organisation, combining people leadership, technical expertise, resource management and business collaboration .

You will have the opportunity to shape the development of a growing team, influence hiring decisions and work closely with senior leadership as the organisation expands across multiple markets.