Lead Strategic Programs

The Lead Strategic Programs at bol helps shape the future of the leading e-commerce platform in the Netherlands and Belgium, from AI transformation to new ways of working. In this highly visible role, the Lead answers C-level strategic questions with ambitious programs that impact 13.7 million customers and 46,500 partner sellers.

About bol

Bol, headquartered in Utrecht, has been part of everyday life in the Netherlands and Belgium since 1999. What started as an online bookstore grew into “the shop for us all,” a platform where customers can browse, compare and buy from a range that now includes 48 million products offered by bol and its partner sellers. The combination of scale and ecosystem makes bol a distinctive digital player in the Benelux.

Maintaining the company’s leading position is about more than keeping pace. To stay ahead, bol continuously strengthens the fundamentals, such as reliability, convenience, and trust, while finding new ways to make the platform more valuable and relevant for customers and partners. This includes significant investments in the organizational and digital capabilities that power the business.

Bol’s employees want to make things better. They take ownership, move quickly, and keep raising the bar as new challenges and opportunities arise. Change is not an exception; it’s the operating rhythm. Across bol, close to three thousand colleagues bring the same deep care and down-to-earth attitude to their work, improving the platform day after day and setting the pace for e-commerce in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Vacancy: Lead Strategic Programs

Bol stays ahead by constantly questioning how its platform will run, scale, and innovate next and how the organization needs to evolve as a result. The Lead Strategic Programs is a strategic sparring partner for Product, Tech, and Data leadership, connecting long-term ambitions with a focused portfolio of initiatives. They work closely with directors and senior executives to frame choices and trade-offs, and just as closely with the business to deliver tangible results. Balancing short-term wins with long-term goals, the Lead becomes the driving force behind initiatives that fundamentally shape the platform’s capabilities.

A few examples of current programs include leading the AI program at bol, working with the Product, Tech, and Data management teams (MTs) as a strategic partner in defining their strategies and guiding key decisions, and rolling out a redesigned Way of Working across teams. In the AI transformation, the Lead Strategic Programs helps leadership set the direction for bol and runs parts of the transformation through tight program management focused on outcomes and achieving company objectives. They do so, for example, by guiding integrated planning across teams and safeguarding delivery against agreed milestones.

The Lead independently drives one or more of these high-stakes programs and serves as a day-to-day thought partner for Product, Tech, and Data leadership. Together with directors and MT members, they turn strategic directions into concrete program roadmaps with clear priorities, processes, and milestones. They oversee progress against KPIs and the Net Promoter Score (NPS) metric and use data and insight to surface trade-offs and steer decisions. With a deep understanding of the ambitions and challenges of the Product, Tech, and Data organization, the Lead collaborates closely with key stakeholders and influences at director level through sharp, structured, data-driven argumentation.

“What makes this role special is how it shapes the strategic decisions for Product, Tech, and Data. The Lead doesn’t just prepare the board presentation. They create the cadence that makes things happen with clear priorities, progress, and follow-through. Their initiatives show up in bol’s OKRs.” – Karla Kammer, Head of Strategic Programs for Product, Tech, and Data

The Lead Strategic Programs is part of the Strategic Programs team in Utrecht within the Product, Tech, and Data organization and reports to its Head. Day-to-day, the Lead works closely with top leadership across bol, especially the CPO and CTO, other C-suite members whose domains are affected by the programs, and directors and Heads of Area within Product, Tech, and Data.

This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic thinker who sees the bigger picture, translates it into a clear plan, and stays focused on what matters most even when priorities shift and stakes are high. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills help them structure ambiguity, surface real trade-offs, and support decision-making with data and insights. They communicate effectively across levels and disciplines. Their credibility comes from a proven track record in complex environments, ideally in product organizations or digital transformations, where progress depends as much on stakeholder dynamics as on planning.

The Lead fits bol where it matters. They are entrepreneurial and adaptable while also being humble and collaborative. They take ownership, keep learning, and set a high bar for outcomes. Joining a team of innovators, the Lead Strategic Programs helps tackle bol’s most ambitious challenges yet.

Interested?

Bol is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Catherine Visch at catherine.visch@topofminds.com or Karlijn Havekes at karlijn.havekes@topofminds.com