Interim Product Owner Squla Junior

Lead a creative team to launch our new playful learning world for ages 3–6. Own delivery, drive momentum.

Job Description

Are you a driven Product Owner who wants to make an impact in primary education and enjoys working with creative, cross-functional teams? At Squla, you’ll shape the future of playful learning! Want to contribute to the future of digital learning?

Freelance contract, €70–€80/hour

32 hours per week from January 5th until April 1st 2026

Futurewhiz is a B Corp

About Us

Futurewhiz

For nearly 15 years, Futurewhiz has been the market leader in EdTech in the Netherlands. Our brands – including Squla and StudyGo – help children and teenagers aged 3 to 18 learn and grow at their own level and pace. Our mission is clear: "Empowering every child to grow." We strive for a strong balance between purpose and profit.

Squla

Squla, part of Futurewhiz, is a popular educational brand among (primary school) children, parents and teachers. Every day, more than 160,000 children at home and more than half a million children play the best games and quizzes at school in the classroom.

Our mission? Helping children progress through play! We do this by staying close to children's experiences, using gaming elements, attractive UX designs, and current, changing content.

Your Role as Interim Product Owner – Squla Junior

As Interim Product Owner, you’ll lead the Squla Junior development team during the temporary sabbatical of the current PO. You’ll guide a multidisciplinary team — Unity and backend developers, a game designer, educational specialist, and visual artist — ensuring momentum, clarity, and smooth delivery toward MVP.

You’ll work in close collaboration with the PM/CPO to maintain the existing strategy and roadmap, while ensuring user learnings from ongoing playtests are integrated with care for a smooth transition when the PO returns.

Specifically, you will:

• Own day-to-day prioritization and delivery decisions.
• Lead sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and demos.
• Keep roadmap initiatives progressing toward MVP delivery.
• Track progress, risks, and blockers, and escalate where needed.
• Capture insights and decisions for a clear handover.
• Ensure consistent communication and alignment across the team.

Who Are You?

We’re looking for someone who can lead confidently in delivery and maintain clarity for the team. You likely recognize yourself in the following:

• Proven experience coordinating cross-functional creative teams (designers, illustrators, and developers) to deliver digital products.
• Demonstrated ability to manage sprints and backlogs in Jira, write clear tickets, and keep priorities aligned with sprint goals.
• Clear and structured communication skills in Dutch and English — able to summarize progress and blockers succinctly in Slack and stand-ups.
• Strong execution mindset — takes ownership of delivery, follows up on dependencies, and resolves blockers within set timelines.
• Able to make and document day-to-day product decisions independently while keeping stakeholders informed.

Nice if you also have:

• Experience with educational or children’s products (ages 3–8), preferably in the Dutch market.
• Familiarity with iterative or early-access development cycles, including user testing and small-batch releases.
• Background in game development or interactive media production — understands pipelines, asset dependencies, and production pacing.
• Experience in working in Miro.

What We Offer

• Freelance agreement: €70–€80/hour
• Start January 5th, end April 1st 2026
• 32u/week, hybrid collaboration 50/50
• Office next to Bijlmer ArenA + strong team culture and creative product environment
• Access to Squla for exploration and product context
• Work in a mission-driven company, focused on positive impact

For more information, reach out to Roemer Weerkamp (roemer@futurewhiz.com), Product Manager Primary Education.