Learning & Development Specialist

Drones and electric aircraft can only fly as long as their battery lets them. Most batteries run out too soon. That is the limit everyone in the industry hits.

Tulip Tech builds a better one. We design and manufacture high-density battery systems and the software that runs them, all in-house in Den Bosch. Our packs deliver 30 to 100% more flight time than standard systems, and they already fly for customers like Acecore and Avy. We work with the Dutch Ministry of Defence and NLR, the Netherlands Aerospace Centre. Ten-plus nationalities. Flat structure. We are scaling fast.

We do not just design batteries. We build them, at volume, in Europe.

Why this role matters

Tulip Tech is growing fast, and the people are what carry that growth. Right now, there is almost nothing to carry them: no L&D platform, no skills structure, no growth conversations, no way to track where people want to go or to train them to get there. You build all of it.

This is the first real Learning & Development function at Tulip Tech, and you own it end to end. You become the company's internal growth partner. You sit down with colleagues, ask what their ambitions are, and build the skills matrices, career ladders, and training that move them there. You are not maintaining someone else's process. You are laying the foundation the whole company will grow on. There is budget for tools and freedom to build it your way.

What you will achieve

• Build Tulip Tech's first company-wide skills and competency matrix, covering both engineering and production, so managers can see gaps and plan against them.

• Design clear career ladders for the core roles, so every person can see where they can go and what it takes to get there.

• Set up structured growth conversations and connect them to OKRs, so development becomes a regular rhythm, not a once-a-year form.

• Select and implement an LMS from scratch and fill it with the training that helps colleagues grow toward the ambitions they name.

• Turn all of it into a living system managers use, not a binder that sits on a shelf.

• Partner with engineering and production leads to turn "we need people who can do X" into structured, trainable competencies.

• 5 to 7 years building L&D frameworks, skills matrices, or career development structures, in an engineering or production company. This context matters. You understand how technical and factory-floor teams learn.

• A track record of building from scratch. You have started an L&D function or a major piece of one, without an existing process to inherit.

• Hands-on by default. You design the framework and you roll it out yourself. You are comfortable doing both the thinking and the doing.

• Strong stakeholder management. You get engineering leads, production leads, and management aligned and bought in.

• Fluent in English and Dutch, spoken and written. You will work with an international team and a Dutch production floor, so both are needed.

• Comfortable in a fast-moving, sometimes changing environment. Priorities shift. You adapt without losing the plot.

• EU work authorization. No visa sponsorship is available for this role.

If you meet most but not all of these, we still encourage you to apply.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience selecting and rolling out an LMS platform.

• Experience introducing competency matrices on a production or factory floor, not just for office teams.

• Exposure to a scale-up moving from startup to serial production.

Nice to have means not required.

Additional information

• Location: Den Bosch, Netherlands. On-site, full-time. This is a build-it-in-the-room role, not a remote one.

• Team: You work closely with Eva and the People team, and directly with engineering and production leads across the company.

• Tools budget: Real budget to select and implement the L&D and LMS tooling you need.

• Interview process: Recruiter screen, interview with the hiring manager, a case session where you show how you would build our L&D framework, and a final conversation with leadership.

Why join

• Build a function from zero. Few L&D roles let you design the whole thing and own it. This one does.

• Real mission. Your work supports aviation electrification and European defense sovereignty. The batteries you help the team build matter.

• Ownership, not layers. Flat structure, direct decisions, visible impact. What you build gets used.

• A team worth developing. Ten-plus nationalities, engineers and builders who move fast and challenge directly.

• Budget and creative freedom to do it right, from tool choice to framework design.

• 38 paid days off per year (25 vacation plus 13 ADV days), 8% holiday allowance, PMT pension, and daily lunch on-site.

Ready to build the L&D foundation for a company scaling the future of flight? Apply now.

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