Join Awareways

How do you add a new feature to a platform used by hundreds of thousands of people every day, without anything falling over? And how do you use DDD to keep an event-sourced system understandable for the colleague who comes after you?

At Awareways, you’ll help build Wave, the platform organizations use to help their employees handle information more securely. You’ll be part of a small team of engineers covering back end, front end, data, delivery and design. We’re growing the team because we want to get new functionality to our clients faster.

Your mission in one sentence: make sure new functionality in Wave reaches users faster and reliably.

A year from now, you’ll own part of Wave’s domain. You deliver features end to end within the sprint: from technical design to release, with tests and without surprises in production.

About Awareways

Awareways helps organizations handle information more securely. We combine cybersecurity, psychology, learning and creative communication. Our product, Wave, brings training, communication, simulations and measurement together in one place, connecting what people know with how they practice and how they actually behave.

We don’t build bespoke solutions for individual clients. We build one product that keeps improving and works for more and more clients as it does. Staying close to our clients is essential to that: what we learn from clients and users, we turn into improvements that benefit everyone.

This role is part of our Product division, within the Software Development team. You’ll work in Build, the part of the team that builds and maintains Wave. Your direct teammates are the Domain Expert Back-end, a Back-end Engineer, the Domain Expert Front-end, a Front-end Engineer and a Data Scientist. You report to the Product Delivery Engineer, who leads the team and owns the roadmap and planning. You’ll work most closely with the Domain Expert Back-end, who looks after the quality of the back end and is your first sparring partner. The Head of Technology has the final say on technical vision, architecture, technical standards and security.

What will you be doing?

• New functionality that just works. You pick up features from the sprint and take them from technical design to release. You work in PHP and Symfony, with event sourcing and CQRS: you model a new feature as commands, events and projections. You agree the API with the front-end engineers so it fits the Vue.js front end.
• Specs that are feasible before anyone starts building. Before sprint planning, you go through specs with the Product Delivery Engineer. You spot where something could be simpler and give estimates the planning can rely on.
• A platform that stays stable as it grows. You write tests, keep an eye on performance and clean up technical debt where you find it. When a projection gets slow, you fix it properly, in consultation with the Domain Expert Back-end.
• Solutions to problems that affect clients. The Support Engineer and Solutions Engineers in Technical Support & Solutions work out where a reported issue comes from. If the cause is in the back end, you build and test the solution, and it goes back on the ticket. This work is less visible than a new feature, but clients notice it straight away.
• Code that others can understand. You review your colleagues’ code and have your own work reviewed. You document your choices so that a new colleague can understand the event model without having to ask you.
• Releases that reach production safely. You help roll out and monitor what you build. If something goes wrong after a release, you help find and fix it quickly, even if it wasn’t your code.
• Experienced with a different technology? Share what you know with your teammates or turn it into a proof of concept. We’re always looking for smarter, faster or better ways of working, and we’d love to learn from your experience.

What won’t you be directly responsible for?

(though your input is always welcome)

• What gets built, and in what order. That’s the Product Delivery Engineer, with the Head of Product setting the product vision. You contribute on feasibility and estimates.
• Wave’s architecture and technical standards. The Head of Technology has the final say. You flag where things rub and make proposals.
• Client contact and investigating reported issues. That’s Client Support and Technical Support & Solutions. You build the solution when the cause is in the back end.
• The design of screens and user flows. That’s the Product Designer. You help think through what makes sense technically.

A day as a Back-end Engineer

You start at 9:00 with Software Development’s sprint planning. Yesterday, a Solutions Engineer passed on a ticket: for one large client, the overview of training results is loading slowly. You take it on, alongside the feature you’re working on this sprint: automatically assigning training to new employees.

You start by looking into the ticket and asking for more context. Meanwhile, you write the first commands and events for the feature. The Domain Expert Back-end takes a look and asks whether one of your events is really describing two things that happen. It is, so you split it.

At 12:30 you have lunch with colleagues from across the company.

In the afternoon, you dig into the ticket. The query behind the projection is indeed slow for clients with a lot of rows, and this client is where it breaks. A quick fix is possible today, but it won’t make the problem go away. The structural solution takes two days, and that time comes out of your feature. You put both options to the Product Delivery Engineer. Together you decide: the quick fix today, the new projection next sprint.

By the end of the day, the fix is in the test environment. The Solutions Engineer tests it and gets the ticket ready for release. Then the Data Scientist gets in touch: they’d like to use the new assignment events for a report. You’ll take that into account when you continue on your feature tomorrow.

Who are we looking for?

You’re a back-end engineer with a few years of experience in PHP and Symfony. You want to work on a single product that you get to know inside out, and you write code that will still make sense two years from now.

What you bring:

• Thinking in the domain. You translate what happens in practice into a clear model: what happens, who does it and what the system needs to remember. You take the time to get commands, events and projections right.
• Ownership all the way to production. Done means done. A feature is only finished when it works for users. If something goes wrong, you fix it first and only then ask whose code it was.
• Making pragmatic choices. You weigh a quick fix against a structural one and explain what each option costs. You don’t build more than you need to.
• Helpful, but critical. You ask questions to understand the need behind a request or ticket. You set priorities, and you’re not afraid to say “no” or “not yet” and explain why. Throughout, you focus on what adds value for the most clients.
• Organized and careful. You plan your own work and stay on top of things when several people need you at once, such as a feature and an urgent ticket at the same time. You care about quality and privacy: Wave handles personal data belonging to our clients’ employees.
• Strong command of English. You communicate clearly in English with your teammates, both in conversation and in writing. Dutch is a plus.

Required

• At least three years of professional experience as a back-end developer, with code running in production. You’ll be joining a small team and picking up features independently from the start.
• Hands-on experience with PHP and Symfony, since Wave’s back end is built on them.

Nice to have

• Experience with event sourcing and CQRS. If you understand the concepts, you’ll learn how we apply them here.
• Experience with Domain-Driven Design, coding standards and principles (such as Clean Code).
• Dutch, since much of our organization and many of our clients are Dutch-speaking.
• Experience with automated testing, for example with PHPUnit.

You don’t need a computer science degree: what you’ve built counts for more than your diploma. You don’t need a background in cybersecurity or security awareness either, but an interest in it matters.

Why this role at Awareways?

What you build reaches all of our clients. Because we don’t do custom work, an improvement you ship this sprint works for every organization using Wave shortly afterwards.

You’ll work in a small team with short lines to Product, Support and the Head of Technology. Wave runs on an architecture you won’t find everywhere: event sourcing and CQRS in Symfony. If you haven’t worked with it much yet, you’ll get the room to learn it properly here.

What we offer

• Room to grow. A role with real responsibility in a mission-driven organization, and room to develop both professionally and personally.
• Personal development. We start with an external assessment and review your growth together at regular intervals.
• Workplace. A great office in Utrecht, with hybrid working and the option of focus days at home.
• Equipment. You’ll get a laptop and a phone. Most of us use a MacBook, but if you strongly prefer something else, that’s fine.
• Getting here. We cover your travel costs. If you’re coming from outside Utrecht, we can give you a Swapfiets for the ride from Utrecht Centraal to the office.
• Together at the office. We have lunch together every day, with croquettes on Fridays, and we celebrate wins with drinks.
• Strategic off-site. Once a year we get away for a few days to work on the future of Awareways, with time for drinks and karaoke too.
• Salary. €4,000 to €5,200 gross per month (based on 40 hours), depending on your experience, skills and education.
• Hours. 32 to 40 hours per week.
• Time off. 25 days of paid holiday.
• For later. A solid pension plan, with the option to make extra contributions on favorable terms.
• Grow with us. After one year, you’re eligible for our Stock Appreciation Rights plan.

Diversity matters to us, and we keep working to make Awareways a place where everyone feels at home. That’s why we welcome people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Interested?

We don’t ask for a cover letter. Instead, tell us in no more than 300 words about a time you changed an existing system without users being affected. What was the problem, what trade-off did you make, and what would you do differently looking back?

Send your CV and your answer to Mati Kochen (Head of Technology) at mati@awareways.com, with the subject line “Vacancy Back-end Engineer”.

We’ll be in touch, and we’d love to get to know you over a coffee.

The selection process

• First interview: getting to know each other.
• In between: a technical assignment.
• Second interview: a technical conversation about your assignment, with the Domain Expert Back-end and the Head of Technology.
• Professional assessment.
• Job offer.

How do you turn a current cyber threat into an exercise employees actually learn from? How do you find out which interventions really make people behave more securely? And how do you turn individual simulations into a strategy that changes an entire organization?

At Awareways, you’re the subject-matter expert for our simulation products and for the behavioral strategy they’re part of. You design strategies with clients, develop new interventions and test what works. You do this together with Strategic Client Managers, ethical hackers, learning specialists, psychologists, designers, data scientists and developers.

Your mission in one sentence: make sure our simulations are demonstrably effective and become part of high-impact behavior change strategies for our clients and our product.

A year from now, you can show for each type of simulation which behavior it changes. Clients work with a strategy in which simulations, training and communication reinforce each other, and Strategic Client Managers can run simulations well on their own.

About Awareways

Awareways helps organizations handle information more securely. We combine cybersecurity, psychology, learning and creative communication. Our product, Wave, brings training, communication, simulations and measurement together in one place, connecting what people know with how they practice and how they actually behave.

We don’t build bespoke solutions for individual clients. We build one product that keeps improving and works for more and more clients as it does. Staying close to our clients is essential to that: what we learn from clients and users, we turn into improvements that benefit everyone.

This role is part of our Product division, within the Content & Strategy team. The team creates the content in Wave and develops behavioral strategies, both for individual clients and for the product. Your direct teammates are learning specialists, designers, security specialists and psychologists. You report to the Head of Product. Your most important partner is the Strategic Client Manager, who guides the client and plans the program, while you bring the expertise on behavior and simulations.

What will you be doing?

You work with our own phishing software and with simulations via email, WhatsApp, text message and phone. Physical interventions, such as mystery guest visits, are part of what we offer too.

• Designing behavior change strategies for clients. Together with the Strategic Client Manager, you turn a client’s goals and risks into a strategy. Which behavior needs to change, in which groups, and in what order do we use simulations, training and communication? You base those choices on behavioral science and on what the client’s own results show. After each simulation round, you look at what has been achieved and adjust the strategy.
• Turning cyber threats into realistic simulations. With ethical hackers and other experts, you dig into current attack methods until you understand the role human behavior plays in them. You turn that knowledge into convincing scenarios, which you build yourself with our tools. For phone-based attacks, you write the scripts our actors perform.
• Testing what works and making behavior visible. You first trial new simulations with our pilot clients, together with learning specialists and the Data Scientist. You decide which behaviors we measure, so our reports go beyond click rates. Only once an intervention has proven to work do we roll it out more widely.
• Connecting simulation and learning. With learning specialists, you determine what knowledge and skills employees need and how the simulations tie in with Wave Training. That way, employees practice what they’ve learned, tailored to their earlier behavior and progress.
• Advising clients and sales. You advise on scenarios, settings, results and next steps. You join client meetings and sales demos, ask what a client wants to achieve and show how our simulations help them get there.
• Making our simulation products simpler and better. You turn recurring questions into better scenarios, instructions and ways of working, so Strategic Client Managers can roll out simulations on their own and with fewer mistakes. When new software features or automation are needed, you write a roadmap proposal: what the product needs to do, and what that delivers. Once it’s built, you check with product and development that it works in practice.

What won’t you be directly responsible for?

(though your input is always welcome)

• Guiding clients and planning programs. That’s the Strategic Client Managers. You step in when your expertise is needed.
• Building new software features. That’s the Software Development team, which also plans the roadmap. You provide the input and test the result.
• Making the voice phishing calls. That’s our actors. You write the scripts.

A day as a Behavioral Change Strategist

Your day starts with a question from a Strategic Client Manager. At a healthcare organization, someone on the service desk fell for a fake call from “the IT supplier”, and the client now wants a phone campaign as soon as possible. You dive into the results of the past phishing rounds: employees are reporting suspicious emails more and more often, but the planning department is lagging behind.

This is where it gets tricky. The client wants quick results, but a phone campaign without any preparation mostly leaves people embarrassed and changes little. You suggest giving the planning department a short training in Wave first, and calling three weeks later. With the numbers in hand, the Strategic Client Manager agrees.

At 12:30 you have lunch with colleagues from across the company.

In the afternoon, you talk to an ethical hacker about how these attacks play out today. Attackers use the names of real employees at the supplier, found on LinkedIn. You write the script for our actors, with moments where the employee has a chance to ask questions. Then comes the less exciting part: checking the script against the privacy agreements with the client. Who are we allowed to call, and what do we record? With the Data Scientist, you agree on what to measure: not just who hands over information, but also who calls back on the official number or reports the incident. You also discuss a new way of visualizing the data, and agree to try it out for this client.

By the end of the day, you set out the approach for the Strategic Client Manager: first the training, then the phone campaign, then a follow-up measurement. Tomorrow it goes to the client. You note one more point for the roadmap: the report doesn’t yet show phone results next to phishing email results.

Who are we looking for?

You have a solid background in cybersecurity and want to grow into an expert in social engineering. You’re curious about how people think and act, and about how to change that across an organization. You enjoy talking to clients, building scenarios yourself and working with specialists to find out what works.

What you bring:

• A demonstrable interest in cybersecurity. You can show how you’ve immersed yourself in the field, for example through work, education or your own projects. You understand the basics of cyber threats and social engineering, and you enjoy talking shop with technical experts.
• Thinking in terms of behavior change. You want to understand why people can be influenced and how to help them recognize threats and respond well. You see a simulation as one step in a longer process of change, for a group and for an entire organization.
• Creativity and an inquisitive mind. You come up with convincing interventions, try them out and adjust your ideas based on the results. You want to know whether something works, and why.
• Communication and commercial skills. You explain complex topics clearly, ask good questions and present our approach with conviction.
• Helpful, but critical. You ask questions to understand the need behind a request. You help clients and colleagues make the most of what our products already offer, and you spot where they need to improve. You set priorities, and you’re not afraid to say “no” or “not yet” and explain why. Throughout, you focus on what adds value for the most clients.
• Organized and careful. You plan your own work and stay on top of things when several clients and colleagues need you at once. You care about quality, privacy and the impact of simulations on participants.
• Strong command of Dutch and English. You communicate clearly in both languages with clients, partners and colleagues.

Required

• At least three years of experience in cybersecurity, security awareness or behavior change, because you’ll be advising clients independently from the start. Relevant education and personal projects count too.
• Knowledge of social engineering and current attack methods, because the scenarios you design need to be convincing.
• Strong command of Dutch and English, because most of our clients are Dutch-speaking and we also create scenarios and content in English.

Nice to have

• A background in psychology, behavioral science or educational science.
• Experience with phishing simulations, red teaming or other social engineering tests.
• Experience analyzing behavioral data.
• Experience in an advisory or commercial role.

You don’t need a technical degree. You do need to want to understand how attacks work, and to enjoy getting to grips with the tools we use to simulate them.

Why this role at Awareways?

You combine direct client contact with shaping the substance of our work. What you hear from hackers, see in simulation results and learn from clients, you can turn into concrete improvements. You work with colleagues who look at the same question from different disciplines: how do we help people act more securely?

You get room to deepen your cyber knowledge, develop new interventions and research how well they work. With your expertise, you help clients and make our products better and easier to use.

What we offer

• Room to grow. A role with real responsibility in a mission-driven organization, and room to develop both professionally and personally.
• Personal development. We start with an external assessment and review your growth together at regular intervals.
• Workplace. A great office in Utrecht, with hybrid working and the option of focus days at home.
• Equipment. You’ll get a laptop and a phone. Most of us use a MacBook, but if you strongly prefer something else, that’s fine.
• Getting here. We cover your travel costs. If you’re coming from outside Utrecht, we can give you a Swapfiets for the ride from Utrecht Centraal to the office.
• Together at the office. We have lunch together every day, with croquettes on Fridays, and we celebrate wins with drinks.
• Strategic off-site. Once a year we get away for a few days to work on the future of Awareways, with time for drinks and karaoke too.
• Salary. €3,800 to €5,250 gross per month (based on 40 hours), depending on your experience, skills and education.
• Hours. 32 to 40 hours per week.
• Time off. 25 days of paid holiday.
• For later. A solid pension plan, with the option to make extra contributions on favorable terms.
• Grow with us. After one year, you’re eligible for our Stock Appreciation Rights plan.

Diversity matters to us, and we keep working to make Awareways a place where everyone feels at home. That’s why we welcome people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Interested?

We don’t ask for a cover letter. Instead, pick a current cyber threat and describe in no more than 300 words how you would turn it into an exercise for employees. What behavior do you want to see, what does the scenario look like, and how do you measure whether it works? If you’ve made or researched something in this area before, feel free to include it.

Send your CV and your answer to Pascal Koelemij (Head of Product) at pascal.koelemij@awareways.com, with the subject line “Vacancy Behavioral Change Strategist - Social Engineering”.

We’ll be in touch, and we’d love to get to know you over a coffee.

After a first introductory interview, we’ll give you a short case. In the second interview we discuss it, mainly to understand how you see things. This is followed by the external assessment and a job offer.

How do you create content that makes people act differently? And how do you make sure that content fits one client’s request and works for all of our clients?

At Awareways, you and your colleagues in Content & Strategy are responsible for the content in Wave, our behavior change platform. That content is varied: quizzes, videos and games to learn from, phishing simulations that land straight in employees’ inboxes, and communication campaigns in the client’s own branding. Your focus is mainly on the learning content. When a communication campaign has a learning element, you get involved. You keep the library up to date, develop new learning paths and find out what works, so that everything comes together as one program.

Your mission in one sentence: make sure Wave’s content library is up to date, accurate and effective, and demonstrably contributes to programs that encourage safer behavior.

A year from now, the effectiveness of our content has measurably improved, you know what each module delivers, and client requests end up in the library more often than as one-off exceptions for a single client.

About Awareways

Awareways helps organizations handle information more securely. We combine cybersecurity, psychology, learning and creative communication. Our product, Wave, brings training, communication, simulations and measurement together in one place, connecting what people know with how they practice and how they actually behave.

We don’t build bespoke solutions for individual clients. We build one product that keeps improving and works for more and more clients as it does. Staying close to our clients is essential to that: what we learn from clients and users, we turn into improvements that benefit everyone.

This role is part of our Product division, within the Content & Strategy team. Your direct teammates have backgrounds in learning, psychology, communication, design, information security and social engineering. Together, you build a library of high-quality content. You’ll work most closely with the Behavioral Change Strategist, who develops the behavior change strategy, both for clients and for the product. You translate that strategy into content and use results to show what works. Together, you look at what content we have, how best to use it and what’s still missing.

What will you be doing?

Roughly 50% of your time goes into maintaining and improving existing content, 30% into new modules and learning paths, and 20% into supporting colleagues, from sales and client questions to the technical team.

• A library that’s accurate. When laws or regulations change, a new threat emerges or user feedback points to a mistake, you make sure the content in Wave is right again, across all modules and language versions. This work isn’t always visible, but it’s essential.
• New modules and learning paths that change behavior. You set learning objectives, choose formats and write the texts and scripts. You work out the design with designers. For every module, you decide up front which behavior you want to see and how we can measure it.
• Turning behavior strategy into content. Together with the Behavioral Change Strategist, you decide which behavioral goals the library should serve. You know the library and where the gaps are.
• Turning client requests into content for everyone. When a client comes to us with a question, you look into whether it reveals a gap in the library. Where possible, you develop the content with the client, in a way that everyone benefits from.
• Putting your expertise to work for clients and sales. Colleagues in Client Support and the Strategic Client Managers come to you with questions about our content. You also join sales conversations to show how Wave changes behavior.
• Measuring what works. Our Data Scientist in Software Development provides the insights into how content is used and what effect it has. You have your own access to the dashboards, and together you decide how we measure impact. If a module underperforms, you find out why and adjust it.
• Making Wave better for content. You know what Wave needs to be able to do for content, such as new question types or better feedback. You bring those requests to the Product Delivery Engineer and the Product Designer. Before a release, you test whether it works as intended and sign off on behalf of Content & Strategy.

What won’t you be directly responsible for?

(though your input is always welcome)

• The client relationship and how clients adopt Wave. That’s the Strategic Client Manager. You join for co-creation and whenever content expertise is needed.
• Building new features in Wave. That’s Software Development. You provide the content input and test whether it works.

A day as a Content Specialist Learning & Behavior

Your day starts at 9:00 with Content & Strategy’s planning. Then you open the Wave content dashboard. A module on reporting incidents, which we use widely, shows mixed results across different questions. Rewrite it or drop it? You ask the Data Scientist whether the problem lies in the content or in the measurement. Together, you decide that several questions need rewriting.

Then the less visible work: an updated guideline affects a series of modules and their translations. You go through them one by one, because a mistake affects all of our clients.

At 12:30 you have lunch with colleagues from across the company.

In the afternoon, the Behavioral Change Strategist comes to you with a client request: employees in the construction sector are increasingly pasting sensitive information into AI tools their organization hasn’t approved, and the client wants a learning path. You see that the library already covers a lot, but content for this specific audience is still missing. Together, you sketch out learning objectives and agree on a pilot with the client.

Next, you test a new question type in Wave with the Product Designer. On mobile, the feedback text disappears; you report it to the Product Delivery Engineer so it’s fixed before the release.

At the end of the day, the Data Scientist stops by your desk: on closer inspection, another question in the incident module is highly ambiguous and measures something other than intended. You rewrite that question and get the AI tools learning path ready for the next sprint planning.

Who are we looking for?

You know how people learn and why they do what they do, and you turn that into content that works. Keeping a large library in order matters as much to you as creating something new.

What you bring:

• Instructional design skills. You design learning so that people act differently afterwards, not just know more.
• Clear writing. You write about complex topics concisely and without jargon, for everyone from the front desk to the boardroom.
• An inquisitive mindset. You want to know whether content works, and why. You read data and adapt your work to what you see.
• Ownership of the content. You make sure a large library is accurate, even when that work isn’t very visible.
• Creativity and innovation. You come up with new formats and angles, so that a familiar topic like phishing grabs people’s attention again. You try out new ideas on a small scale first.
• Helpful, but critical. You ask questions to understand the need behind a request. You set priorities, and you’re not afraid to say “no” or “not yet” and explain why, even to a client who wants a module of their own. Throughout, you focus on what adds value for the most clients.
• Organized and careful. You plan your own work and stay on top of things when several people need you at once. You care about quality and privacy.
• Strong command of Dutch and English. You communicate clearly in both languages with clients, partners and colleagues, and you write content in both.

Required

• At least two years of experience in learning design or content development.
• A higher professional or university level of thinking. You translate research on learning and behavior into content and judge for yourself whether it has an effect.
• Strong command of Dutch and English, because our content and clients work in both languages.
• An interest in behavior change, information security or privacy, and a conviction that they matter.

Nice to have

• A degree in psychology, educational science or a related field.
• Knowledge of information security or privacy. You don’t need a technical degree or a background in cybersecurity: you can learn this with us.
• Experience analyzing learning or behavioral data.

Why this role at Awareways?

What you create is used by employees at all of our clients: one improvement works for everyone straight away, and the results show you what your work achieves. Hundreds of thousands of people in 40 languages learn from what you make.

You work where learning, psychology, cybersecurity and software meet, with short lines to strategy, client management, design and development, and room to deepen your knowledge across different areas of expertise.

What we offer

• Room to grow. A role with real responsibility in a mission-driven organization, and room to develop both professionally and personally.
• Personal development. We start with an external assessment and review your growth together at regular intervals.
• Workplace. A great office in Utrecht, with hybrid working and the option of focus days at home. For this role, being in the office regularly matters, because you work closely with strategy, design and development.
• Equipment. You’ll get a laptop and a phone. Most of us use a MacBook, but if you strongly prefer something else, that’s fine.
• Getting here. We cover your travel costs. If you’re coming from outside Utrecht, we can give you a Swapfiets for the ride from Utrecht Centraal to the office.
• Together at the office. We have lunch together every day, with croquettes on Fridays, and we celebrate wins with drinks.
• Strategic off-site. Once a year we get away for a few days to work on the future of Awareways, with time for drinks and karaoke too.
• Salary. €3,600 to €4,800 gross per month (based on 40 hours), depending on your experience, skills and education.
• Hours. 32 to 40 hours per week.
• Time off. 25 days of paid holiday.
• For later. A solid pension plan, with the option to make extra contributions on favorable terms.
• Grow with us. After one year, you’re eligible for our Stock Appreciation Rights plan.

Diversity matters to us, and we keep working to make Awareways a place where everyone feels at home. That’s why we welcome people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Interested?

We don’t ask for a cover letter. Pick one unsafe habit you see often, such as reusing passwords or clicking links too quickly. In a short pitch (no more than 300 words or a video of about one minute), describe how you would turn it into a learning intervention and how you would measure whether it works.

Send your CV and pitch to Pascal Koelemij (Head of Product) at pascal.koelemij@awareways.com, with the subject line “Content Specialist Learning & Behavior”.

We’ll be in touch, and we’d love to get to know you over a coffee.

The process consists of two interviews and an external assessment. After the first interview, you’ll receive a short case, which we’ll discuss in the second interview.

About Awareways

Awareways approaches security and privacy awareness from a psychological, marketing, and communication perspective with the goal of changing behavior and culture. We assist our clients in establishing an overarching strategy so that employees become the strongest link in their organization’s security chain. We do this in an energetic and creative way. For more information, visit www.awareways.com.

At Awareways, we value diversity and continually strive to create an organization where everyone feels at home. As such, we are looking for people of diverse backgrounds and experiences (M/F/X) to form a strong and united team.

About the role

Do you have an interest in understanding how human behavior works and how it can be changed? Do you want to contribute to a secure society in an innovative and creative way? Are you organized and thrive on variety in your daily work? Then a role as a program manager at Awareways is the perfect fit for you!

Due to rapid growth, we are looking for a new program manager to join our team. Our friendly team of program managers consists of young professionals from diverse backgrounds, including communication, psychology, marketing, and filmmaking.

A typical day at Awareways

Start off your day: Around 9 o’clock you arrive at the office. You grab a cup of coffee and briefly chat with some colleagues. Then you prepare for a meeting with a new client. It’s an international company that wants to start using phishing simulations and the Hacker Duel, and that needs to apply to all their employees around the world. You promise to create a plan of action that you will discuss at the next meeting. You call a colleague to briefly spar about this.

Next up is a customised text for another client for our e-learning platform. You can use your creativity to make information security topics as interesting and relevant as possible for this specific organization. The client is a hospital, so the employees work with sensitive information on a daily basis. You have to come up with cases that the healthcare staff will recognize and in which security or privacy issues are dealt with. You have to dive right in here, but you like the fact that you can improve information safety in healthcare in this way.

Lunch: It’s lunchtime! Here it is just a half-hour log out. Every day a colleague makes a salad and catches up on all the developments at work and in the world. You finish your lunch with a walk around the block.

Noon: The sales manager calls you asking you to help think about a potential client’s request. They would like a training special on a specific topic, for which our current platform needs to be converted. How this should be done is still the question. You decide to schedule a brainstorming session with the programmer and the sales manager to come up with a suitable solution.

After calling your colleague, you start preparing for a presentation later in the week. The client in question has invited the entire team for an update on the program when it comes to participation and next steps…. You want to come up with a format for this consultation that resonates with the client and where you can clearly inform all attendees about the prerequisites for success, but also get input back on open issues.

After you come up with an outline, you have one final meeting. You are in a project group for new software development and in this meeting you will think about new functionalities of the software. End of the day! You close your laptop and clean up your desk

What will you be doing

• Maintaining overview and planning;
• Formulating strategies and keeping them focused;
• Setting priorities;
• Working in a result-oriented and customer-focused manner, not hesitating to provide constructive feedback;
• Building relationships with clients and instilling a sense of trust.

About you

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree level, preferably in communication science/psychology/(commercial) business administration/social sciences.
• Ideally, 1 – 5 years of experience in a similar role as a program manager/project manager or experience within a security and/or privacy team.
• Proficiency in both Dutch and English, both spoken and written.
• Ideally, you have a project management methodology certificate (e.g., PRINCE2) – but not a requirement.

What we offer

• Room to Grow – This is a creative role with motivating challenges, and at Awareways, there’s ample space for your personal development. Our organization is dynamic, young, and growing fast, offering plenty of opportunities for professional advancement.
• Enthusiastic Team – Our diverse, multidisciplinary team includes experienced graphic specialists, passionate program managers, a full-stack development team, learning experts, and talented psychologists. Get the most out of this team and leverage their expertise to bring your narratives to life.
• Personal Development – We take your personal development seriously. We start with an external professional assessment and have regularly scheduled moments to discuss your personal growth. The more you grow, the happier we are!
• Equipment – We’ll provide you with the right gear. That’s why you’ll get a MacBook Pro along with an iPhone.
• Mobility – We’re happy to help with your commute. You’ll receive a Swapfiets bicycle for your ride to the office, and we’ll reimburse other travel expenses.
• A Healthy Office – We strive to make the office as fun and productive as possible. We enjoy a healthy communal lunch every day, celebrate the start of the weekend every Friday. We challenge you to beat everyone on the Nintendo Switch. Let’s go!
• Strategic Trip – Annually, we go on a multi-day off-site retreat to work on our vision and strategy, but mostly to enjoy drinks and some karaoke. How off-key can you sing?
• Salary – Your salary will be determined based on your experience.
• Grow With Us – We value your commitment. That’s why, after one year, it’s possible to participate in our Stock Appreciation Rights (SAR) program.
• Time Off – You’ll receive 25 vacation days.
• For the Future – We offer a good pension plan with the option to make additional personal contributions.

Are you interested?

Are you interested in this position? Please email your covering letter, portfolio and resume to hannah@awareways.com with the subject line ‘Program Manager Vacancy’. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why does the same login problem turn up at three different clients in a single month? And what would you have to change in the code so that nobody ever has to look at it again?

At Awareways, you’ll be one of two Solutions Engineers. You work closely with our Support Engineer and with the engineers who build Wave. We’re filling the second Solutions Engineer position because more clients means more support cases, and we’d rather remove the cause than keep answering the same question.

Your mission in one sentence: reduce the amount of support Wave needs.

A year from now, fewer cases reach our second and third line. The problems you’ve tackled stay solved, and you can show which recurring issues have disappeared and how much time that has freed up. And Client Support and Implementation have an easier time: getting a client onboarded takes less hassle, and so does keeping them happy when something goes wrong.

About Awareways

Awareways helps organizations handle information more securely. We combine cybersecurity, psychology, learning and creative communication. Our product, Wave, brings training, communication, simulations and measurement together in one place, connecting what people know with how they practice and how they actually behave.

We don’t build bespoke solutions for individual clients. We build one product that keeps improving and works for more and more clients as it does. Staying close to our clients is essential to that: what we learn from clients and users, we turn into improvements that benefit everyone.

This role is part of our Product division, within the Technical Support & Solutions team. You’ll work in Solve, our third line of support, which tackles the technical problems behind recurring issues. The first line, Implementation and Client Support, helps clients directly. Your direct teammates are the other Solutions Engineer and the Support Engineer, who handles escalated cases as the second line. You report to the Head of Product. You work most closely with the Support Engineer, who brings you the patterns in incoming cases, and with the Head of Technology, who reviews your solution proposals and has the final say on architecture.

What will you be doing?

Nearly all of your work starts with a problem a client has run into. You’ll write code, but to solve problems, not to build new features from the roadmap.

• Tracing recurring problems to their root. When the Support Engineer or the first line sees the same issue coming back, you find out why. You reproduce it, dig through logs and data, and follow it through the code until you can explain what’s really going on.
• Building structural fixes yourself. You write the fix in PHP and Symfony, with tests, and submit it as a merge request. The engineers in Build review it and ship it in a release. Afterwards, you check that the cases have actually stopped.
• Turning bigger problems into roadmap proposals. Some problems need more than a fix. You write a proposal covering the cause, the impact, the options and an estimate. Once the Head of Technology has reviewed it, the Product Delivery Engineer weighs it against everything else on the roadmap.
• Making integrations more reliable. Many cases start where Wave connects to client systems, such as single sign-on (SSO) and learning platforms linked via LTI. You find out where these connections break and make them more robust, so the Support Engineer has fewer complex set-ups to rescue.
• Preventing escalations with knowledge and tooling. Not every case needs a change to Wave. Sometimes the first line just needs a clear explanation, or a small tool to check a client’s configuration. You write and build these, so cases get resolved sooner.
• Showing where support time goes. You track which issues recur most often and how much time they cost, so the Head of Product and the Product Delivery Engineer can see where structural work pays off.

What won’t you be directly responsible for?

(though your input is always welcome)

• Handling individual client cases and complex set-ups. That’s the first line and the Support Engineer. You step in when a case points to a deeper problem, or needs extra technical knowledge.
• Deciding which solutions get built, and when. That’s the Product Delivery Engineer, with the Head of Product setting the product vision. You make the case with your proposal and your numbers.
• Wave’s architecture and technical standards. The Head of Technology has the final say. You flag when a structural fix calls for a bigger change.
• Building roadmap features and running releases. That’s Build. Larger solutions are built there, with you as the person who knows the problem best.

A day as a Solutions Engineer

At stand-up, the Support Engineer brings up three tickets from three different clients this week: employees who log in via SSO are ending up with a second account in Wave. You pick it up, and within an hour you’ve reproduced it in the test environment. The client’s identity provider sometimes sends email addresses with capital letters, and Wave treats them as new users.

The fix itself is small. The tricky part is the accounts that already exist twice, some with training results on both, in data that clients report on. You head over to the Head of Technology, and together you agree on a plan: fix the login today, then merge the duplicates with a migration you test on a copy of the data first.

At 12:30 you have lunch with colleagues from across the company.

In the afternoon you write the fix and its tests, and open a merge request. The Domain Expert Back-end reviews it and asks for one more test case. Then comes the less glamorous part: the migration script, line by line, with a check on every merged account. You also write a short note for Client Support, so they can explain to clients what happened.

By the end of the day, the Support Engineer has updated all three tickets with the expected release date. You add the issue to your overview of recurring problems. SSO is now in the top three, so you start drafting a proposal: Wave needs a better way to match users coming in from client systems. That one’s for tomorrow.

Who are we looking for?

You’re a developer who gets more satisfaction from cracking a hard problem than from building something new. You don’t mind reading other people’s code, and you want to understand why something broke before you fix it.

What you bring:

• Getting to the root cause. You don’t stop at the symptom. You form a hypothesis, test it against logs, data and code, and only consider a problem solved when you can explain why it happened.
• Fixing it once. You build solutions that work for every client, not just the one who reported the problem. And you check afterwards that the problem really is gone.
• Translating between clients and code. You can turn a vague report (“it doesn’t work for some people”) into a problem you can reproduce. And you can explain a technical cause to non-technical colleagues in a way they can pass on to a client. Your communication skills are well developed.
• Writing proposals that make decisions easy. When a problem needs more than a fix, you write a proposal that sets out the cause, the impact, the options and what each one costs. That lets the Product Delivery Engineer and the Head of Technology decide without a long meeting.
• Helpful, but critical. You ask questions to understand the need behind a request or ticket. You set priorities, and you’re not afraid to say “no” or “not yet” and explain why. Throughout, you focus on what adds value for the most clients.
• Organized and careful. You plan your own work and stay on top of things when several people need you at once, such as an urgent escalation in the middle of a structural fix. You care about quality and privacy: Wave handles personal data belonging to our clients’ employees.
• Strong command of English. You communicate clearly in English with your teammates, both in conversation and in writing. Dutch is a plus.

Required

• At least two years of professional development experience, with code running in production. You’ll be writing fixes yourself from day one.
• Hands-on experience with PHP and Symfony, since Wave’s back end is built on them.
• Experience with SQL and with debugging in production using logs, data and queries, because finding causes is at the heart of this role.
• Strong command of English, since our development team works in English.

Nice to have

• Experience with integrations such as SSO (SAML or OpenID Connect), LTI or REST APIs. If you understand the concepts, you’ll learn our integrations here.
• Dutch, since most of our first-line colleagues and clients are Dutch-speaking.
• A background in support, operations or consultancy, or experience with event sourcing and CQRS.

You don’t need a computer science degree, or any background in cybersecurity or security awareness.

Why this role at Awareways?

Because we build one product rather than custom work, a problem you solve this week disappears for every organization that uses Wave, and for every colleague who would otherwise have had to answer it again and again.

You sit between our clients and our code. You see what goes wrong in practice, you fix it yourself, and your proposals help shape what we build next. Few roles give you such a complete view of Wave: the code, the data, the integrations and the people who use it.

What we offer

• Room to grow. A role with real responsibility in a mission-driven organization, and room to develop both professionally and personally.
• Personal development. We start with an external assessment and review your growth together at regular intervals.
• Workplace. A great office in Utrecht, with hybrid working and the option of focus days at home.
• Equipment. You’ll get a laptop and a phone. Most of us use a MacBook, but if you strongly prefer something else, that’s fine.
• Getting here. We cover your travel costs. If you’re coming from outside Utrecht, we can give you a Swapfiets for the ride from Utrecht Centraal to the office.
• Together at the office. We have lunch together every day, with ‘kroketten’ on Fridays, and we celebrate wins with drinks.
• Strategic off-site. Once a year we get away for a few days to work on the future of Awareways, with time for drinks and karaoke too.
• Salary. €3,800 to €4,800 gross per month (based on 40 hours), depending on your experience, skills and education.
• Hours. 32 to 40 hours per week.
• Time off. 25 days of paid holiday.
• For later. A solid pension plan, with the option to make extra contributions on favorable terms.
• Grow with us. After one year, you’re eligible for our Stock Appreciation Rights plan.

Diversity matters to us, and we keep working to make Awareways a place where everyone feels at home. That’s why we welcome people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Interested?

We don’t ask for a cover letter. Instead, tell us in no more than 300 words about a problem that kept coming back and how you found the real cause. What was the symptom, what was the cause, and how did you make sure it didn’t return? In the second interview, we’ll work through a short case from Wave together.

Send your CV and your answer to Mati Kochen (Head of Technology) at mati@awareways.com, with the subject line “Vacancy Solutions Engineer”.

We’ll be in touch, and we’d love to get to know you over a coffee.

About Awareways

Humans are increasingly proving to be the weakest link in the security chain. Hackers rely on individuals being unaware of the true value of the information they possess. Furthermore, technology often isn’t used securely. Unlike concrete technical interventions, changing human behavior presents a significant challenge for many organizations.

Precisely because of this, people can make all the difference. Make your employees aware of the value and vulnerability of the information they handle daily. Awareways approaches this challenge from the perspective of psychology and communication sciences. We don’t focus on learning rigid rules, but on recognizing risky situations. Let’s activate your human firewall.

About the role

Awareways is looking for a team player to support our program managers with their daily tasks here in our office (minimum 16 hours per week). This role involves creating reports, customizing our learning modules with client-specific input and requests, reviewing content and print materials, and, of course, joining us for our enjoyable team lunches and social gatherings!

A typical day at Awareways according to our other project support students

“As a Project Support student, you’ll proactively assist your colleagues. Throughout the day, you’ll take on diverse tasks from our program managers, such as creating client-specific reports, developing new question series, or customizing new training programs. You’ll also be involved in reviewing content and print materials.”

“You’ll thrive in our dynamic company, tackling a wide variety of tasks. You might work on a report in the morning, prepare a presentation for a colleague in the afternoon, and then shift gears to your own project.”

“Camaraderie is a key part of working at Awareways. Our informal atmosphere, shared lunches, coffee breaks, and regular social gatherings ensure you’ll quickly feel at home in our young and dynamic team. During lunches, coffee chats by the machine, our popular afternoon walks and fun squad events, you’ll get to know your colleagues in a relaxed, informal setting.”

About you

• Available at least 16 hours per week
• Passion for security and/or privacy
• Proactive and eager for personal and professional growth
• Enjoys sharing insights with colleagues on the latest developments you observe in security and privacy

Currently pursuing or recently completed studies in fields such as:

• Homeland Security / Integrated Security Studies
• Business Administration
• Computer Science / Information Technology
• Communications
• Educational Sciences
• Psychology
• Security Management

What we offer

• Room to Grow – Working in an office environment where you can get experience in a varied student job with flexible hours.
• Enthusiastic Team – Our diverse, multidisciplinary team includes experienced graphic specialists, passionate program managers, a full-stack development team, learning experts, and talented psychologists. Get the most out of this team and leverage their expertise to bring your narratives to life.
• Personal Development – We take your personal development seriously. The more you grow, the happier we are!
• A Healthy Office – We strive to make the office as fun and productive as possible. We enjoy a healthy communal lunch every day, celebrate the start of the weekend every Friday. We challenge you to beat everyone on the Nintendo Switch. Let’s go!
• Salary – 16 euros per hour excluding holiday allowance.

Are you interested?

Let us know! Send an email to jeroen.koppe@awareways.com. For more information about our services, feel free to explore our website at www.awareways.com.