Right now, 51% of the 1,728 live job ads we track at 98 companies need Dutch, and 49% are open to English speakers. Collected from company careers pages and updated twice a day; last checked 2026-11-14.
Share of live job ads open to English speakers. Where you look matters more than anything else.
| Region | Jobs | Open to English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote NL | 66 | 94% | |
| Greater Amsterdam | 822 | 66% | |
| Rotterdam & The Hague | 244 | 55% | |
| Eastern Netherlands | 71 | 21% | |
| Utrecht | 167 | 21% | |
| North Brabant | 85 | 11% | |
| Northern Netherlands | 36 | 3% |
Technical roles are mostly open to English speakers. Customer-facing and people roles mostly are not.
| Field | Jobs | Open to English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | 38 | 89% | |
| Software Engineering | 201 | 76% | |
| Security | 20 | 70% | |
| Engineering | 115 | 69% | |
| Finance & Legal | 118 | 69% | |
| Data & Analytics | 155 | 68% | |
| Design | 41 | 49% | |
| Marketing | 96 | 41% | |
| Customer Support | 60 | 37% | |
| Sales | 239 | 36% | |
| Operations | 155 | 32% | |
| People & HR | 35 | 29% |
93 of the 940 ads written in English (10%) still ask for Dutch somewhere in the text, usually fluent. It depends heavily on the field: read to the bottom of the ad before you apply.
| Field | English ads | Ask for Dutch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Support | 33 | 33% | |
| Marketing | 50 | 22% | |
| Sales | 108 | 20% | |
| Finance & Legal | 91 | 11% | |
| Design | 22 | 9% | |
| Data & Analytics | 112 | 6% | |
| Operations | 51 | 4% | |
| Engineering | 82 | 4% | |
| Software Engineering | 155 | 2% | |
| Product | 34 | 0% |
81% of the jobs open to English speakers are at companies on the IND public register of recognised sponsors, which an employer needs to hire through the highly skilled migrant route. Recognition does not oblige a company to sponsor any particular role. See the jobs at recognised sponsors.
We read job ads straight from the public careers pages of 98 companies hiring in the Netherlands, twice a day. An ad counts as needing Dutch if it is written in Dutch, or if an ad written in English asks for Dutch (phrases like "fluent Dutch" or "Dutch is a must", but not "Dutch is a plus"). Of the ads that need Dutch, 788 are written in another language and 93 are English ads asking for it. Detection is automatic, so expect some noise either way.
This covers the companies we track, not the whole Dutch job market. It leans towards technology and international employers, because they publish their openings in a form that can be collected; large employers with their own careers systems are not included. The largest single employer has 233 live ads, 97% of which need Dutch; without it, 44% of ads need Dutch instead of 51%. Only 21% of ads list a salary.