Dutch CV Format: How to Write a Dutch CV (2026)
Navigating the Dutch job market requires a document that reflects local conventions. The standard Dutch CV format, known simply as the CV, is concise: one to two pages, a short personal profile up top, and no unnecessary personal details. Amsterdam's tech hub gives Dutch applications their own texture, with Booking.com, Adyen, Uber and Netflix running European headquarters in the city.
Many larger Dutch and international companies now discourage photos and date of birth on CVs to avoid bias under the AVG, the Dutch GDPR. Omitting them removes a discrimination risk and matches the modern standard. A clean, information-dense CV signals that you understand the market.
Dutch multinationals like ASML, Philips, Booking.com and ING screen applications through ATS systems. That means your CV must be parser-clean, keyword-matched, and laid out in a single column, even as the personal details stay minimal.
This guide covers the Dutch CV format end to end, from the personal profile to the references line, with example content for software engineers at every level.
Dutch CV Format at a Glance
- Document type
- CV: “CV” is the standard term in the Netherlands; “resume” is the American equivalent and rarely used by Dutch employers. The terms are often used interchangeably in practice.
- Typical length
- 1–2 pages; maximum 2 pages for experienced professionals, preferably 1 for graduates and junior roles. Dutch recruiters value concise, information-dense CVs.
- Photo
- Optional and increasingly dropped. Many larger Dutch and international companies now discourage photos to avoid bias under the AVG (Dutch GDPR). A clean professional headshot is fine in traditional sectors; when in doubt, omit it.
- Date format
- Day / Month / Year (DD-MM-YYYY, e.g. 12-06-2025) or written as “June 2025”; month-year precision is enough for most roles.
- Paper size
- A4.
- Personal details
- Name, phone (with +31 from abroad), professional email, city, and LinkedIn URL. Date of birth and nationality are optional and increasingly dropped; including them carries a discrimination risk you can simply avoid. No BSN (Dutch social security number), no marital status.
- Section order
- Contact details → Personal profile (2–4 lines) → Work experience (reverse-chronological) → Education → Skills → References (optional; “References available on request” is accepted). Recent graduates may put Education before Work experience.
- ATS friendliness
- High; Dutch multinationals (ASML, Philips, Booking.com, Adyen, ING) screen with ATS. Use standard headings, a clean single column, no tables/graphics, PDF export (save as cv_Voornaam_Achternaam.pdf per werk.nl), and keywords from the job description.
Dutch CV Examples
Real Dutch CVs written to these conventions across three experience levels. Switch tabs to review each, then load it straight into the builder to make it your own.
Daan de Vries
Software Engineer (Graduate)
Professional Summary
Graduate Software Engineer with a cum laude BSc in Computer Science from Delft University of Technology and a 5-month internship at Adyen. Experienced in Kotlin, Java and AWS, with a focus on clean architecture and testable code. Seeking a full-time engineering role in an Amsterdam product team, following the standard Dutch CV format.
Work Experience
Software Engineer (Graduate)
07/2025 – PresentBooking.com (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Ship customer-facing features in the accommodations product using Kotlin, Java and Spring Boot, following team code review and CI/CD practice.
- Reduced API response time by 22% by introducing response caching in a search endpoint.
- Fixed 40+ production issues across two quarters, maintaining a 99.9% service uptime record.
- Pair with senior engineers on system design and observability, contributing to the team's on-call rota.
Software Engineering Intern
01/2025 – 06/2025Adyen (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Built a reporting dashboard in React and Python that cut weekly finance report generation from 3 hours to 20 minutes.
- Wrote 60+ unit and integration tests, raising feature coverage on the payments module to 92%.
- Presented the internship project to 150+ staff at the Amsterdam office; graduate offer extended.
Education
BSc Computer Science, cum laude
2021 – 2025Delft University of Technology · Delft, Netherlands
Modules included Data Structures and Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Machine Learning, and Software Engineering. Final year thesis: 'Fault-tolerant consensus for edge networks' (Grade: 8.2/10).
Skills
Certifications & Links
- AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
- GitHub: github.com/daandevries (25+ public repositories)
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daan-de-vries
Professional Summary
Software Engineer with 7 years' experience shipping cloud-native services at Booking.com and ING. Skilled in Kotlin, Go and Kubernetes, with a track record of improving reliability and developer velocity. This CV follows the standard Dutch CV format: 1–2 pages, quantified achievements, and an ATS-clean single-column layout for Dutch multinationals.
Work Experience
Software Engineer
03/2021 – PresentBooking.com (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Lead backend development for a payments reliability team, owning services that process €2M+ in daily transactions.
- Migrated 12 microservices to Kubernetes, reducing deployment time from 35 to 6 minutes and cutting on-call incidents by 30%.
- Designed a distributed tracing pipeline adopted by 4 teams, improving mean time to detection from 40 to 9 minutes.
- Mentor 3 junior engineers through the internal promotion process; two were promoted to mid-level in 2025.
Software Engineer
06/2018 – 02/2021ING (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Developed features for the mobile banking platform in Kotlin and Java, serving 2M+ Dutch customers.
- Reduced alert noise by 45% by building an anomaly-detection service, saving the on-call team an estimated 15 hours per week.
- Improved query performance 3x by rewriting the telemetry ingestion path, cutting storage costs by 18% (€120,000 annually).
Education
MSc Computer Science
2016 – 2018Eindhoven University of Technology · Eindhoven, Netherlands
Masters with focus on distributed systems and software engineering. Thesis on automated performance regression detection (Grade: 8.5/10).
BSc Informatica
2013 – 2016University of Amsterdam · Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bachelor in computer science with focus on algorithms and data systems.
Skills
Certifications & Memberships
- Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect
- AWS Certified Developer Associate
- Member, Nederlands Genootschap voor Informatica
Pieter Bakker
Senior Software Engineer / Tech Lead
Professional Summary
Senior Software Engineer and Tech Lead with 15 years' experience across Adyen, ASML and the Dutch tech ecosystem. I have led teams of up to 12 engineers, owned architecture for payments and lithography platforms, and driven €2M+ in annual efficiency gains. Seeking a staff-level role where system design and team leadership meet, presented in the standard Dutch CV format.
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer / Tech Lead
09/2020 – PresentAdyen (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Lead a team of 8 engineers owning the fraud-detection platform, which protects €500M+ in monthly transaction volume.
- Designed a real-time feature store that cut fraud-model latency by 70% and reduced false positives by 35%.
- Drove the migration of 40+ services to a service mesh, improving deployment safety and cutting rollback incidents by half.
- Recruited and mentored 6 engineers; 4 promoted within two years. Run the team's architecture review process.
Senior Software Engineer
02/2015 – 08/2020ASML (Veldhoven) · Veldhoven, Netherlands
- Owned the data pipeline for lithography machine monitoring, processing telemetry from 500+ EUV systems worldwide.
- Re-architected the analytics pipeline to handle 2B events daily, reducing processing cost by 28% (€1.8M annually).
- Led a cross-functional team of 10 through two major releases, delivering on schedule with zero critical incidents.
- Represented the Veldhoven office in global architecture reviews and mentored engineers across 3 continents.
Software Engineer
07/2011 – 01/2015Booking.com (Amsterdam) · Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Built internal tooling for the accommodations platform used by 2,000+ colleagues, reducing content launch time by 60%.
- Improved search freshness by 40% through a new incremental update pipeline.
Education
MSc Computer Science
2008 – 2010Delft University of Technology · Delft, Netherlands
Masters with focus on distributed systems and machine learning. Thesis: 'Scalable anomaly detection in high-volume event streams'.
BSc Computer Science
2003 – 2008University of Twente · Enschede, Netherlands
Bachelor in computer science; cum laude in final year.
Skills
Certifications & Leadership
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional
- Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer
- Speaker, Amsterdam Tech Summit 2025
How to Write a Dutch CV: Step-by-Step
Open With Contact Details and a Short Personal Profile
Start with your name, phone (use +31 when applying from abroad), a professional email address, city, and LinkedIn URL. Date of birth, nationality, and photo are optional; larger companies now discourage them under the AVG, and omitting them removes a discrimination risk.
Never include your BSN (Dutch social security number) or marital status. Follow with a 2–4 line personal profile summarising who you are, your specialism, and what you bring to the role.
Example
"Software Engineer with 2 years' experience building payments services in Amsterdam. Skilled in Kotlin, Java, and AWS, with a focus on reliability and clean architecture. Seeking a full-time role in a Dutch product team."
Entry Level
Keep the profile to 2–3 lines: your degree, internship projects, and core languages.
Mid Level
Lead with years of experience, your stack, and the products or teams you have shipped for.
Senior Level
Summarise scope: systems owned, team size led, architecture decisions, and business impact.
List Work Experience Reverse-Chronological With Quantified Achievements
List roles most recent first with job title, company, city, and dates in DD-MM-YYYY or month-year format. Write 3–5 achievement-led bullets per role; "reduced API latency by 40% by introducing caching" beats "responsible for backend development".
Dutch recruiters want results, not responsibilities, so quantify impact in every bullet.
Example
"Software Engineer. Booking.com, Amsterdam, 06/2023 – Present. Migrated a payments service to Kubernetes, cutting deployment time from 40 to 8 minutes and improving on-call incident resolution by 30%."
Entry Level
Detail internships, thesis projects, and any open-source contributions with measurable outcomes.
Mid Level
Quantify features shipped, systems owned, uptime or latency improvements, and team collaboration.
Senior Level
Highlight architecture decisions, team leadership, hiring and mentoring, and business impact in revenue or efficiency.
Place Education With Dutch Qualifications Prominently
Dutch employers recognise the local university system: Delft University of Technology, TU Eindhoven, University of Twente, University of Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. List your degree, institution, dates, and grade (cum laude where strong).
Recent graduates place education before work experience; experienced engineers keep it after. Mention relevant certifications (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) in a separate line.
Example
"BSc Computer Science, cum laude. Delft University of Technology, 2019–2023. Thesis: 'Fault-tolerant consensus in edge networks' (Grade: 8.2/10)."
Entry Level
Lead with your degree, grades, and thesis or capstone project; include modules relevant to the role.
Mid Level
Add professional certifications and any continued education alongside the degree.
Senior Level
Keep education brief; lead with certifications and any leadership or architecture training.
Show Key Skills and Amsterdam Tech Ecosystem Terminology
Use a short skills section with 6–10 competencies mirroring the job description: languages (Kotlin, Java, Go, Python, TypeScript), frameworks (React, Spring), and platforms (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes).
Dutch multinationals screen with ATS, so keyword match and clean parsing decide the first cut; mirror the exact wording used in the job ad.
Example
"Kotlin · Java · Go · Python · React · Spring Boot · AWS (S3, Lambda, ECS) · Kubernetes · Terraform · CI/CD (GitHub Actions) · SQL (PostgreSQL)."
Entry Level
List languages and frameworks from coursework and internships honestly; include your strongest first.
Mid Level
Add depth: cloud certifications, distributed systems, observability, and testing practice.
Senior Level
Focus on architecture, scaling, security, and leadership skills (system design, incident command, mentoring).
Close With References and a Clear Right-To-Work Line
Dutch convention is to write "References available on request"; never list referee contact details on the CV itself. If you are not an EU/EEA citizen, state your work permission clearly: "EU Blue Card holder" or "Highly Skilled Migrant visa holder".
The Netherlands runs a Highly Skilled Migrant scheme and many employers sponsor visas, so being upfront about your status saves everyone time.
Example
"References available on request. Right to work: Highly Skilled Migrant visa holder (sponsorship current)."
Entry Level
Use your university careers office and a thesis supervisor or internship mentor as referees.
Mid Level
Prefer two professional referees: a current engineering manager and a senior colleague.
Senior Level
List a director of engineering and a peer tech lead who can verify leadership outcomes.
Use English or Dutch, A4, and an ATS-Clean Layout
English is standard for tech roles in Amsterdam; write in clear British-style English or Dutch depending on the job ad. Use A4 with a clean 10–11pt font (Arial, Calibri, Helvetica) and 2.54cm margins.
Save as a PDF named cv_Voornaam_Achternaam.pdf (werk.nl guidance). Use a single column; Dutch multinationals run ATS and multi-column layouts parse badly. Proofread carefully.
Example
"Save as cv_Femke_Jansen.pdf and mention relevant keywords from the job description."
Entry Level
Have your university careers office review the CV before applying.
Mid Level
Check every date and certification is exact; gaps read as hiding something.
Senior Level
Verify all certifications and permissions have current dates; keep it to two pages.
What Makes the Dutch CV Different
To stand out in the Dutch market, start with the personal profile. Dutch recruiters expect a 2–4 line summary up top that tells them who you are and what you deliver, not a list of job titles.
Second, lead with numbers. Amsterdam tech employers, from Booking.com to Adyen, are used to quantified impact: latency reduced by 40%, costs cut by 18%, incidents down by half. Write every bullet in that language.
Third, respect the personal-details rules. No BSN, no marital status, and photo or date of birth only if you want them. Under the AVG, larger companies discourage these details anyway, and omitting them reads as modern and professional.
Finally, tailor for the ATS layer. Dutch multinationals screen most applications with ATS, so a clean single column with standard headings and job-ad keywords gives you the first-cut advantage.
Amsterdam software engineer salaries in 2026 run roughly €40k–€55k for juniors, €55k–€75k for mid-level, and €80k–€120k+ for senior roles (EuroTopTech, 2026), and the city hosts the European headquarters of Booking.com, Adyen, Uber, and Netflix alongside ASML, Philips, and ING.
Key Skills Valued in the Netherlands
Technical Skills
Soft Skills
Keywords and Terminology for Dutch CVs
Using the right keywords is the only way to pass a Dutch ATS screen and reach a human recruiter. Extract them from the job description and mirror the exact wording: job title, required languages, frameworks, and platforms.
For tech roles, include both the product terms (payments, booking, fraud) and the platform terms (AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform) the team actually uses.
How Experience Is Presented in a Dutch CV
Experience is the core of the Dutch CV, written reverse-chronologically with the most recent role first. Each role shows the job title, company, city, and dates, followed by 3–5 achievement-led bullets with numbers.
Dutch employers compare candidates on measurable outcomes, so quantify impact in every bullet: latency, uptime, cost, team size, revenue protected. Start each bullet with a strong action verb.
Entry Level
Focus on internships, thesis projects, and open-source work; show reliability and a fast learning curve.
Mid Level
Show ownership: features shipped, systems run, and improvements measured in numbers.
Senior Level
Show scale: teams led, architectures owned, budgets or revenue impact, and mentoring outcomes.
Tailoring Your CV to Dutch Employers
Tailoring means adjusting the lens, not rewriting your history. Identify the top three priorities in the job ad and make sure they appear in your personal profile and your first skills.
If the ad emphasises reliability, lead with your uptime and incident records. If it emphasises speed of delivery, lead with your deployment and feature-shipping numbers. Dutch recruiters notice when a CV is generic.
Common Dutch CV Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid these errors that regularly get Dutch applications rejected:
1. Including your BSN or marital status. The BSN is for tax and administration, never for a CV, and personal details beyond the basics are not expected.
2. Writing a US-style one-page resume with no personal profile. Dutch recruiters expect a short profile and enough detail to judge achievements.
3. Including a photo or date of birth where the company discourages them. Larger firms remove them under the AVG; when in doubt, omit.
4. Ignoring the ATS layer. Dutch multinationals run ATS; multi-column layouts and graphics parse badly.
5. Listing duties instead of achievements. "Responsible for backend" loses to "reduced API latency by 40%".
Dutch Job Market and Salary Outlook
The Dutch tech market in 2026 remains strong, with Amsterdam hosting the European headquarters of Booking.com, Adyen, Uber and Netflix, and ASML, Philips and ING nearby. Software engineering demand is high across payments, fintech and AI, and competition for senior talent keeps salaries strong.
Salaries below are approximate 2026 gross ranges for Amsterdam, based on EuroTopTech and Next Level Jobs EU data. They help you calibrate your examples and negotiate with confidence.
| Level | Typical annual salary (EUR, gross) | Typical CV length |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Level | €40,000–€55,000 | 1 page |
| Mid Level | €55,000–€75,000 | 1–2 pages |
| Senior Level | €80,000–€120,000+ | 2 pages |
Source: EuroTopTech Amsterdam + Next Level Jobs EU software engineer salary data, 2026 (approximate gross ranges, see sources)
Key Tips for Writing a Dutch CV
- Tip 1: Always save as a single-column A4 PDF named cv_Voornaam_Achternaam.pdf; werk.nl and Dutch recruiters both prefer it.
- Tip 2: Use a professional email and a .nl address or a clean Gmail; never a personal-sounding handle.
- Tip 3: Include the +31 country code on your phone number if you are applying from abroad.
- Tip 4: Keep the CV to one page for graduates and two pages maximum for experienced roles, never three.
- Tip 5: Match the job ad's keywords verbatim, especially for ATS screens at Dutch multinationals.
- Tip 6: Add a short hobbies line if you have space; Dutch employers like a personal touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a photo on my Dutch CV?
No, a photo is optional in the Netherlands. Many larger Dutch and international companies now actively discourage or request no photo to avoid bias under the AVG (Dutch GDPR). A clean professional headshot is still common in traditional sectors, but when in doubt, omitting it is the safer and increasingly standard choice.
Should I include my date of birth or nationality on a Dutch CV?
Both are optional and increasingly dropped. Dutch anti-discrimination practice, supported by the AVG, discourages employers from requesting them, and including them carries a discrimination risk you can simply avoid. If a company specifically asks, you may include them, but the modern standard is to leave them off.
How long should a Dutch CV be?
One to two pages; maximum two pages for experienced professionals and preferably one for graduates and junior roles. Dutch recruiters value concise, information-dense CVs over lengthy narratives, so every line must earn its place.
Can international applicants work in the Netherlands and how do I show it on my CV?
Yes. EU/EEA citizens have the right to work freely. Non-EU applicants usually need a Highly Skilled Migrant visa, and many Dutch employers (especially in Amsterdam tech) sponsor them. Show your status clearly on the CV, for example "Highly Skilled Migrant visa holder (sponsorship current)", so employers can screen eligibility early.
What does a software engineer CV look like in the Netherlands?
A 1–2 page, ATS-clean single column: contact details + a short personal profile, work experience reverse-chronological with quantified achievements, education (TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, UvA), a keyword-matched skills section, and "References available on request".
Amsterdam tech salaries run roughly €40k–€55k at entry, €55k–€75k mid, and €80k–€120k+ for senior roles, so tailor your examples and language to the level you are applying for.
Conventions verified for 2026 and based on well-established Dutch recruitment practice.
Sources
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