Portrait of Jelmer Jonkman
📍 Netherlands 🔗 LinkedIn

Product work, close to the user

I have 10+ years of experience in product roles across smart home, IoT, and consumer electronics. My work sits close to the user experience: mobile onboarding, support flows, virtual agents, and the product decisions that either reduce friction or create it. I like practical product work. Start with something clear enough to ship, learn from real use, and raise the quality bar from there. Privacy, trust, and simplicity matter to me because they show up in the moments people actually notice.

Experience

Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) EMEA, US & India • 2016 – Present
Principal Product Line Manager Remote • Apr 2022 – Present
  • Work on product strategy and portfolio decisions for smart home and consumer electronics products.
  • Focus on mobile and web onboarding by simplifying setup flows and connecting self-service support more closely to the product experience.
  • Work on virtual agent experiences for consumer electronics support, with an emphasis on clear answers and less friction for users.
  • Align firmware, cloud, and mobile work across distributed teams so releases stay clear and connected end to end.
  • Keep privacy and compliance part of product decisions, including GDPR and EU Data Act considerations.
Global Product Owner Netherlands • Apr 2019 – Apr 2022
  • Owned product vision and delivery for nevo.ai Assistant, My Nevo, Nevo Butler, and Virtual Agent services.
  • Worked on AI-assisted and self-service support products where the goal was a clear, useful answer when people needed help.
  • Expanded smart-home partner integrations through simpler APIs and cross-platform SDKs.
  • Introduced Tier-0 conversational support designed to handle common questions earlier in the support journey.
Product Manager — Smart Home Solutions Netherlands • Jan 2018 – Apr 2019
  • Managed product roadmaps for wireless sensors, thermostats, gateways, and smart remotes.
  • Worked on Alexa and Google integrations to broaden smart-home compatibility.
  • Improved IoT platform integrations so partner onboarding could happen with less friction.
Product Marketing Manager — Subscription Broadcasting Netherlands • Dec 2016 – Dec 2017
  • Managed go-to-market work for the EMEAI region and supported operator opportunities and sales growth.
Divitel — Apeldoorn 2013 – 2016
Product Manager Jul 2015 – Nov 2016
  • Launched OTT Cloud TV and Hospitality TV platforms and supported early customer growth.
  • Implemented managed DRM and nPVR services for pay-TV operator clients.
  • Worked with engineers and stakeholders to bring video technology products to market.
Team Leader Sales Desk International Jan 2014 – Jun 2015
  • Led the international sales support desk and improved the quality and consistency of SLA follow-up.
Sales Support Jun 2013 – Dec 2013
  • Prepared technical and commercial documentation for international video delivery projects.
Sales Representative KPN, Zwolle • Mar 2013 – Jun 2013
  • Worked in regional sales and consistently met strong monthly target expectations.
Other Roles (click to expand)
  • Owner, eBookStudio — Freelance eBook Designer (2012–2013)
  • Floormanager, Preston Palace — Led floor operations at a large entertainment venue (2009–2012)
  • Marketing Intern, NOW-Mobile — Supported Palm Pre and Pixi launch work (2008–2009)
  • Marketing Trainee, Palm — Assisted with Treo and LifeDrive launch work (2005)

Projects

UEI TIDE Touch thermostat product image
Professional work

TIDE Touch

Product work on a connected thermostat and smart home control platform across device, app, cloud, onboarding, and support.

Product IoT Smart Home UX
View project page
Stratum Pebble watchface shown on a watch
Weaver project

Stratum

A Bitcoin-first Pebble watchface for Pebble Time 2 / Emery, combining time, price, sats, fees, weather, battery, and network signals into a dense glanceable interface.

Pebble SDK 3 C JavaScript Bitcoin data
View project page
BRIO Builder creations made from wooden parts
Weaver project

Brio Builder

A family-safe BRIO Builder hub for offline play inspiration, curated creations, safe sharing, build ideas, and kit discovery.

Family hub User experience Nostr Safe sharing
View project page

Education

Saxion University of Applied Sciences — Enschede • B.Com. Economics & Marketing (2013)
  • Minor: Change Management • Internship: Palm Benelux • Thesis: NOW-Mobile
  • Summerschool, Entrepreneurship (2012)
OSG Erasmus — Almelo • HAVO (Economics & Society, 2001)

Key Skills

Product strategy & roadmaps Customer focus Self-service support & virtual agents Smart home, IoT & HVAC Cloud platforms, APIs & SDKs Distributed team leadership Agile / Scrum Privacy and compliance (GDPR, EU Data Act) Go-to-market work Mobile Onboarding UX Firmware, cloud & app alignment

Patents

US20220394348A1 — System and method for using a virtual agent to provide consumer electronic device related technical support • Pending