Jeroen Haijen
@jeroenhaijen
I uncover real problems and align teams around better product decisions.
What I'm looking for
I've helped teams at VDAB, Liantis, De Lijn, Yara International and Aleph Cloud stop reacting to complaints and start solving the problems that matter. At VDAB, I contributed to a product vision and coached teams to question whether they were addressing the right problem rather than simply the loudest one.
For fifteen years, I've worked across public services, banking, HR tech, blockchain and digital agencies as a UX designer, service designer and product discovery coach. I thrive on the moment a problem sharpens: when teams challenge assumptions, align around what they want to achieve, and turn research, stakeholder insight and systems thinking into durable direction.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
VDAB's product teams worked reactively: complaints became tickets, tickets became sprints, without anyone stopping to ask whether it contributed to the bigger goal. I worked alongside teams in their daily decisions, not just to install a methodology, but to shift how they think. In parallel, I contributed to the product vision that gave teams a shared direction to navigate by. The difference is vi
I've run my own practice since 2019, working embedded with product teams and organisations across public services, HR tech, financial services, digital agencies and blockchain. The title has changed depending on what was needed. The work has stayed roughly the same: figuring out what the real problem is before we start solving it.
At Liantis, design was treated as execution: deliver the screens, move on. Nobody was asking whether the right problems were being solved. I worked on two levels. With the team, I shifted how they thought about their role: from delivering screens to understanding problems and exploring solutions before committing to them. At C-level, I facilitated the sessions that resulted in a shared product vis
aleph.im had developed an indexing solution that caught the attention of Solana, one of the largest blockchain networks. The first question was not how to visualise the data, but which factors managers actually need to make daily decisions about network health. Nobody knew the answer upfront. Through continuous interviews with stakeholders and users throughout the project, we made those factors pr
When icapps set up their strategy department, I designed the foundation of their client intake process: two intensive days that take a client from uncertainty to shared direction, covering where they stand, where they want to go, who they serve and what sets them apart. The output is not a report. It is a shared direction everyone can build on. We tested the format with real clients, iterated cont
Solcial was a social platform for the blockchain community with a built-in creator economy: fans could buy and trade tokens tied to a creator, with value growing as the creator's audience grew. This concept was not an add-on. It shaped every decision across the entire product. My contribution spanned the full width: product vision, roadmap, information architecture and user experience. I facilitat
Yara managed internal information platforms across more than twelve countries, but the content, structure and navigation did not match how people actually used them. The insight that changed everything: two fundamentally different user profiles shared the same platform. The intensive user navigates it daily. The occasional user opens it rarely, but urgently, needing the right safety protocol or pr
Tobania had a broad service offering but a diffuse message: potential clients did not know what to come to them for. The real question was not how to improve the website. It was what makes Tobania genuinely distinctive, and how to communicate that in a way the right client recognises and acts on. Through research conversations and co-creative workshops with the team, we surfaced the core of their
De Lijn was running multiple digital initiatives simultaneously without a shared sense of priority between them. I brought structure through user research that informed decisions rather than confirmed them, working across three tracks: subscription renewal via digital channels, real-time travel information for buses and trams, and communication around disruptions such as delays and diversions. Eac
Worked as Concept & Interaction Designer at Pàu.
Worked as Concept & Interaction Designer at BNP Paribas Fortis.
Worked as UX Designer at These Days.
UX design, Interface analysis, feature integration & improvement, interaction design.
Worked as Independent Creative at Graphic Gorilla.
Worked as Webdesigner, Front-End developer at VMMa.
Animation, photography, webdesign, web development, banners.
Worked as Technologist - Research & Development at Eightmouths, Shanghai.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
Sint-Lukas Brussel
Master, Graphic Design, Art Direction
2005 - 2008
Tech stack
Software and tools used professionally
Availability
Location
Authorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
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