Digital Product Owner

Ives van Neck

Ives van Neck

Backlogs, roadmaps and delivery, backed by 14 years of running large digital teams.

Soest ives@ives.nl LinkedIn

01 About

Digital Product Owner with 14 years in digital delivery for global brands and Dutch public services. I own backlogs and roadmaps, translate between business, IT and delivery teams, and keep a product moving from backlog to release.

Most recently I took an Asana implementation from one team to eight in six months, and built the omni-channel backlog for Dienst Toeslagen's website, intranet and app. I also run operations at scale: teams of up to 120 people and $8M of projects a year, so I'm comfortable owning delivery, not just the backlog. Scrum Master trained (Scrum Academy, 2015); I work in scrum, kanban and waterfall.

14+
Years in digital delivery
100+
International awards
120
FTE led at largest team

02 Key Skills

The toolkit I bring to every engagement.

Product ownershipBacklog & roadmap managementStakeholder managementOmni-channel strategyAgile / ScrumKanbanWaterfallTooling & AI implementationResource & budget managementTeam leadership

03 Work Experience

14+ years shipping digital products for global brands and public services.

Jun 2025 — Current

Operations Lead

Dept Agency · Amsterdam

  • Product Owner for the agency-wide Asana implementation: owned a one-year backlog and took the rollout from 1 team to 8 in 6 months, reaching 60% weekly adoption and about 6 hours a week saved
  • Aligned stakeholders from the Logitech client team, IT and Operations; worked with a team of 3
  • Improved resource tracking and booking on the Logitech account, lifting billability from 80% to 85%
  • Implementing Gemini as new AI tooling
  • 2 direct reports
Sep 2024 — May 2025

Product Owner — Customer Journey Management

Dienst Toeslagen · Utrecht

  • Product Owner for the digital channels: website, intranet and app
  • Analysed all channels and found no overall, citizen-focused strategy; set up an omni-channel communication strategy to address it
  • Ran a one-year backlog and roadmap: 6 improvement themes over 12 sprints, simplifying and streamlining communication across channels
Feb 2024 — Sep 2024

Lead Operations Director, Platforms

(Media.)Monks · Hilversum

  • Ran EMEA operations for the Platforms (Big Builds) capability: 120 FTE, 10 direct reports
  • Aligned scoping, resourcing and timelines across Argentina, the Netherlands and India
  • Managed key accounts including Starbucks, McLaren and Qiddiya; introduced new tooling to streamline efficiency
Nov 2020 — Feb 2024

Lead Operations Manager

Media.Monks · Hilversum

  • Ran day-to-day technical operations for the global Google client team: 120 FTE across NAMER, LATAM and EU
  • Allocated resources for 50+ projects a year ($8M): budgeting, staffing, recruitment and process optimisation
  • Led a PM team of 8 and a production team of 15; 20 direct reports
2012 — 2020

Earlier roles

Media.Monks · Isobar Dentsu · DPDK · Wirelab · SOV

  • Senior Digital Project Manager, Media.Monks · Senior Digital Producer, Isobar Dentsu and DPDK · Digital Producer (Product Owner, Influencer Management Tool), Wirelab · Digital Project Manager, Media.Monks and SOV
  • Clients included Nike, Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Liverpool FC, Philips and Peugeot

04 Education

Continuous learner — from scrum craft to creative leadership.

2022

Digital Leadership

Growth Tribe

2022

Emerging Leaders

THNK Academy

2018

Google Analytics, Adwords, Tag Manager

Google

2015

Scrum Master

Scrum Academy

2012

Art & Technology — Ba. (with honours)

Saxion Enschede

2004

ICT

Titus College Velp

05 Awards

Recognition for work delivered with teams at Media.Monks and earlier agencies: 70 award mentions across 16 projects (2012–2024), 55 wins or features and 15 shortlists or nominations.

2021: voted Most Popular Monk, the colleague people most like to work with.

Fashion Takes Shape

Google presents CUBE · 2023

Lovie Awards: Gold (Technology in Film & Video), Silver (Best Use of AI & Machine Learning), People's Lovie ×2
Eventex Awards: Bronze (Fashion Event) · FWAFWA of the Day (Installation)

Air Jordan XXXV Unveil

Jordan Brand · 2020–2021

Eventex Awards: Gold (Brand Engagement Event), Silver (Virtual Launch Event)
Webby Awards: Nominee and Honoree (Animation & Motion Graphics) · Campaign Experience Awards: Bronze · FWAFWA of the Day

Stand Red × Bob Paisley

Standard Chartered · 2020–2021

Lovie Awards: Gold (Video: Entertainment & Sport), Silver ×2, People's Lovie
The Drum Digital Advertising Awards: Chair's Award (Best Impact Campaign) · Cannes Lions: Entertainment for Sport shortlist · Webby Awards: Honoree

Hyper Court

Nike · 2018–2019

D&AD: Wood Pencil (Brand Experience & Environments)
Gong Show: Gold ×5, Silver ×3, Bronze · Spikes Asia: Bronze · FWAFWA of the Day

The Players Monument

PlayStation · 2014–2015

Effie Awards: Gold Euro Grand Prix and Gold Euro Effie (Leisure & Entertainment)
Global Effie: Finalist

The Big Wave Goodbye

Schiphol · 2012–2013

Cannes Lions: Media Lion shortlist, Branded Content & Entertainment shortlist
Dutch Interactive Awards: Nominee · Amsterdam Ad Blog: Ad of the Month

Also: McDonald's (De Bekendste Burger), The Big Internet Museum (Gold Lovie), Unlock History (Mercur Innovation of the Year), Soul & Science (Intel Studios), Pixel Arena 2.0 (NBA & Google), AR Holiday Message, Renault Twingo, Russell & Co, 7UP, wirelab.nl.