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Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

zigbee developers - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Zigbee’s evolution has been driven by talented developers across open-source communities, startup ventures, influential tech blogs, corporate R&D teams, and even programming contest champions.

Here is a global list of the top 13 Zigbee developers active in recent years, representing prominent open-source contributors, startup founders who still code, popular IoT tech bloggers/influencers, key engineers at major companies, and competition winners now in Zigbee-related fields. Each profile highlights their role, contributions to Zigbee or IoT, background, and significance.

  1. Travis Goodspeed
  2. Koen Kanters
  3. Manuel Pietschmann
  4. George Yianni
  5. Chris Jackson
  6. Jonathan Hui
  7. Patrick Pichon
  8. Michael Ossmann
  9. Eugene You
  10. Andreas Spiess
  11. Marek Cygan
  12. Adam Dunkels
  13. David Mulcahey

Now, let’s delve deeper into their remarkable journeys and lasting impacts.

Travis Goodspeed

YouTube Video

Nationality: American

Travis Goodspeed is a renowned security researcher and hardware hacker who has made headline contributions to Zigbee and 802.15.4 security. He is “best known for his work on attacking the software and hardware cryptosystems of microcontrollers and ZigBee radios.”

Early on, Travis developed techniques to extract encryption keys from Zigbee chips by exploiting their memory – a groundbreaking demonstration that Zigbee networks could be penetrated with physical and firmware hacks. He created the GoodFET open-source hardware JTAG adapter, which aided in analyzing and debugging wireless devices, and presented a noted attack showing how to recover cryptographic keys from Texas Instruments Zigbee SoCs by abusing a PRNG weakness. Goodspeed’s research forced improvements in Zigbee stack security and inspired projects like KillerBee.

Koen Kanters

The goal was simple: free Zigbee devices from their silos.

Nationality: Dutch

Koen Kanters is the founder and lead developer of Zigbee2MQTT, the popular open-source bridge that frees Zigbee devices from proprietary hubs. Based in the Netherlands, Koen created Zigbee2MQTT to enable direct control of Zigbee networks via MQTT brokers, empowering smart home enthusiasts to mix-and-match devices from different vendors.

Under his leadership, Zigbee2MQTT has grown to support thousands of device models and multiple USB radio sticks, becoming a cornerstone of DIY IoT. Koen’s work exemplifies open-source innovation in IoT – he actively maintains the project while collaborating with a global community of contributors. His efforts have significantly lowered the barrier for integrating low-power Zigbee sensors and lights into custom home automation, making him a prominent figure in the IoT developer community.

Manuel Pietschmann

Nationality: German

Manuel Pietschmann is the lead developer behind deCONZ, the Zigbee gateway software by Dresden Elektronik that powers the ConBee/RaspBee hubs. Hailing from Germany, Pietschmann engineered deCONZ’s REST API and underlying Zigbee stack, enabling integrators to manage diverse Zigbee devices via an open interface.

His software has been deployed in over 110 countries, often serving as the backbone for smart home platforms like Home Assistant and openHAB when paired with ConBee USB sticks. With a background in embedded systems, Manuel has continuously improved deCONZ to support new Zigbee standards and devices while working closely with the community. His contributions have provided a reliable, vendor-neutral way to build Zigbee networks, making advanced home automation accessible to tens of thousands of users.

George Yianni

George Yianni - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Nationality: Dutch

George Yianni is the original creator of Philips Hue, the iconic smart lighting system that was one of the first mass-market Zigbee products. As an engineer at Philips Lighting (now Signify) in the Netherlands, Yianni led the small startup-like team that in 2012 developed Hue’s Zigbee-based bulbs and bridge.

He wrote much of the early software for the Hue bridge, which implemented the Zigbee Light Link protocol to allow seamless wireless control of multi-color LED bulbs. Today, George serves as Head of Technology for Philips Hue, overseeing an expanding portfolio of Zigbee 3.0 and Matter-capable devices.

Chris Jackson

Nationality: British

Chris Jackson is known as the creator and maintainer of the Zigbee binding for openHAB, the open-source home automation platform. Based in the UK, Jackson integrated Zigbee support into openHAB’s ecosystem, drawing on his prior success with the platform’s Z-Wave binding.

He developed a modular Zigbee stack within openHAB that works with multiple radio dongles (Ember, XBee, TI CC253x, etc.), allowing users to discover and control Zigbee devices through a unified interface. Chris’s dedication is evident in the openHAB forums, where he has long assisted users and continuously improved the binding’s stability and device compatibility. With a professional background in building automation and a personal passion for smart homes, he ensured the Zigbee binding follows openHAB’s flexible thing/channel model and supports Zigbee 3.0 features.

Jonathan Hui

Jonathan Hui - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Nationality: American

Jonathan Hui is a Principal Software Engineer at Google and a vice president of technology for the Thread Group, widely known for his work on low-power wireless networks including Zigbee and Thread. With a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley focused on wireless sensor networks, Jonathan was a core developer of the 6LoWPAN and RPL protocols before joining Nest Labs (later Google Nest) to help create the Thread protocol.

He is the maintainer of OpenThread, Google’s open-source implementation of Thread, which shares heritage with Zigbee (both are IPv6-based mesh over IEEE 802.15.4). Earlier in his career, Jonathan contributed to Zigbee/IEEE 802.15.4 research and co-authored papers on network routing in low-power mesh networks. At Google, he ensured that Nest’s Thread-based smart home products interoperate with Zigbee devices via border routers and, now, Matter bridges.

Patrick Pichon

Nationality: French

Patrick Pichon – known by his handle pipiche38 – leads the development of the ZigbeeForDomoticz plugin, which integrates Zigbee devices into the Domoticz home automation system. Based in France and a distinguished technologist in his professional life, Pichon spearheaded this community-driven project to expand Domoticz beyond its initial Z-Wave and Wi-Fi focus.

He and his team built the plugin on the zigpy library, enabling support for multiple Zigbee coordinator hardware. Under Patrick’s guidance, ZigbeeForDomoticz evolved to handle dozens of device types, from sensors to lights, complete with a web UI for network management. His contributions have been instrumental in bringing a vendor-agnostic Zigbee solution to a lightweight smart home platform favored by many DIY enthusiasts. Pichon’s active engagement on forums and detailed documentation showcases his commitment to accessible home automation.

Michael Ossmann

Michael Ossmann - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Nationality: American

Michael Ossmann is an open-source hardware developer whose creations have greatly benefited the Zigbee and IoT security community. As the founder of Great Scott Gadgets, Michael designed devices like the Ubertooth One (Bluetooth sniffer) and HackRF One that, while not Zigbee-specific, enabled affordable monitoring of 2.4 GHz and sub-GHz wireless signals including Zigbee.

He also produced the ApiMote, a dedicated 802.15.4 packet capture tool used alongside KillerBee for Zigbee analysis. Ossmann’s philosophy of open design meant that for the first time, hobbyists and researchers could obtain low-cost tools to sniff Zigbee networks and experiment with custom firmware. In addition, Michael has presented at hacker conferences about RF hacking techniques that apply to Zigbee – for example, using SDR to capture and demodulate raw Zigbee packets or jamming/signal analysis. His work on radio hardware has indirectly improved Zigbee development and debugging; for instance, HackRF can be used to test Zigbee in the lab by generating interference or simulating signals.

Eugene You

Nationality: Chinese

Eugene You is the founder and CEO of Aqara, a leading smart home company in China known for its Zigbee-based product ecosystem. A pioneer in wireless automation systems, Eugene has over a decade of R&D experience and holds multiple patents in IoT and energy management.

Under his leadership, Aqara became an early adopter of Zigbee for consumer devices – nearly all Aqara sensors, switches, and controllers run on Zigbee for reliable, low-power communication. For his efforts in promoting interoperable IoT, Eugene You was honored as a Zigbee Alliance “Zigbee Ambassador” – a title given to champions of the technology. He has been instrumental in bridging Eastern and Western smart home markets, ensuring Aqara’s Zigbee devices integrate with major ecosystems like Apple HomeKit, Google, and Alexa. Eugene’s background and passion for innovation drove Aqara from a startup in 2009 to serving 12 million+ customers globally.

Andreas Spiess

Andreas Spiess - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Nationality: Swiss

Andreas Spiess is a popular electronics and IoT YouTuber (the “guy with the Swiss accent”) who has become an influential voice in Zigbee and DIY smart home development. With an electrical engineering background, Andreas runs a channel where he builds and reviews IoT projects – often featuring Zigbee devices, coordinators, and home automation setups.

He has educated his 350k+ subscribers on topics like setting up a Raspberry Pi as a Zigbee gateway, comparing Zigbee vs BLE mesh, hacking Xiaomi Zigbee sensors for custom use, and extending Zigbee range with DIY antennas. Spiess is known for his clear explanations and thorough experiments; for example, he measured power consumption of Zigbee devices and analyzed how Zigbee’s mesh networking handles interference. Beyond tutorials, Andreas contributes code and ideas – he has published open-source firmware for ESP32-based Zigbee-to-MQTT bridges and participated in testing early Matter-over-Zigbee integrations.

Marek Cygan

Nationality: Polish

Marek Cygan is a world-class algorithms expert and competitive programming champion who has successfully bridged into IoT and AI applications. A Polish computer scientist, Marek first rose to fame by winning Google Code Jam 2005 and leading the University of Warsaw team to victory in the ICPC 2007 World Finals.

With a PhD in algorithms, he co-authored several renowned research papers and a textbook. After an academic stint (as a professor) and continuing to excel in programming contests (TopCoder Open finalist), Cygan co-founded Nomagic, a startup building smart warehouse robots. In this role as CTO, Marek oversees software that combines computer vision, AI and edge computing – domains related to Zigbee in terms of IoT communication and coordination. He has shown that elite algorithmists can excel equally in industry leadership and hands-on innovation. While not directly contributing to Zigbee protocol specs, Marek Cygan’s work in IoT robotics and his algorithmic contributions to networked systems place him among the influential figures in Zigbee-related fields.

Adam Dunkels

Adam Dunkels - Best 13 Zigbee Developers for Smart Solutions

Nationality: Swedish

Adam Dunkels is a Swedish computer scientist celebrated as a pioneer in Internet of Things software, whose work laid foundations for lightweight networking on Zigbee-class devices. He invented the Contiki OS – a tiny open-source operating system for memory-constrained chips – which provided one of the first IP-over-Zigbee implementations (6LoWPAN) and influenced the Zigbee IP specification.

Many IoT products run software Adam developed, such as his uIP/lwIP embedded TCP/IP stacks that brought Internet connectivity to 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers. Dunkels also introduced Protothreads (low-overhead threading for C) which proved useful in implementing event-driven Zigbee protocol tasks. In 2009, MIT Technology Review recognized him as a top innovator under 35 for these contributions. Adam co-founded Thingsquare in 2012, a startup providing wireless mesh solutions for smart lighting and other IoT applications – essentially bridging Contiki-based firmware with user-friendly mobile apps.

David Mulcahey

Nationality: American

David F. Mulcahey is the principal maintainer of Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) in the Home Assistant project, spearheading its Python Zigbee stack called zigpy. Based in the United States, Mulcahey has written and optimized much of the code that allows Home Assistant to natively interface with Zigbee adapters and devices.

He authored the ZHA device handlers (“quirks” system) to accommodate vendor-specific behaviors, ensuring broad compatibility with lights, sensors, locks, and more. Through his work, Home Assistant users can run a full Zigbee network without proprietary hubs, simply by plugging in a USB coordinator. Mulcahey’s background as a software engineer and his passion for open-source have led to a stable, growing ZHA platform that rivals standalone solutions. His contributions are significant in that they bring easy local control and privacy-friendly operation to smart homes using Zigbee technology.

Wrap Up

These legends represent exceptional talent, making them extremely challenging to headhunt. However, there are thousands of other highly skilled IT professionals available to hire with our help. Contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your hiring needs.

Note: We’ve dedicated significant time and effort to creating and verifying this curated list of top talent. However, if you believe a correction or addition is needed, feel free to reach out. We’ll gladly review and update the page.

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