Jakov Petrović was born in 1988 in Belgrade, where he graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of the University of Arts in Belgrade, at the Department of Film and TV Production, after which he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade.

He began his professional career as a producer of the TV series Mixed Meat / Mešano meso, directed by Dejan Zečević and produced by Geronimo Media Group, and of the award-winning short fiction film Our Little Secret / Naša mala tajna by Ljubisa Prica. He quickly established himself in the field, especially through the long documentary Walter / Valter, directed by Andrej Aćin, and produced by All in 16 Pictures and Geronimo Media Group, of which he was the main producer and creator, as well as his involvement in the feature film Panama, directed by Pavle Vučković and produced by Plan 9, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

From 2011 to 2016, he was the general director of the Serbian Scientific Television (today Brainz TV), the first non-profit TV station. He also ran his own independent production company in which he developed and implemented projects in the field of film and television production.

From 2012 up to 2019, Petrović served as the head of the Culture and Art Department of the Knowledge Committee of Serbia, where he was involved in the promotion of cultural initiatives, artistic programmes and projects aimed at improving cultural dialogue.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the State Audiovisual Archive of the Republic of Serbia –The Yugoslav Film Archive.