He entered service with the Dutch East India Company as a sergeant left for the Indies, aboard the van de Proostwijk, on 25 February 1735.

Jeremias was the nephew of the future Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier (1737-1741), who at the time was still a member of the Dutch Council of the Indies [nl].

In 1743 he became the chief (kapitein) of the company of clerical/writing staff (pennisten) and in October Jeremias van Riemsdijk was named Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extra-ordinaier) to the Council of the Indies.

In 1759 he was appointed President of the College van Weesmeesters (dealing with the affairs of orphans, minors, etc.).

He had learned a lot from the eleven years he had worked with his predecessor, whose great appetite for money he had acquired.