SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE)

• Rework demand, development and operational organizational set up for the Solution Train
• Rework requirement refinement process flow from strategic theme to user story
• Introduction of visualization tools (Canvas) of work dependencies over different requirement levels and Solution Train leadership coaching

• Transformation Consultant, Release Train Engineer and Program Lead – responsible for the new Way of Working in the Open Gateway Program; optimizing the flow of value by ensuring the ART events and artifacts function correctly, including the Open Gateway Release Train Kanban, Inspect & Adapt (I&A) workshop, ART Sync Meetings, and PI Planning to ensure stakeholder alignment;
• Coaching and guiding the Product Owners, Business Owners, Product Management, Program Managers, Leaders, Tribe Architect
• Coaching the OGW Core Team (cross functional) within the OGW Program and developing optimization measures in their transformation process;
• Facilitating and working actively towards the creation of the Definition of Ready (DoR) and the product Definition of Done (DoD);
• Introducing knowledge sharing workshops and grow the agile engineering practices;
• Hold Team lift-off workshops;
• Help the group to become a team by providing system team coaching and multifunctional learning;
• Facilitate, decision making, feedback loops for learning new skills and practices

Tools: JIRA, Confluence, MS Teams, Miro

• Introduction of Agile-CCPM in an IT project agency with a focus on PHP-based content management systems.
• Preparation and facilitation of workshops to establish a cross-agency multi-project management system.
• Coordination and support of the agency partners.
• Coaching of the methodological framework.
• Collection, evaluation, and use of organizational metrics to plan next steps.
• Environment: OKR, CCPM, Agile Coaching, Agile Planning, Agile Metrics, Workshops, Facilitation, Change Management, JIRA, Zoom, Slack, Miro.

• Evaluation and further development of Engineering Excellence initiatives as part of the “Digital First” program
• Validation of efficiency, productivity, and cost-saving potential in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
• Organization-wide analysis of the use of Generative AI in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
• Evaluation of optimization measures in the areas of product management, delivery, developer experience, metrics, and quality assurance
• Comparison of the target vision “Next Level Architecture (NLA)” with regard to organizational design, governance model, and scalability
• Identification of structural bottlenecks in the delivery organization and development of alternative optimization approaches
• Preparation of decision-making and management documents for division management and the Executive Board to evaluate efficiency potential and transformation measures

Skillset: Engineering Excellence, Operating Model Design, Generative AI, AI in SDLC, SAFe, DevOps, Software Delivery Metrics, Value Streams, Team Topologies, Domain Driven Design, Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, Management Reporting, Business Case Assessment

Organisation: International energy provider in a regulated market environment with around 900 employees.

Responsibilities: Responsible for managing and prioritizing a company-wide transformation and initiative portfolio in the energy sector. Directly involved in the governance and decision-making logic of the organization with a focus on governance, IT management, prioritization and implementation of strategic initiatives across business and IT areas.

Results:

• Introduced a company-wide portfolio management system for structured prioritization and management of strategic business and IT initiatives.
• Established clear governance, decision and control mechanisms to sustainably improve execution capability across the entire organization.
• Integrated HR, capacity and organizational management into an overarching management logic to enhance transparency and decision quality.
• Directly supported executive management by moderating and structuring strategic decision-making processes at both executive and supervisory board levels.

• RTE/Agile Coach for the SAFe 6 (Scaled Agile Framework) rollout
• Building and establishing a LACE (Lean-Agile Center of Excellence) for several ARTs
• Using the tools: Azure DevOps with SCALE, Loop, MS Whiteboard
• Building the ART with 7 teams
• Training Product Owners, e.g. through SAFe POPM training and LearnSnacks
• Running the initial PI Planning as a Kickoff Planning Event
• Introducing a demand process

• Role as RTE for building the Agile Release Train (ART)
• Bringing together agile practices and system engineering
• Setup and facilitation of rituals: ART Sync, Refinement, Coach Sync, PI Planning, System Demo
• Structure and execution of the first PI Planning
• Optimization of program alignments and dependencies
• Set up JIRA & Confluence SAFe structure and workflows

• Guided international teams through agile transformations, achieving over 20% improvement in lead times and planning reliability
• Facilitated large events (e.g., ETAS Connection) and supported the RTE in PI planning
• Successfully coordinated cross-continental ramp-down projects, ensuring smooth transitions for complex logistical challenges
• Utilized Kanban, Lean, Agile metrics, Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, project management tools, Miro, and Slack

• Facilitate the interface between IT and business within a DevOps environment
• Apply a strong strategic approach and transformation servant leadership mindset
• Founded a Scrum Master Guild to strengthen peer learning, shared mental models, and systemic improvement across teams
• Tools: Azure DevOps, Mural, MS Office.

• Led technology & delivery strategy, managed cloud architecture, roadmap & remote teams; built a secure, scalable, GDPR-compliant platform integrating payments, CMS, and CX workflows and drove E2E product delivery.

• Introduced SAFe and set up an Agile Release Train with 11 teams
• Coached business owners, product managers, Scrum Masters, and teams
• Conducted value stream identifications and roadmap workshops
• Optimized agile collaboration through targeted training and coaching

• Acted as Scrum Master for up to three teams in B2C and B2B areas
• Organized and facilitated Scrum ceremonies in a two-week sprint cycle
• Collaborated with the internal agile guild (including all Scrum Masters in B2C and B2B areas) to develop agile standards
• Handled additional organizational tasks such as onboarding new colleagues and managing Slack and Jira/Confluence

• Provided systemic Agile coaching across multiple teams and program-level contexts in a remote-first environment.
• Redesigned planning, prioritization, delivery, and measurement policies to improve end-to-end flow and decision quality.
• Established explicit WIP limits, service classes, and pull policies to stabilize flow and reduce uncontrolled work intake.
• Introduced flow metrics and probabilistic forecasting to replace deterministic, commitment-based planning.
• Supported rolling-wave planning and hypothesis-driven decision-making at team and program level.
• Built custom scripts, dashboards, and analytical tooling to expose flow behavior, variability, and risk not visible in standard Jira reports.
• Applied a proprietary 7-system organizational performance model to identify constraints and structure targeted improvement experiments.