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

• Conducting workshops and training sessions to actively support the newly started tribe (including Big Rooms)
• Supporting as a shared Agile Master to guide two product teams
• Teaching agile theory, practices and values to deepen agile understanding
• Coaching and mentoring internal Agile Masters in role development, ways of working and tools such as Jira and Confluence
• Initiating organizational improvements within the tribe to optimize processes and structures
• Participating in knowledge sharing and transfer within the cross-organizational agile community

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.

• Introduced Agile-CCPM in an IT project agency focused on PHP-based content management systems.
• Prepared and conducted workshops to establish an agency-wide multiproject management system.
• Coordinated and supported agency partners.
• Coached the methodological framework.
• Collected, analyzed, and used organizational metrics to plan the next steps.
• Environment: OKR, CCPM, agile coaching, agile planning, agile metrics, workshopping, facilitation, change management, JIRA, Zoom, Slack, Miro.

• 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.

• Servant leader for an Agile Release Train (~60 people)
• Close collaboration with product management and system architecture
• Focus on remote management and cross-functional coordination

• Led the largest agile project at Telefonica O2 (€21+ million, 11 Scrum & system teams in Germany and India, 80+ developers, 3 vendors) using SAFe, Scrum and Kanban. A showcase project at Telefonica for agile scaling.
• Scaled agile processes to a large project using SAFe.
• Delivered the project at half the cost and time compared to similar projects.
• Test management / coordination of system testing.
• Coached teams (SAFe & Scrum).
• Rollout planning/management.