Christopher Z.-Senior Project Manager for Business and IT Transformation | Digitalization & Migration
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Experience
IT Product Manager / Product Owner
Leading German financial services provider
Banking & Invest – Replacement of digital application journeys
Shared product responsibility for the digital application journeys (accounts, investment accounts, home financing) of a large financial services provider working with three partner banks – from the prioritized backlog and partner bank integrations to regulatory requirements (WpHG, ESMA, BFSG); contributed to the introduction of MS Copilot and AI use cases.
Result: Continued to develop the platform reliably across around 30 releases over 2.5 years; launched two new partner processes and met regulatory deadlines.
Epic Owner / Business Analyst
Leading mobile telecommunications company
Customer switching processes, IT transformation (SAFe)
Business responsibility for the core number porting epic across several brands in an IT modernization program with an offshore service provider: defined business rules as the basis for the solution architecture, scheduled features in PI Planning, and clarified Compliance and Legal requirements.
Result: Three brands moved to the new process; rejected the acceptance demo when fewer than 80 % of test cases had passed; secured one brand’s go-live through workarounds.
Business Expert / Project Lead
Established fashion company in e-commerce
MS Dynamics 365 CRM implementation
Implemented MS Dynamics 365 in a new CRM department with three IT service providers (Scrum and Waterfall): established a shared approach and timeline, defined the MVP and presented it to management for a decision, and reviewed the functional concept across eight versions.
Result: Solid functional concept and implementation-ready stories for the CRM rollout, with an orderly handover to the successor.
Business Expert / Project Manager
German major bank
Advisor frontend / Customer data
Following the video consultation project, managed the customer contact history and master data in the new advisor frontend for the IT integration of two major banks, end to end from a business perspective through testing, including customer data migration.
Result: Customer contact history fully tested in the new frontend.
New advisory channel: video consultation
Took over a stalled sub-project in the IT integration of two major banks: reset project management through Go/No-Go, agreed on a KPI measurement plan for eight advisory scenarios, clarified MiFID II recording and data privacy with Legal and Compliance, and secured Works Council approval for the pilot.
Result: New channel approved, expanded during the COVID-19 period, and handed over to operations.
Business Analyst / Change Manager
Financial services / Payment Service Provider
Campaign process harmonization
Analyzed bottlenecks in sales, segment, and marketing campaigns; established a new process model with roles, approvals, and a consistent KPI set, and coached the rollout.
Result: Harmonized campaign process for sales, segments, and marketing in around three months.
Project Manager
Leading cable network operator
Device replacement and active device management
Proactive replacement of outdated devices for around 500.000 existing customers: managed the program using funnel and potential analysis, supported automation with a robotics service provider, and set up a follow-up program with gating.
Result: 259.000 replacements (plan: 241.000) with 39 % lower operating costs and 12,5 % lower investment requirements; churn among participants was 0,11 % compared with 0,87 %.
Strategy Consultant
Spanish mobile operator
Corporate spin-off (BI, Data Analytics, IoT)
Supported a corporate spin-off to bring together digital assets in the areas of BI, Data Analytics and IoT.
Product Owner
Leading pan-European retail company
Couponing in the customer loyalty program
Product Owner for couponing at checkout, in the web shop and across all channels while the legacy program ran in parallel: helped shape the coupon concept, consolidated the cross-channel redemption matrix, and represented the business in the war room through go-live.
Result: Customer loyalty program went live, with couponing implemented across all channels.
Central Key Account Manager (interim)
Leading German logistics group
Top e-commerce account
Interim central management of a global online retailer across mail logistics and physical and cross-media direct marketing; built a network across the group and helped prepare a sales initiative for cross-media solutions.
Result: Won additional business in direct marketing.
IT PMO
German major bank
PMO for the IT integration of two major banks
PMO and project controlling for “Sales,” with eight subprojects and international development teams: helped establish a governance framework with quality gates and standard reporting, made budget and resources transparent in Clarity PPM, and prepared and chaired steering committees.
Result: Reliable overall status across all subprojects for the subprogram lead.
Subproject Manager
Mid-sized Services Company
Introduction of CRM / Lead Management (Salesforce)
Project Manager / Trainer
Market-leading E-Commerce Company
Customer Retention Process
Development of a consistent customer retention process and training for the telephone sales team.
Managing Director
Growing Medical Technology Company
Turnaround
Introduced a new strategy and private label.
Result: Revenue +5,1 %.
M&A Advisor
Corporate Finance Company
Development of partnerships with VC firms & state banks
Executive Assistant
Europe-wide Mid-sized Media Company
PR & Communications; Led the redesign of the IT infrastructure.
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Banking and Finance, Media and Entertainment, Telecommunication, Retail, Healthcare, and Fashion.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Information Technology, Project Management, Marketing, Product Development, Sales, and Strategy.
Summary
- 18+ years of business and IT transformation, including 5+ years in banking/finance; most recently focused almost exclusively on legacy system replacements, migrations, and digital customer processes – including parallel operations.
- Project management (traditional, hybrid, agile), sub-project management, and product ownership – from requirements through Go/No-Go, rollout, hypercare, and handover to operations.
- Getting stalled projects moving again: for example, got a bank’s stalled video consultation rollout on track through an agreed measurement plan.
- Bridge between business and IT: for example, brought three IT service providers (Scrum and Waterfall) together around a shared timeline and approach.
- Impact over activity: device replacement program for a cable network operator completed 259,000 replacements instead of 241,000, with 39 % lower operating costs and 12,5 % lower investment needs.
- AI in day-to-day project work: supported the introduction of MS Copilot and assessed AI use cases involving agents and workflows.
Skills
- Project And Sub-Project Management (Traditional, Hybrid, Agile): Milestone, Risk, And Dependency Planning, Go/No-Go, Rollout, Hypercare, Steering Committee Materials, Management Reporting Including Budget Updates
- Product Ownership And Product Management: Backlog And Prioritization By Business Value, Release Planning, Epics/User Stories, Acceptance Criteria; Safe Experience (Pi And Big Room Planning)
- Business Analysis And Requirements: Requirements Analysis With Business Teams, Review Of Functional Concepts, Bpmn; Test Coordination, Uat, E2e Testing, And Business Acceptance
- Banking Regulation And Governance: Wphg §64a, Mifid Ii, Esma, Bfsg, Dsgvo – Implemented With Compliance And Legal; Pmo Governance With Quality Gates
- Stakeholder, Change, And Vendor Management: Facilitating Workshops And Decision-Making Sessions, Conflict Resolution, Offshore And Multi-Vendor Management
- Ai-Supported Ways Of Working (User Perspective): Prompt Engineering, Ai Knowledge Base, Agents With M365 Connectors, Ai Routines, Ai-Supported Prototyping, Human In The Loop
- Tools: Jira, Confluence, Leanix, Bpmn/Visio, Miro, Mural, Ms Project, Clarity Ppm, Hp Alm, Ms Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Matomo, Ms Copilot, Chatgpt, Claude
Languages
Education
Aston Business School
Master of Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction · Business Administration
Focus areas: Strategic Management, Leadership, Change
FH für Ökonomie und Management
Dipl.-Kaufmann (FH) · Business Administration
Part-time.
Avans Hogeschool
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) · Business Administration
Part-time. Focus areas: International Management, Sales Management
Certifications & licenses
AI Governance Professional (AIGP) (in preparation)
IAPP
Agile Business Coach (ACF)
agile-business.coach
Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie (Focus: Systemic understanding in organizations)
Scrum.org
Statistics
Experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Christopher is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and can operate in on-site, hybrid, and remote work models.
Christopher speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced).
Christopher has at least 18 years of experience. During this time, Christopher has worked in at least 15 different roles and for 14 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 1 year and 3 months. Note that Christopher may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Christopher would be well-suited for roles such as: IT Product Manager / Product Owner, Epic Owner / Business Analyst, Business Expert / Project Lead.
Christopher's most recent position is IT Product Manager / Product Owner at Leading German financial services provider.
In recent years, Christopher has worked for Leading German financial services provider, Leading mobile telecommunications company, and Established fashion company in e-commerce.
Christopher is most experienced in industries like Banking and Finance, Media and Entertainment, and Telecommunication. Christopher also has some experience in Retail, Healthcare, and Fashion.
Christopher is most experienced in business areas like Project Management, Information Technology, and Marketing. Christopher also has some experience in Product Development, Sales, and Strategy.
Christopher has recently worked in industries like Banking and Finance, Telecommunication, and Fashion.
Christopher has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Project Management.
Christopher attended Aston Business School for Business Administration.
Christopher has 5 certificates. Among them, these include: AI Governance Professional (AIGP) (in preparation), Agile Business Coach (ACF), and Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie (Focus: Systemic understanding in organizations).
Christopher is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.
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