Robert Francia - Interim Project Manager

Q: Where is Robert based?

Robert is based in Kriftel, Germany .

Q: What languages does Robert speak?

Robert speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), Hungarian (Advanced) .

Q: How many years of experience does Robert have?

Robert has at least 24 years of experience. During this time, Robert has worked in at least 21 different roles and for 19 different companies . The average length of individual experience is 1 year . Note that Robert may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Q: What is Robert's latest experience?

Robert's most recent position is Interim Project Manager at IT service company of a regional energy provider .

Q: What companies has Robert worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Robert has worked for IT service company of a regional energy provider , IT service provider for Finanz Informatik , French major bank , Municipal energy provider , and Financial services provider for securities trading .

Q: Which industries is Robert most experienced in?

Robert is most experienced in industries like Banking and Finance , Information Technology , and Telecommunication . Robert also has some experience in Food and Beverage , Professional Services , and Chemical .

Q: Which business areas is Robert most experienced in?

Robert is most experienced in business areas like Project Management , Information Technology , and Operations . Robert also has some experience in Quality Assurance , Procurement , and Sales .

Q: Which industries has Robert worked in recently?

Robert has recently worked in industries like Banking and Finance , Information Technology , and Utilities .

Q: Which business areas has Robert worked in recently?

Robert has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology , Project Management , and Quality Assurance .

Recommended expert

Kriftel, Germany

Experience

Dec 2024 - Jun 2025

7 months

Interim Project Manager

IT service company of a regional energy provider

Delivery of various end-customer projects in server and network infrastructure on time, within quality and budget.
Project 1: Firewall renewal, replacing an ASA firewall with a Fortinet firewall at an automotive supplier.
Project 2: Migrating file services from dedicated servers at 5 remote sites to a central managed file service including DHCP, directory, and print services, and decommissioning of the old domain controllers.
Project 3: Renewal of the network infrastructure at the headquarters and remote sites of a logistics company, and migration of LAN, WLAN, and firewall environments to a managed network service.
Project 4: Network renewal, upgrading core and access switches at the headquarters of a medical technology company and migration to a managed network service.
Project 5: Firewall renewal, replacing an ASA firewall with a Fortinet firewall for a city.
Environment: ASA and Fortinet firewalls, Cisco network components, ITSM Heat/Ivanti, Confluence.

Nov 2024 - Dec 2025

1 year 2 months

Project Manager

IT service provider for Finanz Informatik

Increasing the security level through consistent CIS hardening and proof of technical compliance.
Hardening approximately 7,500 IT assets of various technologies across all stages of an end customer according to CIS benchmark guidelines.
Defining and aligning the project scope with all relevant stakeholders.
Building the project organization including governance, processes, and documentation standards.
Creating and maintaining high-level and detailed plans with MS Project.
Managing the PMO team consisting of project management and PMO staff.
Ensuring quality, deadlines, and resource allocation.
Structuring CIs by technology and mapping to CIS benchmarks.
Defining and maintaining Qualys profiles and policies.
Conducting target-to-target comparisons for non-Qualys controls.
Planning, managing, and quality-assuring Qualys scans before and after hardening.
Close coordination with business units for planning and implementation of hardening measures.
Supporting and coordinating required changes in operations.
Providing quality-assured evidence such as scan reports, deviation documentation, and target-to-target comparisons.
Building transparent reporting on CIs, technologies, and work packages.
Regular reporting to committees and C-level management.
Ensuring acceptance and handover of all project results.
Establishing and maintaining the risk register including deriving and tracking actions, as well as escalation and decision management.
Environment: CIS benchmarks / hardening standards, CMDB-based CI structures, Qualys compliance scans, approx. 7,500 IT assets, hardening of server operating systems, middleware, databases, and network components, involvement of approx. 22 departments and >130 project staff, classic and hybrid project management.
Tools: MS Project, Excel, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, ServiceNow (CMDB, Change, Workflow), MS PowerPoint, ThinkCell.

Oct 2023 - Jul 2024

10 months

Security Analyst IT Risk / Project Manager

French major bank

Ensuring security compliance for IT applications in the context of DORA compliance.
Designing the end-to-end process to ensure security compliance of IT applications.
Reviewing and determining IT application risk profiles based on the CIAT criteria (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Traceability).
Defining the application security baseline by selecting relevant IT security controls for each risk profile.
Conducting security compliance reviews with IT application owners via interviews or workshops.
Performing gap analyses to identify risks in case of non-compliance with IT security requirements.
Validating compliance review results and risk findings with security managers and the CISO.
Formulating risk mitigation measures and documenting them in the bank's GRC tool.
Tracking the actions and aligning the evidence.
Environment: ServiceNow GRC, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO 27001, ISO 27005, DORA.

Sep 2023 - Nov 2024

1 year 3 months

Project Manager

Municipal energy provider

Further development, upgrades, and migrations of geographic information systems to save costs.
Project Lovion Integration: merging the Lovion Netzbau and Lovion Work Management System, including project planning, interface management with business units, and management of software development and data center service providers.
Project Smallworld GIS Upgrade: upgrading from version 4.3.08 to 5.3.3, including migration management and building the new virtual server infrastructure.
Project ETRS89 Migration: converting the coordinate system from Gauss-Krüger GK2 to ETRS89.
Project Alarm Platform: implementing a central alerting platform based on the FE2 solution from Alamos.
Carrying out eight additional small projects in the geo-information area.
Environment: Lovion system, GE Smallworld GIS, classic and hybrid project management.
Tools: Jira, Confluence, Xray, AWS, VMware ESX.

Jan 2023 - Dec 2023

1 year

Project Manager, Coach, Sparring Partner

Financial services provider for securities trading

Upgrading the BMC ITSM suite including the infrastructure platform change to a native cloud (Kubernetes) due to release requirements.
Ensuring the application's supportability through the upgrade.
Coaching the internal project manager in creating project proposals and change requests.
Assisting with project planning (milestones, resources, costs, budget).
Coaching in project management, risk management, and escalation management.
Supporting project status reporting to management.
Environment: native cloud (Kubernetes), BMC ITSM suite, BMC Helix.

Jul 2022 - Sep 2023

1 year 3 months

Project Manager

Financial services provider for securities trading

Migrated 450 on-premises application servers to the finance cloud to reduce costs.
Reviewed technical requirements and cloud compatibility of application servers.
Aligned commercial, ordering, and provisioning processes with the IT service provider.
Conducted a proof of concept for processes and technical migration.
Supported application owners with ordering, technical questions, contract termination, and decommissioning of old equipment.
Regularly reported savings to management and IT controlling.
Implemented a Software Asset Management (SAM) tool to address audit findings.
Planned and managed budget, project schedule, including milestone, resource, and cost plans.
Coordinated internal staff and external vendors for project execution.
Participated in contract negotiations with service providers.
Oversaw the implementation of the Flexera SAM tool for automated inventory.
Integrated the tool with data sources like SCCM, Active Directory, and CMDB.
Implemented IT service management processes and created operational manuals as well as security and test plans.
Operationalized the license/software asset management process by introducing a SAM service.
Onboarded vendors and prepared commercial contract and license data.
Performed license reconciliation and tracked actions to close audit findings.
Environment: Windows/Linux servers, finance cloud, FlexNet Manager Suite (FNMS) Flexera, SAP CUNO, planningIT, native cloud, classic and hybrid project management.

Jul 2021 - Jul 2022

1 year 1 month

Austria

IT Security Project Manager

Insurance Company in Austria

Planned and implemented IT security projects to mitigate cyber and information risks according to DORA, VAIT, and FMA requirements.
Project planning, management, and creation of milestone, resource, and cost plans.
Coordinated external vendors and performed status reporting to management and steering committees.
Implemented an intrusion prevention system (IPS) and introduced PKI certificate management for Active Directory.
Implemented a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) system based on Microsoft 365.
Introduced certificate checks for client-based VPN access and SSL inspection for encrypted internet connections.
Supported IT compliance audits.
Introduced a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solution, including RFI, RFP, and proof of concept.
Created a ransomware incident response playbook and developed a SOC target operating model.
Modeled the security incident response process and integrated it into the corporate IT incident management process.
Developed a concept for implementing a cross-company parent CMDB.
Environment: Clarity PPM, Jira, Confluence, Ariba, RSA Archer, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365.

Feb 2019 - Aug 2021

2 years 7 months

IT Project Manager

IT service provider for financial IT

Set up and relocated a data center, including decommissioning an existing data center and migrating customer IT systems.
Served as main contact for the network department and managed the network infrastructure setup in the new data center.
Coordinated about 20-25 staff for the design, planning, and build-out of the network.
Led workshops to develop migration concepts for various networks.
Planned the network deployment in coordination with storage, server systems, and mainframe teams.
Planned the relocation of firewalls, load balancers, and network management systems.
Managed external vendors for data center interconnections.
Implemented IT security measures to address ECB findings in network infrastructure.
Implemented line encryption on cross-connections between data centers.
Implemented network segmentation and firewall protection, and secured the stock exchange connection.
Tracked actions and provided regular status updates to the client.
Environment: data center network infrastructure, DWDM, Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), Fortinet/Cisco firewalls, load balancers, LAN, WAN, MAN.

Nov 2017 - Apr 2020

2 years 6 months

Project Manager / Business Analyst IT Security & Business Continuity / Operating Model

Large French bank

Implemented a NIST-based cyber security framework in four German entities to achieve maturity level 3.
Conducted control assessments, including evidence collection and maturity evaluation for over 1,000 controls.
Developed a business continuity solution for emergency workstations (Business Recovery Seats), including site evaluation and provider onboarding.
Launched a corporate IT continuity framework and performed business impact analyses.
Performed application and third-party risk analyses according to BAIT and MaRisk.
Introduced a Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) based on NIST.
Designed a cross-functional IT risk management organization and developed the target operating model (TOM).
Project lead for the stream operating model, organization, and governance to consolidate IT operations.
Developed the target organization in coordination with HR and employee representatives.
Supported the program manager as PMO, including creating business cases and milestone plans.
Environment: RSA Archer, NIST Maturity Assessment Tool, ISO 27001, ISO 27005, BAIT, MaRisk.

Jun 2017 - May 2018

1 year

IT Transition Manager

IT service provider for financial IT

Managed a vendor transition to transfer network and desktop services.
Served as central point of contact for all transition-related topics.
Coordinated and aligned all necessary activities for service migration.
Coordinated resources and monitored contractually agreed support services.
Environment: global bank WAN, Cisco network components.

Aug 2014 - Oct 2017

3 years 3 months

Project Manager Cyber Security

German Major Bank

Project management for expanding the ArcSight SIEM environment and transferring it to Cyber Security operations.
End-to-end implementation of ArcSight content onboarding projects based on security requirement analyses.
Leadership of migration projects for ArcSight EMS and Reporting Manager.
Optimization of the content onboarding process in coordination with the SOC and engineering teams.
Management of a project to map the onboarding process in the BPM tool TIGGS, including building the CMDB.
Resolution of audit findings in security event monitoring and vendor governance.
Planning of the content migration from ArcSight to Splunk.
Project management for security hardening: evaluation of hardening policies, conducting gap analyses for IT governance, and defining a requirements catalog.
Coordination of assessment and review workshops with subject matter experts.
Environment: HP ArcSight Enterprise Manager, TIGGS, MS SharePoint, RSA Archer, Remedy, ServiceNow, Splunk Enterprise, globally distributed virtual teams.

Apr 2013 - Jul 2014

1 year 4 months

Service Transition Manager

Aviation / Air-Cargo

Operational transition for a new central air cargo logistics handling system.
Ensuring the proper transfer to IT operations.
Single point of contact for the system integration project team regarding service transition.
Project planning, control, and monitoring of the operational transition in terms of schedule, scope, and budget.
Coordination of subproject managers in the context of the operational takeover.
Defining the operational takeover process in collaboration with operations teams.
Organization and leadership of the operational review boards.
Environment: replacement of a host-based system with air cargo management software, migration of approximately 50 feeder and receiving systems.

Feb 2012 - Mar 2013

1 year 2 months

Service Transition Manager / Change Manager

German Major Bank

Ensuring the proper transfer of software developments into operations as part of a bank integration.
Definition of the Target Operating Model (TOM) and determination of resource requirements.
Coordination of service level requirements, OLAs, and SLAs.
Monitoring of quality gates in the waterfall model and delivery of documentation.
Advising on the creation of operations manuals, escalation matrices, and incident classifications.
Planning of knowledge transfer for support levels 1 to 3.
Responsibility for operational acceptance tests and review of operational readiness.
Implementation and operation of the SAP high-performance platform Magellan.
Monitoring changes in the production environment.
Organization and conduct of Change Advisory Boards (CABs) and approval of change requests.
Environment: software development in sales/investments, SAP core banking system (UC4, ETL), BMC Remedy.

Jul 2011 - Dec 2011

6 months

Project Manager

International Mobile Service Provider

Establishment of a reporting process for revenue and profit (Revenue, P&L) between a subsidiary and the parent company as part of a corporate integration.
Coordination of all activities to ensure the departments are integrated on time and within budget.
Conducting a feasibility study with various options.
Definition of milestones and responsibilities within the project team.
Setting up and integrating the reporting structure into existing systems.
Reporting to project sponsors as well as global sales and finance management.
Environment: ERP and finance systems, international project environment.

Jan 2011 - May 2011

5 months

Sabbatical / stay abroad

Private

Sabbatical and stay abroad.

Apr 2010 - Dec 2010

9 months

Project Management / Organization / Coordination

German major bank / Application Integration Windows division

Provision of application servers for migrating applications as part of a bank integration.
Single point of contact for the Application Integration Windows group to the integration project.
Clarification of project requirements for integration services for server applications.
Coordination of order intake requirements and commissioning processes.
Resource planning and management to ensure order fulfillment.
Interface to change and release management.
Provision of automated applications in test environments for integration testing and production release.
Environment: Windows 2003 Server, Active Directory 2003, NetInstall 5.7, MSI technology, Peregrine Service Center 6.1.

Jun 2008 - Feb 2010

1 year 9 months

Outsourcing Project Manager - Transformation Phase

International telecommunications service provider / consumer goods manufacturer

Global network and telecommunications outsourcing at 600 sites worldwide.
Implementation of a standardized network environment (WAN, MAN, LAN, WLAN) and IP telephony at two manufacturing sites in Germany as well as in Baltic and Nordic countries.
Facilitation of workshops to determine technical requirements and develop migration strategies.
Definition of site requirements regarding power, cabling, and air conditioning.
Collaboration with solution architects to determine equipment needs.
Monitoring of hardware and software deliveries and technical concepts.
Piloting and rollout of new infrastructure solutions.
Negotiating maintenance windows for migrations in 24x7 manufacturing production environments.
Leading acceptance tests and documenting the new environment.
Multi-project management of up to 11 parallel projects.
Environment: Cisco network and IPT equipment, MS Project.

Jan 2008 - May 2008

5 months

Release Manager

International IT service provider / German major bank

Transition of release management processes from the bank to the IT service provider as part of desktop outsourcing.
Knowledge transfer of processes and methodologies through interviews and shadowing.
Documentation and optimization of release management processes and interfaces.
Taking on execution responsibility as Release Manager on behalf of the service provider.
Coordination with change management processes according to ITIL.
Environment: Peregrine Service Center 5.1/6.1, Workflow Management Tool ADIS.

Apr 2006 - Dec 2007

1 year 9 months

London, United Kingdom

Migration Lead (Subproject Manager)

German major bank

Migration of application servers from an NT 4.0 structure to a Windows 2003 Active Directory structure in the investment banking area.
Technical and organizational responsibility for about 250 application servers and 80 banking applications at the London site.
Interface between infrastructure, operations, and product owners.
Scheduling and status reporting to the overall project management and client.
Provision of test, pre-live, and production environments via NetInstall 5.7.
Preparation and support of acceptance tests as well as production support.
Design and optimization of accompanying processes.
Environment: Active Directory 2003, Windows 2003 Server, NetInstall 5.7, Peregrine Service Center 5.1/6.1.

Oct 2005 - Mar 2006

6 months

Consultant / Analyst

German major bank

Management consulting to ensure internal and external IT compliance in the area of enterprise content management.
Creating audit-proof system documentation (operations, security, and emergency plans).
Reviewing IT baseline security according to BSI for newly implemented content management systems.
Analyzing and optimizing IT operational processes based on ITIL best practices.
Modeling business processes of automated document processing in ARIS.
Planning cross-departmental separation of duties between development and operations.
Creating training concepts, cost and schedule plans for project implementation.
Environment: AIX, Windows Server 2003, OS/2, MVS host, ARIS Toolset, BSI baseline security.

Apr 2004 - Sep 2005

1 year 6 months

Bad Homburg, Germany

Senior Consultant

ECS Bad Homburg GmbH

Set up and led bid management for the consulting department.
Qualified customer inquiries and developed solutions with technical specialists.
Prepared proposals and handled price and contract negotiations.
Managed resources, including qualification and procurement of external resources.
Acquired and maintained relationships with suppliers and staffing agencies.
Responsible for project costing, controlling, invoicing, and management reporting.
Introduced project management methodologies and tools.
Provided pre-sales support and business development.

Jan 2002 - May 2003

1 year 5 months

Germany

Subproject Manager User Survey / PC Rollout

Unisys Deutschland GmbH

Managed the site and user survey subproject for a Europe-wide PC standardization project at a chemical company.
Rolled out 38,000 client PCs across Europe.
Collected inventory data manually through user interviews (200 PCs/day).
Built an organizational structure with a team-leader level and led up to 120 employees.
Planned and conducted training sessions.
Provided status reports to the overall project management and managed escalations.
Designed quality assurance measures.
Environment: Windows XP, Radia software distribution, Bluecurrent rollout tool, MS-Project.

Jun 2001 - Dec 2001

7 months

Germany

IT Consultant / Management Consultant

Unisys Deutschland GmbH

Qualified providers for a network outsourcing project in South America, Australia/New Zealand, and Europe.
Created tender documents (RFI + RFP).
Conducted the provider qualification process for a global MPLS network.
Evaluated service provider offers and created a benchmarking matrix.
Led service and price negotiations with shortlisted providers.
Prepared decision papers for management.

Feb 2001 - May 2001

4 months

Germany

Subproject Manager

Unisys Deutschland GmbH

Built the network and server infrastructure for a service center for automated document processing.
Planned and designed the data center network infrastructure and WAN connection for 11 branch offices.
Coordinated suppliers and approved implementations (UPS, Cisco components, racks).
Managed the relocation of about 30 server systems and 50 client workstations.
Commissioned the environment in cooperation with the client.
Environment: Windows NT 4.0/2000 Server, Unisys document scanning lines, Cisco routers/switches.

Oct 1999 - Oct 2000

1 year 1 month

Project Manager

m+s Elektronik AG

Rolled out and operated securities trading systems for Deutsche Börse across Europe.
Implemented EUREX, XETRA, and CBOT trading systems.
Established a help desk for remote monitoring and administration of the systems (5 x 18 hours).
Led a nine-member international support and rollout team.
Ensured compliance with SLAs.
Environment: Windows NT 4.0, Sun Solaris, HP AIX, BMC Patrol.

Industry Experience

See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.

Experienced in Banking and Finance, Information Technology, Telecommunication, Transportation, Food and Beverage, and Professional Services.

Banking and Finance

Information Technology

Telecommunication

Transportation

Food and Beverage

Professional Services

Business Area Experience

See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.

Experienced in Project Management, Information Technology, Operations, Quality Assurance, Procurement, and Sales.

Project Management

Information Technology

Operations

Quality Assurance

Procurement

Sales

Summary

Over 25 years of ICT experience, with many years as an employed Senior Consultant and Project Manager at various IT system and consulting firms. Working freelance since 2007.

Many years of experience leading IT infrastructure, organizational, and security projects. Extensive knowledge in service transformation and transition, solution implementation, standardization, migration, and rollout. Basic expertise in IT governance, risk & compliance, as well as information, IT, and cyber security, and also in business and IT continuity.

Advising and reporting to top-level management, such as CIO, CTO, and CISO.

Extensive experience with complex outsourcing and corporate integration projects, including at international level and abroad.

Leadership experience in projects with more than 130 project staff. Working with globally distributed virtual teams (virtual teaming, nearshoring, and offshoring).

Skills

Leading Projects And Programs In It Infrastructure And Networking
Leading Projects And Programs In Information, It, And Cyber Security
Leading Projects And Programs In Service Transformation And Transition
Leading Projects And Programs In Hardware And Software Rollouts
It Service Management (Itsm)
Information, It, And Cyber Security
It Risk Management
It Governance
Information Security Management System (Isms) Implementation
Information System Auditing

Languages

German

Native

English

Advanced

Hungarian

Advanced

Education

University of Applied Sciences of the German Federal Post Telecom in Dieburg

Diploma Engineer, Telecommunications · Electrical engineering, specializing in telecommunications · Dieburg, Germany

Certifications & licenses

Certified NIS2 Directive 2.0 Lead Implementer

Certified Information System Auditor

ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer

PECB

CISSP (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional

ITIL Expert In IT- Service Management

OCG / APMG

Certified Project Manager (Level C)

GPM / IPMA

COBIT Foundation Certificate

ISACA

Cyber Security Practitioner

ISACA / BSI

ITIL V3 Intermediate Lifecycle Certificates

ITIL V3 and V2 Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management

Splunk Power User 6.3 Certification

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 25

Experience in Banking and Finance 15.5 y

Avg length 1 y 1 m

Longest experience 3 y 2 m

Global Experience

Countries worked in 3 (Germany, Austria, United Kingdom)

Primary country Germany

Expertise

Recent roles Interim Project Manager, Project Manager, Security Analyst IT Risk / Project Manager

Main industries Banking and Finance, Information Technology, Telecommunication

Main business areas Project Management, Information Technology, Operations

Qualifications

Highest degree Bachelor

Certifications earned 11

Profile

Created

January 2026

Last Update

March 2026

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Frequently asked questions

Do you have questions? Here you can find further information.

Where is Robert based?

Robert is based in Kriftel, Germany.

What languages does Robert speak?

Robert speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), Hungarian (Advanced).

How many years of experience does Robert have?

Robert has at least 24 years of experience. During this time, Robert has worked in at least 21 different roles and for 19 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 1 year. Note that Robert may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

What roles would Robert be best suited for?

Based on recent experience, Robert would be well-suited for roles such as: Interim Project Manager, Project Manager, Security Analyst IT Risk / Project Manager.

What is Robert's latest experience?

Robert's most recent position is Interim Project Manager at IT service company of a regional energy provider.

What companies has Robert worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Robert has worked for IT service company of a regional energy provider, IT service provider for Finanz Informatik, French major bank, Municipal energy provider, and Financial services provider for securities trading.

Which industries is Robert most experienced in?

Robert is most experienced in industries like Banking and Finance, Information Technology, and Telecommunication. Robert also has some experience in Food and Beverage, Professional Services, and Chemical.

Which business areas is Robert most experienced in?

Robert is most experienced in business areas like Project Management, Information Technology, and Operations. Robert also has some experience in Quality Assurance, Procurement, and Sales.

Which industries has Robert worked in recently?

Robert has recently worked in industries like Banking and Finance, Information Technology, and Utilities.

Which business areas has Robert worked in recently?

Robert has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Project Management, and Quality Assurance.

What is Robert's education?

Robert holds a Bachelor in Electrical engineering, specializing in telecommunications from University of Applied Sciences of the German Federal Post Telecom in Dieburg.

Does Robert have any certificates?

Robert has 11 certificates. Among them, these include: Certified NIS2 Directive 2.0 Lead Implementer, Certified Information System Auditor, and ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer.

What is the availability of Robert?

Robert is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.

What is the rate of Robert?

Robert's rate depends on the specific project requirements. Please use the Meet button on the profile to schedule a meeting and discuss the details.