Thomas Hoefkens - Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer

Q: Where is Thomas based?

Thomas is based in Munich, Germany and can operate in on-site , hybrid , and remote work models.

Q: How many years of experience does Thomas have?

Thomas has at least 25 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 9 different companies . The average length of individual experience is 3 years and 6 months . Note that Thomas may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Q: What is Thomas's latest experience?

Thomas's most recent position is Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer at Trianel Energy .

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

In recent years, Thomas has worked for Trianel Energy , Mynaric Laser Communications AG , Dyrisk GmbH / MunichRE , and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg .

Q: Which industries is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Transportation , Agriculture , and Telecommunication . Thomas also has some experience in Energy , Manufacturing , and Information Technology .

Q: Which business areas is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology , Human Resources , and Product Development . Thomas also has some experience in Project Management , Customer Service , and Operations .

Q: Which industries has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Energy , Insurance , and Aerospace and Defense .

Q: Which business areas has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology and Operations .

Recommended expert

Munich, Germany

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Experience

Feb 2024 - Present

2 years 6 months

Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer

Trianel Energy

Built and operated an end-to-end MLOps platform on Azure ML and Kubernetes (Kubeflow) for automated deployment, monitoring, and scaling of forecasting models (including Temporal Fusion Transformer, Informer, and Autoformer).
Implemented CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps for the full ML lifecycle – from resource provisioning (Terraform) and data transformation (Hugging Face Datasets, Pandas, PyTorch, CUDA cluster) to training and evaluation, model registry, and endpoint deployment.
Integrated MLflow for experiment tracking, model versioning, performance monitoring, and automated registration in the Azure Model Registry.
Developed and containerized PyTorch training jobs (Azure Notebook, Jupyter Notebooks) for price and time series forecasting (PFC models) with automatic rollout via Azure ML Endpoints and REST/gRPC interfaces, Docker containerization, secured with OAuth 2.0.
Set up monitoring and alerting mechanisms (Prometheus, MLflow Metrics), centralized logging, and cost monitoring.
Automated infrastructure provisioning and model deployment using Terraform, Helm, and Azure CLI; connected to existing market data systems and event pipelines.
Migrated existing workloads and databases (IONOS → Azure, MongoDB) and integrated them into central MLOps workflows and internal networks.
Extended the platform with LLM-based tools (LangChain, LangServe) to integrate GPT-based analysis modules into existing Spring Boot services for market anomaly detection and automated reports.
Analyzed and designed a software solution to efficiently process large volumes of data (>3000 messages/sec) (market data store).
Developed Spring Boot / Java 21 container services with RabbitMQ to distribute exchange data through MongoDB (Kubernetes), with fast storage of data in Redis RMaps, deduplication, forwarding messages to Read Model queues, and building Read Models for UI display in MongoDB.
Integrated RESTHeart to create a REST API for MongoDB.
Built an Angular frontend to simplify data queries and master data maintenance.
Agentic coding with remote and local LLMs (Claude Sonnet, Ollama Qwen) and MCP servers.
Developed Python scripts to transform and clean incoming exchange data (Pandas, scikit-learn).

Mar 2023 - Feb 2024

1 year

Munich, Germany

Senior DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect

Mynaric Laser Communications AG

Architecture and design of a DevOps / deployment platform.
Built a DevOps and software deployment platform based on Azure AKS and AWS ECS/EKS, GitLab Enterprise, and Ansible.
Migrated VMware workloads to Azure AKS and AWS EKS.
Configured and deployed applications with Microsoft Entra (Entra app registrations, app roles, published Web APIs with OAuth authentication and authorization).
Developed TypeScript backend services (serverless).
Developed GraphQL APIs against a Neo4J database.
Created Ansible playbooks and inventory setup for VMware-managed virtual machines.
Automated deployment of playbooks through Ansible Control Tower (open source version AWX) for Unix instances.
Set up GitOps with GitLab and developed GitLab pipelines.
Deployed infrastructure on Azure using Pulumi and Terraform.
Agile teamwork, SCRUM.

Nov 2021 - Mar 2023

1 year 5 months

Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect

Dyrisk GmbH / MunichRE

Built and operated a company-wide MLOps infrastructure on Azure Databricks to automate the full ML lifecycle from data processing to model deployment.
Implemented scalable ETL/ELT pipelines with Airflow and Databricks to continuously supply training and inference pipelines with cleaned risk data.
Automated training, evaluation, and deployment pipelines with MLflow, Azure DevOps, and Databricks Workflows, including automatic model registration, versioning, and promotion between stages.
Containerized and deployed trained models as scalable REST/gRPC services via Azure ML Endpoints and Kubernetes; integrated them into production risk and security platforms.
Set up Infrastructure-as-Code provisioning with Terraform, Helm, and Kustomize for reproducible deployments, including monitoring, logging, and security components.
Implemented end-to-end monitoring with Prometheus, Grafana, and Elastic Stack (Beats, Logstash) to track pipeline performance, model metrics, and system status.
Built a secure authentication and access infrastructure (Keycloak, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT) for APIs and internal MLOps services.
Developed and integrated .NET Core microservices for exposing model APIs and service orchestration in production.
Designed and implemented CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitLab CI) for automated testing, container builds, release management, and deployment to multi-cloud environments.
Monitoring, logging, and incident handling for production machine learning workloads in on-premises and cloud environments.
Central SSH and access management through Teleport to ensure compliance and auditability.
Agile teamwork in the SCRUM process with close coordination between Data Engineering, MLOps, and DevOps.

Jan 2021 - Nov 2021

11 months

Senior AWS Cloud Expert, Digital Transformation Architect

EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg

Setup and configuration of Red Hat OpenShift, deployment monitoring, alerting, DB operator, and Nginx Ingress Controller.
Developed Java (Spring Boot / Spring Cloud) AWS Lambda microservices, OpenAPI API-first development.
Docker containerization of microservices, Docker Compose definitions for local development and testing.
Created automated unit tests using AWS LocalStack.
Developed an Angular 12 / TypeScript frontend to display automated energy trading and manual intervention/corrections.
Developed streaming connectors for AWS MSK (managed Kafka), automating the processing of marketplace trading streaming messages.
Set up an AWS base resource pipeline and per-microservice pipeline to automate infrastructure creation with AWS CDK, EKS cluster setup with external DNS, and AWS Load Balancer Controller for automatic load balancing and Route53 setup.
Set up EC2 instances via Terraform, access via AWS SSM.
Integrated with AWS IAM and Cognito (Single Sign-On), experience with AWS Control Tower and VPC networking via Transit Gateway attachments.
Developed Helm charts for automated OpenShift deployment.
OpenAPI-first approach for backend services and Swagger UI integration on backend endpoints.
Agile teamwork, SCRUM ceremonies, bi-weekly sprints.

Jul 2016 - Jan 2021

4 years 7 months

Senior Cloud Architect and FullStack Engineer

Bayer AG, Digital Farming

Developed a field and crop management solution for large agricultural companies, consisting of .NET Core (C#) microservices based on AWS Lambda, supported by domain-driven design and event sourcing, plus two frontend solutions (Angular for the web, Xamarin (now MAUI) as a cross-platform mobile management solution).
Frontend TypeScript development (Angular), frontend .NET Standard development (Xamarin) as part of a fully cross-functional team, responsible for delivering all technical components of a requirement (for example, frontend changes, backend development including Terraform setup and CI/CD, automated unit tests, and Sonar quality checks).
Fully decoupled architecture using SQS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, Route53, AWS Lambda, .NET IDP with Azure AD federation, and JWT authentication / authorization.
Developed GraphQL APIs (stitching) across multiple backend farming data sources (weather forecasts, spraying recommendations, pest infestation data).
Developed a .NET Core CLI for technical administration of the digital farming platform.
Cross-platform iOS / Android development (Xamarin), push integration, mapping using Carto maps, including development of a customization plugin for VS Code that connects JavaScript with C# through the V8 engine.
Developed GitLab CI pipelines.
Integrated Raygun for centralized logging.
Agile teamwork, SCRUM ceremonies, bi-weekly sprints.

Jan 2014 - Jun 2016

2 years 6 months

Paris, France

Senior Cloud Developer

Otis France

Development of applications for field service (Kony platform iOS and Android) and backend endpoints (Java Spring Boot, Spring Cloud).
Integration of internal APIs (Asset Management, Field Service Management).
Development of Azure Functions, Function Apps (C#).
Development of ASP.NET MVC admin interfaces.
Azure DevOps (Team Foundation Server) pipeline development.
Oracle 12 PL/SQL development, database design and maintenance.

Jan 2013 - Jun 2015

2 years 6 months

Ingolstadt, Germany

Technical Project Lead

Mobility Media-Saturn E-Business GmbH

Technical lead for the evaluation, selection, and implementation of a mobility platform (MDM and MAM), setup of a company internal app store, and BYOD policies.
Kony platform development of various apps based on the Kony platform / cross-platform development in JavaScript for Android, iOS, and Windows Tablet.
MC@POS → Kony app for use in the stores, product comparison, stock levels, prices, online orders in store.

May 2011 - Jan 2013

1 year 9 months

Munich, Germany

Technical Team Lead, Senior Developer, Enterprise Architekt for the CRM Domain

Telefonica 02 Germany GmbH & Co KG

Team lead for the CRM and order management application team, CRM domain enterprise architect, developer, and interface to business and operations stakeholders as well as senior management.
Development of service requests, integration of over 40 systems across the provisioning and billing landscape.
Middleware connections via Tuxedo, MQSeries, WebLogic, and WebSphere.
UI development, backend development (Oracle-based and Java server-based), integration with middleware systems such as RabbitMQ and Tibco as well as Tuxedo (REST-, SOAP-based systems and database connectors).
Lead of a complex fat-client upgrade that enabled VBA customizations, but hit 32-bit limitations; migration to the Microsoft VSTA engine (unique project worldwide!).

Mar 2003 - May 2011

8 years 3 months

Munich, Germany

Technical Team Leader, Senior Developer

Deutsche Bahn AG

Development of an HR platform and an e-recruiting mirror on the "internet" side based on PeopleSoft HCMS.
Development of a ticketing system based on JBoss (backend), Apache MyFaces UI.
Development of the Deutsche Bahn enterprise portal (employee-oriented).
Broker messaging development, asynchronous messaging.
Development of application runs in batch mode.

Jun 2001 - Mar 2003

1 year 10 months

Munich, Germany

Application Developer

Telefonica 02 Germany GmbH & Co KG

WebLogic 5.1 Java development, EJB development.
Development of a JSP-based frontend.
PoC setup of Oracle 8i jServer.
Migration of web applications to WebLogic 6.0.
Win32 API development.
Vantive 8.2 frontend development support.

Industry Experience

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

Experienced in Transportation, Agriculture, Energy, Telecommunication, Manufacturing, and Information Technology.

Transportation

Agriculture

Energy

Telecommunication

Manufacturing

Information Technology

Business Area Experience

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

Experienced in Information Technology, Human Resources, Product Development, Project Management, Operations, and Customer Service.

Information Technology

Human Resources

Product Development

Project Management

Operations

Customer Service

Summary

Passionate Senior MLOps, DevOps, and Cloud/Platform Engineer with extensive experience in developing and operating scalable platforms and AI-driven solutions. Expertise in building end-to-end MLOps workflows: data preparation (ETL/ELT pipelines), development of ETL/ELT pipelines in Python (Pandas, PySpark, Airflow, Dask), experiment tracking and model versioning with MLflow, use of Azure Databricks Data Lake for data engineering and training, feature stores (Feast), and automated deployment of trained models as services.

Experienced in implementing continuous training and delivery pipelines (CI/CD) for ML and software components using GitLab CI/CD, Azure DevOps, and KubeFlow.

Strong knowledge of virtualization and container orchestration (Kubernetes: OpenShift, EKS, AKS, OVH Kubernetes, Docker) and Infrastructure as Code with Terraform and Ansible. Strong in observability, classic and model monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana as well as classic logging stacks (Loki, ELK, DataDog). Experienced in backend development with C#, Java, TypeScript, Python, and Bash scripting, as well as SQL and NoSQL databases.

Skills

Programming & Frameworks: C# .Net Core, Java (Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, J2ee), Golang, Python (Pandas, Numpy, Scikit-Learn, Tensorflow, Pytorch), Bash Scripting
Frontend & Cross-Platform: Typescript, Angular, React, Macos, Xamarin, Maui
Cloud & Container Platforms: Aws Cloud, Azure Cloud, Ovh Cloud, Gcp, Docker, Kubernetes, Aks, Eks, Red Hat Openshift, Vmware Tanzu, Cluster Controller, Cluster Operator
Infrastructure As Code & Ci/Cd: Terraform, Ansible, Pulumi, Kustomize, Helm Charts, Github Actions, Gitlab Ci, Azure Devops, Argocd, Flux, Jenkins Pipelines
Messaging, Data & Databases: Rabbitmq, Redis, Mongodb, Neo4j, Sql, Oracle, Aws Msk (Managed Kafka)
Observability & Logging: Prometheus, Grafana, Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, Loki, Datadog
Mlops & Data Engineering: Mlflow, Azure Databricks, Apache Spark, Feast, Dvc
Machine Learning & Ai: Xgboost, Scikit-Learn, Hugging Face Transformers

Languages

German

Native

Dutch

Native

English

Advanced

French

Advanced

Italian

Advanced

...and 5 more

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 10

Experience in Transportation 8 y

Avg length 2 y 8 m

Longest experience 8 y 2 m

Global Experience

Countries worked in 2 (Germany, France)

Primary country Germany

Expertise

Recent roles Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer, Senior DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect, Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect

Main industries Transportation, Agriculture, Energy

Main business areas Information Technology, Human Resources, Product Development

Profile

Created

June 2025

Last Update

July 2026

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Frequently asked questions

Have questions? Find more information here.

Thomas is based in Munich, Germany and can operate in on-site, hybrid, and remote work models.

Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), Dutch (Native), English (Advanced), French (Advanced), Italian (Advanced), Spanish (Intermediate), Hungarian (Intermediate), Norwegian (Intermediate), Hindi (Elementary), Romanian (Elementary).

Thomas has at least 25 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 9 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 3 years and 6 months. Note that Thomas may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Based on recent experience, Thomas would be well-suited for roles such as: Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer, Senior DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect, Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer and Platform Architect.

Thomas's most recent position is Senior MLOps, DevOps Engineer at Trianel Energy.

In recent years, Thomas has worked for Trianel Energy, Mynaric Laser Communications AG, Dyrisk GmbH / MunichRE, and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg.

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Transportation, Agriculture, and Telecommunication. Thomas also has some experience in Energy, Manufacturing, and Information Technology.

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Human Resources, and Product Development. Thomas also has some experience in Project Management, Customer Service, and Operations.

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Energy, Insurance, and Aerospace and Defense.

Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology and Operations.

Thomas is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.

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

To hire Thomas, click the Meet button on the profile to request a meeting and discuss your project needs.