Thomas Ü.-Innovative Fintech & Blockchain Leader · Head Of Engineering
Check rate
Experience
Head of Engineering - Midnight
IOG / Midnight
- Built and scaled a 35-member engineering team (Core Engineering, QA, and SRE) in 12 months, accelerating Midnight’s blockchain development on Parity’s Substrate framework.
- Defined strategic direction and aligned technology development with business objectives as a key member of the leadership.
- Optimized software development processes and implemented agile methodologies, enhancing operational efficiency and code security.
- Delivered projects in a fast-paced startup environment through effective project management and resource allocation.
VP (Substrate Engineering)
Parity Technologies
- Led and mentored a 50-member globally distributed engineering team responsible for the Rust-based Substrate framework and the ink! smart contract language.
- Scaled the organization by 80% year-over-year, redesigning hiring and onboarding processes to support rapid growth.
- Orchestrated the turnaround of a team whose product was recommended for decommissioning by creating and leading a task force to restore accountability and save the product line.
- Enhanced cross-team communication by establishing regular update calls and engineering all-hands, contributing to overall company strategy.
- Designed and executed a compensation restructuring plan to align engineering efforts with business goals.
- Served as a member of the company’s leadership team, setting direction and strategy.
Principal Engineering Advisor
Self-Employed / Ingenire
Providing fractional CTO services and high-level engineering advisory for fintech, blockchain, and enterprise clients.
- Provided fractional CTO expertise for multiple organizations, guiding technology strategy and execution.
- As Senior Consultant (via beON), directed DevOps projects for the ERGO insurance group, managing OpenShift/ Kubernetes clusters and driving agile transformations.
- Developed and showcased multiple proof-of-concept applications for AI/LLM use cases, such as a LangChain based RAG Agent for a customer support system.
- Advised on bespoke software engineering solutions, specializing in blockchain and fintech.
- Founded upskillberlin (Tech classes in Berlin) and regierung.zip (Parliamentary Discussions Newsletter).
Head of IT Operations, Mercedes Pay
Daimler Mobility Services
- Built the 21-person technical operations department from zero, hiring and mentoring teams across Berlin and Stuttgart in SRE, infrastructure engineering, BI, and customer support.
- Spearheaded migration of the Java/EKS/Kafka-based payment platform to AWS.
- Improved platform reliability, raising SLA from 98% to over 99.9% by moving to AWS and eliminating legacy system failures.
- Achieved full PCI-DSS compliance for the new cloud infrastructure.
- Defined the strategic roadmap for infrastructure, transitioning from hands-on (Terraform, Python) to strategic management.
Staff Systems Engineer
ServiceNow
- Served as substitute and temporary team manager for the EMEA system engineering teams in Amsterdam and London.
- Managed all operating systems and databases, including 80,000 MySQL instances.
- Architected cloud infrastructure for tens of thousands of systems, including automation systems, global backup strategy, and datacenter bootstrapping.
- Led complex, cross-department projects to change fundamental parts of the cloud.
- Developed Python- and Ruby-based automation software with global git merge rights.
Integration Engineer
IMC Financial Markets
- Operated and maintained low-latency, high-frequency trading systems and automated deployments.
- Wrote unit and automation tests, database backup scripts, and automation scripts for TeamCity and Jenkins.
- Collaborated with development and trading teams to resolve issues and drive new features.
Head of IT Systems & Infrastructure
Novartis Research Foundation (Friedrich Miescher Institute)
- Managed the complete IT infrastructure across three data centers, including large compute systems.
- Reported planning and status of infrastructure to the institute’s IT committee.
Senior Systems Engineer
Future Route
- Designed and migrated the platform to Amazon EC2 and S3.
- Developed and deployed a scalable build system, software deployment pipelines, and system configuration.
Team Lead EMEA Production Support
Red Hat
- Managed the EMEA enterprise support team (11 members) and defined global support processes.
- Led technical support engineering for the DACH and TAM regions.
- Provided frontline technical support engineering and coordination.
Software Developer with Team Lead Function
Via Appia Telekommunikation Consulting
- Developed database applications in Perl, PHP, and C++, including a patient management system for the public health sector.
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Healthcare, Education, Media and Entertainment, and Automotive.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Information Technology, Project Management, Operations, Product Development, Strategy, and Customer Service.
Summary
- Fintech and blockchain engineering leader with 25+ years’ experience; scaled orgs to 50+ and led a 35-engineer program to ship the Midnight testnet.
- Drove AWS migrations and platform hardening that lifted payments uptime from 98% to 99.9%+ and achieved PCI-DSS certification.
- Builds high-performing teams, cuts delivery lead time, and aligns technology roadmaps to revenue and risk for C-level outcomes.
Skills
- Leadership & Cto/Vp Engineering/Head Of Engineering Roles, Cross-Functional Team Leadership, Strategic Strategy Planning, And Operational Framework Development.
- Blockchain & It Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Substrate Framework, Rust Programming, Cloud Infrastructure, Devops, Innovation And Agile Methodologies.
- Project & Resource Management, End-To-End Project Delivery, Process Optimization, Performance Metrics, And Stakeholder Engagement.
- Global & Remote Team Management, Scaling, Hiring, Onboarding, Compensation Restructuring, And Inter-Team Communication Enhancement.
Languages
Education
Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen
Pre-Diploma (BSc Equiv) · Computer Science · Erlangen, Germany
Certifications & licenses
Scrum Alliance
LDP (Leadership Development Program)
Center for Creative Leadership
Red Hat
PCI-DSS Certification
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Profile
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Thomas is based in Berlin, Germany.
Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), Dutch (Advanced), Spanish (Elementary).
Thomas has at least 24 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 10 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 4 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: Head of Engineering - Midnight, VP (Substrate Engineering), Principal Engineering Advisor.
Thomas's most recent position is Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight.
In recent years, Thomas has worked for IOG / Midnight, Parity Technologies, and Self-Employed / Ingenire.
Thomas is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Healthcare. Thomas also has some experience in Education, Media and Entertainment, and Biotechnology.
Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Project Management, and Operations. Thomas also has some experience in Product Development, Strategy, and Customer Service.
Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology, Education, and Banking and Finance.
Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Product Development, Project Management, and Strategy.
Thomas holds a Bachelor in Computer Science from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen.
Thomas has 4 certificates. Among them, these include: Certified Scrum Master, LDP (Leadership Development Program), and RHCE.
The availability of Thomas needs to be confirmed.
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Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 8 Sep 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
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