Thomas Übermeier - Innovative Fintech & Blockchain Leader

Q: Where is Thomas based?

Thomas is based in Berlin, Germany .

Q: What languages does Thomas speak?

Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Native), Dutch (Advanced) .

Q: How many years of experience does Thomas have?

Thomas has at least 23 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.

Q: What is Thomas's latest experience?

Thomas's most recent position is Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight .

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

In recent years, Thomas has worked for IOG / Midnight , Parity Technologies , and Self-Employed / Ingenire .

Q: Which industries is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Information Technology , Banking and Finance , and Education . Thomas also has some experience in Insurance , Healthcare , and Biotechnology .

Q: Which business areas is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology , Operations , and Project Management . Thomas also has some experience in Product Development , Strategy , and Research and Development .

Q: Which industries has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology , Education , and Banking and Finance .

Q: Which business areas has Thomas worked in recently?

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

Recommended expert

Berlin, Germany

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Experience

Aug 2023 - Nov 2024

1 year 4 months

Germany

Head of Engineering - Midnight

IOG / Midnight

IOG (IOHK), is one of the world's pre-eminent blockchain infrastructure research and engineering companies.

Converted a lingering R&D project into a cohesive, production-ready testnet; built and scaled the 35-member engineering team (Core, QA, SRE) to achieve this goal.
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.

Jan 2021 - Jul 2022

1 year 7 months

Germany

VP (Substrate Engineering)

Parity Technologies

Parity technologies is one of the leading blockchain infrastructure company. Substrate is an Open Source blockchain framework.

Led the turnaround of a team whose product was recommended for decommissioning, personally building a task force to restore accountability and save the product line.
Led and mentored a 50-member globally distributed engineering team responsible for the Rust-based Substrate framework and the ink! smart contract language ink!.
Scaled the organization by 80% YoY, redesigning hiring and onboarding processes to support rapid growth.
Enhanced cross-team communication by establishing regular update calls and engineering all-hands, contributing to overall company strategy.
Designed and executed a new compensation restructuring plan to align engineering efforts with business goals.
Member of the company's leadership team, setting direction and strategy of Parity Technologies.

Jul 2020 - Present

6 years 1 month

Germany

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).

May 2018 - Feb 2020

1 year 10 months

Stuttgart, Germany

Head of IT Operations Mercedes Pay

Daimler Mobility Services

Mercedes Pay is the Daimler internal SaaS solution for internet payments.

Built the entire 21-person technical operations department from zero, hiring and mentoring teams across two locations (Berlin/Stuttgart) in SRE, Infrastructure Engineering, BI, and Customer Support.
Led the critical migration of the entire Java/EKS/Kafka-based payment platform to AWS.
Dramatically improved platform reliability, raising the SLA from an in-house 98% to 99.9%+ by moving to AWS and eliminating legacy system failures.
Achieved full PCI-DSS compliance for the new cloud infrastructure, a non-negotiable for a leading payments provider.
Defined the strategic roadmap for all infrastructure, transitioning from initial hands-on-keyboard (Terraform, Python) to high-level strategic management as the organization scaled.

May 2013 - Feb 2018

4 years 10 months

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Staff Systems Engineer

ServiceNow

ServiceNow is a software company that develops a cloud computing platform to help companies manage digital workflows.

Key infrastructure architect during hypergrowth, scaling global data centers from 10 to over 20.
Responsible for all OS & databases at massive scale (e.g., managing 80,000 MySQL instances).
Led complex, foundational infrastructure projects, including rewriting the internal systems authentication from NIS to Kerberos and re-architecting the OOB firmware update system.
Substitute and temporary team manager for the EMEA (Amsterdam & London) system engineering teams.
Writing Python and Ruby based automation software, one of the few globally with git merge rights.

Jul 2011 - May 2013

1 year 11 months

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Integration Engineer

IMC financial markets

IMC financial markets is one of the world's leading proprietary trading firms.

Ensured 24/7 reliability for low-latency/high-frequency trading (HFT) systems, directly supporting trading desk operations.
Automated deployments and wrote unit/automation tests (CICD with TeamCity & Jenkins) and write still-in-use database backup system.
Liaised with development and trading teams to resolve critical issues and implement new trading features.

Jun 2009 - Jun 2011

2 years 1 month

Basel, Switzerland

Head of IT Systems & Infrastructure

Novartis Research Foundation (Friedrich Miescher Institute)

The FMI is an internationally recognized institute for innovative biomedical research.

Responsible for the complete IT infrastructure, across 3 data centres, including large compute systems.
Reported infrastructure planning, status, and budget to the IT committee.

Aug 2008 - Mar 2009

8 months

London, United Kingdom

Senior Systems Engineer

Future Route

Future Route was a start-up in the financial sector, developing an automated auditing software.

Designed and executed the platform's inaugural migration to Amazon Web Services (EC2/S3).
Developed and deployed a scalable build-system, software deployment, and system configuration.

Jun 2004 - Jul 2008

4 years 2 months

London, United Kingdom

Team Lead EMEA Production Support

Red Hat

Red Hat is the market leader for open source software solutions.

Led an 11-member EMEA enterprise support team, defining and implementing global support processes.
Feb 2006 – Jul 2008 Team lead EMEA production support.
Sep 2004 – Jan 2006 Team lead Technical Support Engineering DACH / TAM.
Jun 2004 – Sep 2004 Technical Support Engineer.

Oct 2001 - Jan 2004

2 years 4 months

Erlangen, Germany

Software Developer with Team Lead Function

Via Appia Telekommunikation Consulting

Via Appia is an IT consulting company for customers in the public health sector.

Developed database applications in Perl/PHP/C++, including a patient management system.

Industry Experience

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

Experienced in Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Education, Insurance, Healthcare, and Biotechnology.

Information Technology

Banking and Finance

Education

Insurance

Healthcare

Biotechnology

Business Area Experience

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

Experienced in Information Technology, Operations, Project Management, Product Development, Strategy, and Research and Development.

Information Technology

Operations

Project Management

Product Development

Strategy

Research and Development

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 for C-level outcomes.

Languages

German

Native

English

Native

Dutch

Advanced

Education

Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen

Pre-Diploma · Computer Science · Erlangen, Germany

Certifications & licenses

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance

LDP (Leadership Development Program)

Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)

RHCE

Red Hat

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 10

Experience in Information Technology 19 y

Avg length 2 y 7 m

Longest experience 6 y

Global Experience

Countries worked in 4 (Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland)

Primary country Germany

Expertise

Recent roles Head of Engineering - Midnight, VP (Substrate Engineering), Principal Engineering Advisor

Main industries Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Education

Main business areas Information Technology, Operations, Project Management

Qualifications

Highest degree Bachelor

Certifications earned 3

Profile

Created

July 2026

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Frequently asked questions

Have questions? Find more information here.

Where is Thomas based?

Thomas is based in Berlin, Germany.

What languages does Thomas speak?

Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Native), Dutch (Advanced).

How many years of experience does Thomas have?

Thomas has at least 23 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.

What roles would Thomas be best suited for?

Based on recent experience, Thomas would be well-suited for roles such as: Head of Engineering - Midnight, VP (Substrate Engineering), Principal Engineering Advisor.

What is Thomas's latest experience?

Thomas's most recent position is Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight.

What companies has Thomas worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Thomas has worked for IOG / Midnight, Parity Technologies, and Self-Employed / Ingenire.

Which industries is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Education. Thomas also has some experience in Insurance, Healthcare, and Biotechnology.

Which business areas is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Operations, and Project Management. Thomas also has some experience in Product Development, Strategy, and Research and Development.

Which industries has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology, Education, and Banking and Finance.

Which business areas has Thomas worked in recently?

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

What is Thomas's education?

Thomas holds a Bachelor in Computer Science from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen.

Does Thomas have any certificates?

Thomas has 3 certificates. These include: Certified Scrum Master, LDP (Leadership Development Program), and RHCE.

What is the availability of Thomas?

Thomas is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.

What is the rate of Thomas?

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.