Tobias Franek - CTO & Founder for Distributed Systems

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Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria

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Experience

Dec 2020 - Present

5 years 9 months

Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria

On-site

CTO & Founder

bitminds

Selected projects:

Kiosk platform – hospitality

Led a 3-person team while hands-on architecting an edge computing infrastructure for over 15 self-service kiosks in Alpine hotels with unstable connectivity
Designed a Nomad-based cluster with a WireGuard mesh network for fully automated OTA updates, even during local network outages and offline operation
Integrated physical peripherals (hotel key card readers, thermal printers) into a containerized deployment pipeline
Reduced on-site maintenance visits by ~40% through a resilient offline-first architecture and Prometheus-based hardware monitoring
Tech: Nomad, Consul, WireGuard, NestJS, NextJS, Prometheus, Custom Hardware Provisioning

Multi-tenant SaaS platform – insurance claims processing

Built and operated the Kubernetes infrastructure for a market-leading claims processing platform (acquired by an S&P 500 company) – with strict compliance and availability requirements
Designed a multi-tenant EKS cluster with tenant isolation, enabling cost-effective single-instance hosting for multiple customers
Implemented dynamic spot instance node pools, reducing infrastructure costs by ~20%
Set up fully automated deployment pipelines (Terraform + GitHub Actions) for uninterrupted releases during business hours
Tech: EKS, Terraform, GitHub Actions, Prometheus/Grafana/Loki, PHP, GraphQL

Legacy ERP integration – construction photo documentation

Led a 2-person team in designing and implementing a real-time sync bridge between a legacy Microsoft Access ERP (without an API) and a modern mobile photo app for quality control on construction sites
Developed a PostgreSQL pipeline with real-time listeners that extract data from 1990s Access databases – without disrupting existing workflows
Built a resilient upload architecture with a circuit breaker pattern for unstable site connections (S3, NFS, Synology NAS)
Saved each project manager 2–4 hours per week through automated photo sync instead of manual USB/SD card transfers
Tech: NestJS, PostgreSQL, React Native (Expo), S3, Synology API, offline-first architecture

Industry experience

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

Experienced in Construction, Insurance, and Tourism.

Construction

Insurance

Tourism

Business area experience

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

Experienced in Information Technology and Product Development.

Information Technology

Product Development

Summary

My focus: systems that run reliably around the clock. As CTO and founder of bitminds, I lead a team building distributed infrastructure and applications – from edge kiosks in hotels with no network coverage to multi-tenant Kubernetes platforms acquired by S&P 500 companies. I always act in a dual role: as a technical architect with a hands-on mentality and as a team leader with end-to-end delivery responsibility. Over 10 years of experience developing hardware and software systems.

Skills

Platform Design: Multi-Tenant Kubernetes (Eks), Hashicorp Nomad, Consul, Helm, Docker
Edge & Iot: Wireguard Mesh, Bare-Metal Provisioning, Ota Update Systems
Infrastructure & Cost: Terraform, Aws, Multi-Region Clustering, Spot Instance Optimization
Delivery & Compliance: Gitops, Github Actions, Zero-Downtime Deployments, Iso 27001
Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Sentry, Custom Hardware Monitoring
Legacy Integration: Erp Bridging (Ms Access), Postgresql Cdc, Offline-First Sync
Application: Nestjs, Elysiajs, React, React Native (Expo), Graphql

Languages

German

Native

English

Advanced

Education

Sep 2018 - Jul 2021

Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

Bachelor's degree · Multimedia Technology · Salzburg, Austria

Certifications & licenses

ISO 27001

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 1

Experience in Construction 5.5 y

Avg length 5 y 8 m

Longest experience 5 y 8 m

Global experience

Countries worked in 1 (Austria)

Primary country Austria

Expertise

Recent roles CTO & Founder

Main industries Construction, Insurance, Tourism

Main business areas Information Technology, Product Development

Qualifications

Highest degree Bachelor

Certifications earned 1

Profile

Member since

May 2026

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Frequently asked questions

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Tobias is based in Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria.

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

Tobias has at least 6 years of experience. During this time, Tobias has worked in at least 1 role and for 1 company. The average length of individual experience is 6 years and 8 months. Note that Tobias may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Based on recent experience, Tobias would be well-suited for roles such as: CTO & Founder.

Tobias's most recent position is CTO & Founder at bitminds.

In recent years, Tobias has worked for bitminds.

Tobias is most experienced in industries like Construction, Insurance, and Tourism.

Tobias is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology and Product Development.

Tobias has recently worked in industries like Construction, Insurance, and Tourism.

Tobias has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology and Product Development.

Tobias holds a Bachelor in Multimedia Technology from Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

Tobias has 1 certificate: ISO 27001.

The availability of Tobias needs to be confirmed.

Daily rate distribution

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Daily rate avg. 901 €

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Median rate 900 €

The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.

Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 30 Aug 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.