Heads of IT in Germany

• Led IT with 12 employees during a period of group integration, filling 3 new positions
• Analyzed IT maturity and created transparency around risks, resources and project status
• Structured and prioritized the project portfolio (group integration, ERP, NIS2, IT security)
• Engaged external service providers to close capacity gaps and initiated additional projects
• Supported the implementation of Business Central and represented IT on steering committees

Responsible for the IT operations of a medium-sized mechanical engineering company (approximately 2 000 employees, annual revenue of approximately 400 million euros worldwide). Direct responsibility for 13 employees. At the same time, project manager for an internal carve-out (commercial and technical separation of the two business units worldwide).

Industry: Mechanical and plant engineering

Function: Director IT

• Responsibility for outsourced IT operations; provider management and service management.
• Responsibility for the complete separation of the two business units (applications, SAP R//3, Active Directory, IT infrastructure, ...); project planning and management; selection and management of service providers.
• TiSAX certification for one business unit; budget planning 2025 ff.
• Establishment and structuring of application operations, including the definition of operating models, SLAs/KPIs, and provider management in the SAP environment.
• Preparation of the operating organization for application operations of S/4 Hana (private cloud).

IT infrastructure / SAP Grantor / SAP-BTP transformation project in the public sector for the digitalization of government funding programs. The goal was a clean-core-oriented SAP-BTP solution architecture with CAP/RAP services, APIs, integrations and operational readiness for Run, AMO and AMS structures.

• Industry: Public
• Budget 2026 5 Mio EUR
• Budget planned for 2027 8,7 Mio EUR
• Team size 45 FTE

• Directed global digital transformation programs enabling enterprise adoption of AI-powered retail analytics solutions
• Led migration from legacy platforms to cloud-based ecosystems, improving data processing performance by over 40%
• Served as strategic technology advisor to enterprise customers, aligning technology roadmaps with business objectives
• Managed cross-functional global teams of 100+ resources across multiple regions

• Head of the group-wide, international, and cross-functional IT Governance & IAM department within the central IT division of a large French-German private banking group. Disciplinary management of around 30 employees at five different locations within the group (Frankfurt, Paris, Tunis, Saarbrücken, Düsseldorf). Head of IT committees and key role in direct communication with management, the supervisory board, external stakeholders, and regulators.
• Definition and establishment of a state-of-the-art IT strategy process and related IT governance structures for the group's IT department with more than 600 employees (testified by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority and the ACPR) and successful process run.
• Establishment of a new future-oriented process framework for IT and necessary governance structures (process squads) for the continuous improvement of IT processes with regard to new regulatory requirements (including DORA, EU AI Act, etc.).
• Establishment of stringent processes to close a historical backlog of findings (> 100 IT findings, 40 overdue findings in 2022) from internal and external auditors (WP, ACPR, BaFin). Successful reduction of stock of overdue findings to 0 at the end of 2025.
• Supporting more than 20 IT audits per year and establishment of regulatory monitoring processes. Introduction of ServiceNow to revolutionize regulatory change and IT compliance processes with advanced AI functionalities.
• Realignment of IT control processes in conjunction with the newly established ICT risk function under DORA and the three lines of defense concept using the TopEase GRC solution.
• Reduction of the application landscape, by systematically analysing the purpose with application and business owners, identifying duplicates while implementing a One-Tool Strategy throughout the group. Successful reduction of one third of the application landscape within the CMDB.
• Onboarding of all group applications into One Identity's group-wide IAM solution, as well as operation and further development of the solution in connection with segregation of duties (SoD), role-based access management (RBAC), etc.

• Analysis and optimization of the VMware environment for operation in a KRITIS environment
• Planning and implementation of updates to the VMware and hardware environment in a KRITIS environment
• Set up Skyline Health Diagnostics
• Review of the existing documentation
• Training and onboarding of new internal employees
• Support with migration and upgrade projects
• Preparations for moving scripts in the virtualization environment to GitLab
• Ticket processing with Service.Now

• Executed post-carve-out stabilization, system consolidation and cybersecurity uplift. Re-assessed system landscape and assets and designed new IT strategy for future. Implemented new IT operating model focusing on product-centric organization and re-internalization of critical resources.
• Successfully designed new IT operating model of the company, based on massive reduction of external dependencies, insourcing of key positions and upskilling of employees.
• Massive reduction of IT cost in the first three years (-40m$), bringing IT spend level below Gartner industry benchmark (1.27%).
• Introduced new product-centric organization based on fusion teams between business and IT across the company.
• Administered implementation of corporate-wide IT/OT cybersecurity program with more than 60 projects.
• Continuous improvement of enterprise IT/OT cybersecurity maturity level with significant increase in the first two years (CMMI >3.5, C2M2 >2.5).
• Governed successful implementation of the business transformation program within IT area by overachieving the savings target by $8m.
• Initiated and created new cloud-based data management platform based on best-in-class technology.
• Implemented first company-wide Microsoft Copilot AI program based on various business cases, leveraging GenAI and AgenticAI.

• Overall responsibility for IT, including the creation and implementation of the IT roadmap/IT strategy and the resulting measures in the organizational structure, processes and systems landscape

• Member of the Management Board

• Organizational development

• Development of the corporate strategy

• Introduction of a new SteerCo process for Germany in coordination with the Dutch group

• Restructuring and optimization of incident, problem and change management

• Moderation and execution of software and partner selection processes for the introduction of new systems/applications

• Initiation and negotiation of business relationships with external service providers and suppliers, including contract design

• Ensuring IT security and data protection in accordance with legal requirements and best practices

• Expansion of internal data centers and infrastructure to ensure SLAs for internal operations, including cloud services and cybersecurity

• Budget planning and control as well as resource management for the area of responsibility

• Overall responsibility for the strategic and operational realignment and management, further development of IT with direct reporting to the executive board
• Cloud transformation projects: MS365, Exchange Online, SharePoint Cloud, infrastructure cloud migration
• Leading an IT organization with around 20 employees
• Realigning IT as a strategic enabler for the entire organization
• Developing and implementing a holistic IT strategy ("Cloud First") including governance, security, and operational models
• Building a modern service management framework (ITIL) and effective control mechanisms
• Strategically managing software development and delivery (DevOps, CI/CD)
• Implementing cloud and digitization strategies
• Strategic planning and IT roadmap
• Optimizing IT infrastructure
• Budget and cost management
• Infrastructure migration: on-premise to on-premise (colocation)
• Overall responsibility for budget, cost optimization, resource and staff development
• Managing central digitization and transformation initiatives as well as board-level processes

• Chief Information Officer with more than two decades of international leadership experience in publicly traded and regulated industrial environments.

• Responsible for the structural realignment of complex, long-standing IT organizations to bring transparency, control, and financial stability.

• Leading global IT organizations with budgets up to €120 million and up to 320 employees.

• Developing and rolling out centrally managed operating models, setting up transparent financial and governance structures, and consistently delivering business-critical platform initiatives (e.g., SAP S/4HANA).

• Focused on restoring decision-making, prioritization, and execution power during transformation phases under increased organizational pressure.

• Leveraging technology as a strategic tool to increase efficiency, stabilize operations, and support sustainable business development.

• Global IT Transformation & Operating Models

• SAP S/4HANA & Platform Harmonization

• Digital Manufacturing & Industry 4.0

• Governance, Compliance & Cyber Resilience

• International Organizational Leadership

• Sourcing & Location Strategies

• Overall responsibility for strategy, governance, budget, and operations of the global IT function with an annual budget of approximately €45 million and an international team of about 95 employees across all locations.

• Direct reporting line to the executive management and close strategic coordination with the CFO and COO.

• Realigned a historically decentralized IT landscape of 28 legally independent entities and separate budget and control logics into a centrally managed, internationally standardized operating model.

• Introduced transparent governance, reporting, and financial structures with clear separation and active management of CapEx and OpEx budgets at the corporate level.

• Established group-wide IT financial and performance management with clear investment prioritization, transparent CapEx/OpEx structure, and active portfolio governance to sustainably enhance decision-making at the executive level.

• By consistently centralizing, standardizing, and harmonizing platforms (including global rollout of SAP S/4HANA), structural complexity was significantly reduced.

• IT cost base was sustainably cut by about 15% while significantly improving performance and service levels and increasing transparency and control for executive management and leadership.

• At the same time, strategically expanded the production IT architecture in the context of Industry 4.0 by integrating MES and IoT systems in OEM-related, safety-critical production environments and building audit-ready governance and security structures while meeting regulatory requirements (e.g., automotive standards, TISAX-like frameworks, global compliance rules).

• Maintained strict focus on strategically relevant initiatives by clearing parallel projects, reducing redundant structures, and establishing clear responsibilities to noticeably increase speed, commitment, and execution power in the organization.

• High international presence with operational responsibility at production sites and an active role as a strategic sparring partner to the executive management.

• Established and developed the IT organization in the DACH region (including Poland and the Balkans)
• Directly reporting to the CTO, handling various special tasks (e.g., GDPR, communication with the works council, data protection support and CISO)
• 9 years of disciplinary and technical leadership of project management teams (internal and external clients) and software development in the DACH region
• 4 years of disciplinary and technical leadership of the IT Service Desk for the DACH region (1st level)
• Defined strategy and developed roadmaps in collaboration with the CTO (infrastructure renewal, digitalization, security, BCM)
• Derived projects from the roadmap, prioritized, planned and executed them
• Team leadership (managing project teams up to 50 people; disciplinary and technical leadership of 12 people)
• Data center build/relocation (one build, three relocations/mergers)
• GDPR implementation (initial registration, maintenance process, procedure directories)
• Managed ISO27001 initial certification and two recertifications (ITSM, IT processes, hardware and software inventory, development guidelines)
• Established and took responsibility for IT requirements management
• Responsible as system owner for in-house developments (automation platform, tracking and security tools)
• Process analysis (gathering, alignment, analysis, improvement, design)
• 6 months as interim CTO (due to the CTO's illness)

• Responsibility for IT infrastructure across 8 sites, 2,500 users, 80 systems, 8,000 assets
• Responsibility for IT/non-IT procurement with €18M annual budget
• Central service provider management, digitalization of contracts and procurement
• Project management for scanning solution, site integration, MS SharePoint
• Leadership of 18 FTE across 3 teams
• Agile leadership in implementation of Digital Office and Digital Coach

• Advanced to directly report to C-level and lead the €1.5M budget with AWS, utilizing S3, EC2, and RDS services to run 21 accounts, 5 OUs, and 3 PB of data by architecting the AWS environment and monitoring KPIs.
• Led a strategic cloud migration from legacy systems to AWS, reducing data center costs by 42% annually. Designed and executed the transition plan, including refactoring and rehosting operations, ensuring system compatibility, and optimizing infrastructure connectivity.
• Reduced external firewall costs by €204k per month by eliminating the external service provider and bringing the function in-house, advertising on LinkedIn, screening candidates and leading the interviews.
• Lowered mobile phone costs from €276k to €60k for 300 users on 2-year contracts by negotiating better tariffs with Vodafone, removing unnecessary services for each user and standardizing across all countries.
• Saved €45k per annum by eliminating infrastructure and external IT consultancy costs in Zug, Belgrade, Berlin and Boston by reviewing the services, conducting a risk assessment and building an in-house team.
• Increased payment terms from 30 to 180 days with the four main suppliers which generated an additional €280k per month into the business by persuading them to support the company during a difficult period.

Migration from Exchange 2016 to Exchange 2019 and Exchange Online, as well as the introduction of a backup solution and an archiving solution. The goal was to securely modernize the email and archiving infrastructure in compliance with legal requirements and ensure high performance.

Responsibilities as IT PROJECT MANAGER: Overall project management and operational coordination / Ensuring compliance with budget and resource limits / Ensuring project objectives are met / Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and policies, including ISMS, ITIL, and data protection requirements / Preparing and presenting management reports for the project sponsor and steering committee / Coordinating cross-functional teams across Exchange, network, data protection, and IT security / Planning and carrying out the migration from Exchange 2016 to Exchange 2019 / Planning and carrying out the migration from Exchange 2019 to Exchange Online / Planning and introducing a backup solution for Exchange Online / Coordinating an EU-wide tender for an archiving solution, including market research with potential suppliers / Planning and introducing an archiving solution for Exchange Online / Coordinating and preparing the BAS notices required for the project / Coordinating and aligning with stakeholders (for example, business units, external service providers, and suppliers) to define requirements and deliver solutions

Technical environment: MS Exchange 2016, MS Exchange 2019, MS Exchange Online, MSOffice, MS Planner, MS Powerpoint, MS Project, MS Teams, CodeTwo, Hornet Security