Heads of IT in Germany

Agile Transformation: introducing agile principles and transforming traditional IT departments into Scrum and Kanban teams

IT Operating Model: redesigning the IT organization and introducing modern delivery structures and roles

Flight Levels: building up Flight Levels practices within IT to align strategy, coordination and operational execution

Leadership & Coaching: recruiting Agile Coaches and coaching Scrum Masters and IT leaders

ERP Operations: acting as Interim Product Owner for the existing ERP landscape and ensuring business continuity

ERP Transformation: reorganizing and supporting the ERP migration as a Project Manager; Phase 1 (financial accounting) live since October 2025

Operational Core (ERP): establishing dedicated teams for ERP Support, Feature Development, and ERP Migration

Modern Workplace: initiating the transition towards a Microsoft 365-based cloud workplace environment

Integration: establishing a dedicated team to drive integration and connectivity initiatives

Warehouse Operations: building a cross-functional team to support logistics and warehouse-related capabilities

Maintenance & Operations (M&O): introducing a dedicated team for system engineering, security, stable operations and continuous improvement

AI Initiatives: identifying and promoting practical Artificial Intelligence use cases across the IT department

As Interim Head of IT for a German medium-sized industrial distributor, I am responsible for 31 IT employees and lead the digital and organizational transformation, reporting directly to executive leadership. I took over an IT department with almost no basic structures – no clear roles, processes, documentation or ticket system – and with significant technical debt that tied up most of its capacity. Introduced agile principles and ways of working in the IT organization and transformed the traditionally structured IT department into cross-functional Scrum and Kanban teams focused on transparency, collaboration, and customer value delivery.

Redesigned the entire IT organization by establishing a modern operating model, introducing new roles such as Product Owner, Scrum Master and Solution Architect and strengthening the organization through strategic hiring and targeted capability development. Recruited and onboarded Agile Coaches to accelerate the transformation and personally managed and coached Scrum Masters as well as IT department leaders to foster servant leadership, self-management and a culture of continuous improvement.

Aligned IT-internal planning across eight teams to three Flight Levels based on Klaus Leopold (strategy, coordination, team), laying the foundation for later company-wide portfolio management. Consolidated the backlog of more than 10 workstreams and prioritized it by business value and cost of delay. Introduced a ticketing system to increase transparency and enable data-driven decision-making, flow-based work management, and greater accountability at all levels.

Established and supported multiple cross-functional teams, including the Operational Core (ERP) domain with dedicated streams for Support, Feature Development and ERP Migration, as well as teams responsible for Warehouse Operations, Maintenance & Operations (M&O) including system engineering and security, Modern Workplace, Data Quality and integration initiatives. Worked closely with Agile Coaches to support team development, remove impediments, and continuously improve delivery effectiveness.

Acted as Interim Product Owner for the operation and enhancement of the existing ERP landscape while supporting the ERP migration as a Project Manager. Reorganized the project organization and had the already negotiated contract with the implementation partner realigned with a focus on approach and overall responsibility; Phase 1 (financial accounting) has been live since October 2025. Collaborated with the selected implementation partner to design and establish the project organization and target operating model for the ERP transformation, introducing agile delivery structures and ways of working. Facilitated the alignment between business, IT and the external vendor and played a key role in negotiating the contractual framework and delivery model to ensure a sustainable foundation for the transformation program.

Initiated the strategic modernization of the workplace environment through the adoption of Microsoft 365 cloud capabilities, establishing the foundation for enhanced collaboration, scalability and future digital services.

Launched AI initiatives to identify practical business use cases and promote the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence across the IT department. Encouraged self-management and empowered teams to take ownership of decisions, delivery and continuous improvement.

• Project management for customer projects
• Requirements analysis
• Product Owner

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).

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

• Guided a large-scale agile transformation, improving team agility, DevOps adoption, and cloud readiness.
• Supported DevOps & CI/CD practices to optimize cloud deployment strategies and reduce time-to-market.
• Led agile coaching initiatives to enhance cross-functional collaboration between IT and business teams.
• designed agile governance structures to align executive leadership with cloud and digital transformation goals.
• Technologies & Frameworks: Agile (Scrum, SAFe), DevOps, Cloud Adoption, IT Governance, CI/CD, Change Management

• 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.

• Software packaging and distribution with SCCM/MECM
• Application responsibility and support (50–100 applications)
• Documentation via ticket system
• User management via AD console
• Software updates and distribution
• Maintenance and updating of software packages
• Customizing scripts with PowerShell
• Rolling out and implementing new software
• Supporting IT security and compliance

Tools and software: Confluence, M365, Active Directory, Intune, Endpoint Management, SCCM/MECM, PowerShell, VMware Hardware: Lenovo, Cherry, Plantronics, Jabra + peripherals

• 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.

• Responsible for IT strategy and operational IT governance in the D-A-CH region, covering infrastructure, applications, operations, security, and support
• Developed and implemented a strategic IT transformation to improve scalability, efficiency, and security of IT systems
• Managed a team of 25 specialists and coordinated with global and regional IT stakeholders
• Deployed a centralized IT service model for 250+ sites to standardize and optimize processes
• Supported and technically executed a carve-out to ensure business continuity
• Introduced modern cloud technologies and automation solutions to optimize processes
• Ensured compliance with ISO 27001, GDPR, and ITIL standards to minimize security risks
• Reduced IT costs by 20% through cloud migration and IT consolidation
• Built and led a high-performing IT team with focus on innovation and service orientation
• Led IT transformation projects including ERP migration, IT security, and digitalization
• Improved IT security level by implementing ISO 27001 and GDPR-compliant processes
• Optimized service times by 30% through AI-powered process automation

• IT Strategy & Leadership: Develop and execute a forward-looking IT strategy aligned with business objectives, ensuring the adoption of emerging technologies to drive efficiency, innovation, and long-term scalability across all internal IT domains.
• IT Infrastructure & Operations: Oversee the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of a secure, scalable, and high-performance IT infrastructure, enabling business growth and operational stability in a dynamic, international environment.
• Cybersecurity & Compliance: Establish and maintain robust IT security frameworks, policies, and technical controls to safeguard company assets and data, ensuring full compliance with industry regulations and standards.
• Cloud Architecture & Operations: Design, implement, and optimize cloud strategies using platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS, ensuring cost-efficiency, performance, and alignment with business needs across hybrid and cloud-native environments.
• Team Leadership & Development: Build, lead, and empower a high-performing IT team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across all internal IT areas including ITSM and Development and DevOps.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Collaborate cross-functionally with internal stakeholders and external technology partners to ensure efficient IT service delivery, seamless project execution, and cost-effective vendor management.
• Digital Transformation & Automation: Champion digital transformation by introducing automation and cloud-first strategies, modernizing legacy systems, and optimizing internal IT processes to increase agility and scalability.
• Application Management: Lead the implementation, integration, and lifecycle management of Enterprise Applications, ensuring a seamless, secure, and user-centric application landscape.
• Budget & Cost Control: Manage the IT budget with precision, ensuring transparent cost control while supporting strategic investments that align with business priorities and future growth.

• New IT strategy and organizational model combined with the introduction of IT service management and SAP S/4 preliminary study
• Significant cost optimization in the areas of operating, license and outsourcing costs
• Implementation of an IT security strategy according to ISO 27001 and NIS-2