Technical Product Owner in Germany

I support the development of an industrial automation and communication product in which hardware, firmware, embedded software, system architecture, and testing work closely together. As a coach and technical sparring partner, I support product and project owners as well as development teams in turning product goals into a clear technical delivery structure.

• Technical Vision & Strategy: translated product goals into prioritized requirements, milestones, decisions, and executable work packages for HW-/SW teams.
• HW-/SW Collaboration: structured the interfaces between hardware, firmware, Embedded Linux/RTOS, fieldbus/connectivity, system test, and product management; made risks and dependencies transparent.
• Coaching & Leadership Sparring: clarified roles, responsibilities, prioritization, and decision paths with technical leads and teams and strengthened cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Methods & environment: Polarion, GitHub, requirements engineering, configuration management, PROFINET, embedded systems, agile delivery, coaching, and facilitation.

Digitalization of real-world locations using 3D/LiDAR scans to make spatial data usable for AI applications and derive concrete use cases and prototypes from it.

• Digital capture of real-world locations as a basis for faster planning and analysis
• Browser-based access to 3D data for easier use and coordination
• Conversion of spatial data into concrete use cases, prototypes and AI training scenarios
• Planning basis for urban development and other digital applications of the future

Keywords: LiDAR, 3D scan, AI, use cases, AI training, prototyping, Python, web development, data models, architecture

• LLM-based features for automated CO₂e data extraction from unstructured documents (70% reduction)

• Agentic AI pipeline for automated Scope 3 emissions calculation with 150,000+ validated data records

• Smart API workflows for real-time carbon footprint calculations in ERP and ESG systems

• ML algorithms to predict emission hotspots and optimize product design

• Automated data validation pipelines with NLP for quality assurance of CO₂e datasets

• Led a 15-person cross-functional team to develop 10+ AI features

• Strategic product planning and AI roadmap with 35% shorter time to market

• Stakeholder management with DAX companies (40% higher satisfaction, 95% retention)

• On-time project delivery with 95% budget adherence through data-driven backlog management

• Agile methods (Scrum, Kanban) with continuous AI/ML integration (25% team velocity increase)

• Product-market fit for AI features through A/B testing and analytics (60% higher adoption rate)

Workflow-automation SaaS for operations teams (Berlin, 120 people); full-time freelance engagement reporting to the CEO: an initial 12-month interim mandate, extended twice through the AI build-out; owned product for one squad and coached the other product managers on process.

• Led generative AI (LLM) integration into the core product: from LLM-powered steps to natural-language workflow authoring and step-level automation suggestions, plus AI-managed dynamic workflows, shipped behind eval gates with human-in-the-loop fallbacks: AI-drafted workflows grew to 31% of all new workflows, and median time-to-first-workflow fell from 3 days to 4 hours.
• Packaged the AI capabilities as a usage-based add-on priced on executed automation steps, working with sales and marketing on positioning: ~€800K added ARR in the first year, and adopting accounts churned 1.8 pp less.
• Owned the roadmap end to end: replaced feature-request-driven quarterly planning with an outcome-based rolling roadmap built on quarterly bets and explicit kill criteria, presented monthly to the executive team and quarterly to the board.
• Rebuilt the product-management operating system: weekly customer-discovery cadence incl. workshop facilitation, RFC/decision-doc reviews and a single quarterly metrics narrative; coached four product managers, one promoted to senior during the engagement.
• Closed the engagement as scoped: hired and onboarded the permanent VP Product, handed over the process playbook and roadmap, and exited on schedule in June 2026.

• Advising clients on digital transformation, IT architecture and the introduction of cloud-based environments.
• Gathering, evaluating and prioritizing customer requirements, as well as coordinating projects and programs based on scope, time, quality, budget and risk.
• Designing, documenting, maintaining and developing IT environments, automation and containerized applications.
• Implementing digital platforms, including e-commerce and ordering solutions, event platforms and the product concept for a legal-tech platform.
• Working in interdisciplinary teams and communicating effectively between clients, service providers and technical stakeholders.
• She accompanied companies in their transformation into the digital and agile working world, whether in business process or IT architecture consulting or as part of managed services.
• She developed individual strategies for the digital transformation of our customers and designed new IT environments in the cloud.
• As part of demand management, she gathered, evaluated and prioritized customer requirements.
• She worked in project and program management and coordinated our service providers and those of our customers, monitored their own projects in terms of scope, time, quality and budget and kept an eye on the associated risks.
• She led projects successfully to the end and ensured a professional transfer to regular operation.
• Ms. Sara Mussie has an exceptional understanding of the structure and optimization of IT infrastructures and various cloud technologies as well as modern IT architectures.
• Her areas of responsibility were the development of solutions, considering the service strategy and the possibility of automation, working on design and architecture documentation for projects and services, as well as working on the structure, maintenance and development of IT environments, automation and related tools for our microservice environment and containerized application.
• She was involved in improving our processes and the tool chain used.
• She is confident in handling common IT processes and IT standards.
• Ms. Sara Mussie has very good knowledge of PHP, PHP OOP, Laravel, MySQL, VueIs | Vuex, HTML | CSS | JS, Bootstrap, MongoDB, NodeIs and Python.
• To this day, Ms. Sara Mussie remains available to us for consultation requests from specific clients.

• Responsible for further developing the web shop with focus on stability, security, and scalability
• Support the business in creating and evaluating requirements
• Technology: SAP Commerce Cloud, Adobe Experience Manager CMS (AEM), Solr Search, Adyen Payment Service Provider
• Tools: Confluence, Jira, Miro, ServiceNow

As a freelance employee / independent consultant, I supported a wide range of development projects and advised clients on digital innovation initiatives. A common role was acting as project manager / product owner at the interface between the client and the development team.

• Product Consulting — (Fractional) Product Owner, Freelance Product Management
• AI Services — AI consulting, training, vibe coding / agentic engineering, AI agents
• Tech Services — full-stack web development, design/UX, MVP delivery.

Two complementary tracks: (a) building my own AI products and open-source tools under the Neckarshore AI brand, with a focus on AI-supported multi-agent development processes and documentation automation; (b) freelance support for industrial, logistics, and financial companies in IT-related transformation projects.

Current product portfolio under the Neckarshore AI brand:

• Omnopsis Documenter — AI-powered documentation engine: generates compliance, technical, and release documentation from Git, Jira, and Confluence. 500+ automated tests, 100+ API endpoints, RBAC, monitoring stack.
• TrustScope — trust analysis for public GitHub repos: deterministic three-pillar report (Security & Supply Chain, Governance, Community) based on OpenSSF Scorecard, with constructive fix suggestions instead of a single misleading score.
• md-viewer — dependency-free Markdown viewer for macOS (Finder Quick Action) and web, split view of rendered document and raw text.
• Obsidian Vault Autopilot — AI-supported vault automation for Obsidian × Claude Code: sorts the inbox, renames notes, enriches frontmatter.
• Phonesis Voice Bank — voice archive for families, hospices, and cultural archives (guided recordings, inheritable archive, optional voice cloning); currently in the GDPR compliance phase (Art. 9, biometric data).
• Multi-Agent Development Process — 12+ specialized agents (architecture, implementation, security, refactoring, marketing) with structured handoff protocol, parallel execution, and automated quality assurance — powers the entire product development.
• Freelance consulting: Technical Product Ownership for production, logistics, and compliance/AML systems; steering international rollouts including test, cutover, and change management.

Stack: NestJS, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Redis/BullMQ, Next.js, Claude Code (Opus), Docker, GitHub Actions, Vercel

Conceptual design and implementation of a modular customer portal based on Laravel.

The focus was on defining a maintainable system architecture with broad use of Domain-Driven Design principles (within the Laravel architecture), introducing automated quality assurance processes (test strategy, CI integration), and preparing an auditable operation (logging, traceability of changes) in an AWS-based infrastructure, taking IT security standards according to NIST and process requirements according to ISO 9001 into account.

Achievements:

• Analysis and structuring of business requirements in close coordination with stakeholders
• Documentation of the system architecture and infrastructure incl. change and release management
• Design and implementation of an interface for integrating SAP systems
• Planning and implementation of automated tests for quality assurance
• Implementation of security and compliance requirements, including SBOM generation, software license management, and QA processes
• Technical consulting and support for the internal IT team
• Introduction and establishment of AI-supported development processes (Spec-Driven Development), including AI-readable specifications, integration of AI instructions into the development environment, and training developers for productive use

Technologies and tools: SAP, Docker, ddev, PHP 8.4, Laravel, Filament, C4 Model, Architecture Decision Records (ADR), Mermaid, PlantUML, Spec-Driven Development, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Codex

BAFA consulting and project support for the introduction of AI solutions and AI agents.

• Analysis of existing business and customer service processes and identification of automation potential
• Design of AI-supported processes and agents for communication, support, and internal operations
• Gathering and structuring requirements with the company’s contacts
• Planning implementation and coordinating between the client, consulting, and development teams
• Consulting on the integration of AI into existing workflows and systems
• Development of use cases and prioritization based on value and implementation effort
• Support with testing, adjustments, and the rollout of solutions
• Consulting on data protection, process design, and the use of AI within the company

Methods/Technologies: AI agents, on-premises LLM, RAG, prompt engineering, process automation, API integrations, n8n, project management.

• Strategic consulting and implementation of AI-supported automation solutions for service processes (email communication, document handling, review processing, voice agents)
• Technical orchestration using n8n (workflow automation), Claude and ChatGPT (LLMs), as well as custom API integrations into existing enterprise tools
• Measurable customer results: response times reduced from hours to minutes, 8 fewer hours of invoice processing per week, 75% fewer routine calls
• Assessment of regulatory requirements (GDPR, compliance) as part of customer consulting
• Technical Product Ownership (backlog, roadmap, prioritization)
• Formal contracting vehicle for freelance assignments, including 1&1 Telecommunications
• Building & scaling enterprise AI platforms

• Building an independent enterprise IT setup — cloud strategy, network, AWS landing zone, security requirements, contract negotiations.
• Migration of all applications; avoiding high contractual penalties for the client.
• Onboarding and coordination o...

• Created product roadmaps from conception to launch
• Led the successful delivery of a cross-functional program valued at €3.5 million per year
• Managed and prioritized the product backlog
• Specified requirements from different stakeholders and led design discussions
• Led the exploration, refinement, design, development, and operation of the product using agile methods and drove the overall vision and direction
• Worked closely with delivery teams and cross-functional partners (Business units, Software Engineering, UX, Domain Management)
• Developed and executed risk assessment, prevention, and mitigation plans; identified, tracked, and resolved issues
• Established program governance to manage requirements in line with scope, time, schedule, cost, and business objectives
• Acted as single point of contact for internal organization, customer, and partner to foster collaboration and decision-making

Achievements:

• Increased online reach of knowledge and efficiency in CIC
• Rolled out Salesforce Central Knowledge Mgmt. in 30 BMW markets for Selfcare and Assisted Care
• Improved performance and individuality of knowledge through GenAI integration in self-care and assisted care
• Reduced call costs, shortened call durations, and decreased follow-ups, lowering operational costs
• Rolled out GenAI solution in 20 BMW markets for Selfcare and Assisted Care

Technology/Tooling: Salesforce Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Knowledge Base, Einstein GPT, Mulesoft, Adobe Analytics, BMW GenAI Platform, Jira, Confluence, GitHub, Jenkins, AWS, CI/CD

• Conceptualizing, planning, and managing the project to introduce agile project structures
• Business analysis: construction site safety documents
• Requirements management
• Owning, structuring, and prioritizing the product backlog
• Leading Scrum meetings
• Planning and overseeing integration and migration cycles
• Owning the business test management
• Planning change management
• Using Azure DevOps, Figma, Planview, Draw.io, internal systems, MS Office suite, PowerPoint