
COBOL Experts in Germany
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Meet FRATCH Experts in Germany, who have recently used COBOL
Silvia B.
Last position:
Business Consultant - Product Management Banking at Aareal Bank AG
- Focus on optimizing and further developing the internal customer EBICS application
- Functional and technical consulting for Aareal First Financial Solutions AG on EBICS standard products and applications in the areas of operations and further development, as well as project-related communication with external development partners and the product manufacturer to implement the corresponding technical optimizations
- As the functional coordinator, providing advice on content-related and regulatory requirements as well as technical prerequisites and requirements, and bringing these together at the functional level
- Consulting on the use of EBICS formats
- Reviewing the current EBICS standard for optimization and further development potential
- Analyzing the current state to identify development potential and deriving appropriate recommendations for action while considering regulatory requirements
- Conducting EBICS tests throughout the project
- Functional responsibility for requirements management and, in this context, recording and documenting requirements for such tests
- Designing a functional and sustainable test management system
- Conducting and evaluating tests
- Consulting on sustainable quality assurance and audits
- Project language: German and English
- Tools/Methods: MS Project, MS Office, MS Visio, TestRail, Confluence, Jira, Business Logics Bankkrecher, Business Logics Test Data Generator, Business Logics Banking Tool, Business Logics Test System, DBEAVER, Squirrel, Unix Virtual Machines, WinSCP, Kitty, Putty, various Aareal Bank products, Online Banking Portal, Aareal Sign, core banking system, SAP Blue Eagle, SAP RE-FX, Aareon Wodis Sigma, Haufe Real Estate Wowinex, GAP Group Immotion, UTS Karthago, SAP IS-U/Waste, SIV kVASy, various EBICS clients
Wolfgang O.
Last position:
Project Manager at EnBW - Netze Südwest
- New development and further development of the existing MS Dynamics CRM
IT systems: Microsoft Dynamics Customer Service, SharePoint, DevOps, SAP IS-U
- CRM implementation / further development
- Taking over from the previous service provider
- Business process analysis
- Agile project organization
- Business analysis / requirements engineering with AI support
- Use of AI in development
- Analysis of master data processes
- CRM customer data management
- Requirements documentation
- Stakeholder management
- Workshop moderation
Collin K.
Last position:
Software Architect / Fullstack Developer at Equity Bytes
Built an international e-commerce platform for a multi-vendor marketplace for digital assets from scratch. Designed and operated cloud native architectures at enterprise scale.
- Designed and operated a highly scalable microservice and serverless architecture
- Built the complete cloud infrastructure with Terraform + AWS CDK in AWS
- Provisioned ECS/EKS clusters (Fargate), Application Load Balancers (reverse proxy), and Lambda functions
- Observability & tracing with CloudWatch, DataDog, Prometheus, and Grafana
- End-to-end setup with DataDog (formerly AWS CloudWatch), Prometheus, and custom Grafana dashboards
- Integration of advanced metrics (including ORM mapper) and distributed tracing with Jaeger
- Robust backup and disaster recovery strategies
- RDS Postgres backups and hourly snapshots
- Read-only, asynchronously synchronized replicas with automated master failover in emergencies
- Minute-level rollback capability through versioned Docker images on ECS and Git-based CI/CD pipelines
- Created CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions for automated multi-stage deployments (Dev, Testing, Prod)
- Integrated Stripe for international payment processing
- Built a marketplace payment system with multiple parties and payout routines
- Used Algolia for high-performance real-time search of digital assets on the platform
- Federation of services with GraphQL and Hasura
- Later migration to GraphQL Mesh
- Test Driven Development (TDD) - unit, integration, and E2E testing with Jest, Vitest, and Playwright
- Used Next.js / React for modern frontend applications in the nx monorepo
- Enterprise security architecture & access control
- Integration of JWT tokens with Auth0, OAuth, OIDC, IP guards, BOLA protection, and secret vaults
- Authorization concepts with RBAC, ABAC, and native Postgres Row-Level Security (RLS)
- Built internal microfrontends with Retool for fast prototyping and operational business processes
Technologies: ABAC, AWS CDK, AWS CloudWatch, AWS ECS, AWS EKS, AWS Fargate, AWS RDS, AWS S3, Algolia, Auth0, DataDog, Docker, GitHub Actions, Grafana, GraphQL, GraphQL Mesh, Hasura, JWT, Jaeger, Java, JavaScript, Jest, Kotlin, Kubernetes, Monorepo, Next.js, OIDC, Playwright, Postgres, Postgres RLS, Prometheus, RBAC, Redis, Retool, Serverless, Stripe, Terraform, TypeScript, Vitest
Hans-Dieter G.
Last position:
Training as an AI Expert
I continuously expand my expertise in AI and automation. I work with ChatGPT, OpenAI, Manus, Gemini, MS CoPilot, APIs, LangChain, Hugging Face, Manus, TensorFlow, and Auto-GPT, as well as Python-based ML frameworks and MLOps tools, to intelligently transform traditional software development, analysis, and testing processes.
Tobias R.
Last position:
M&A IT Project Manager / Cross-functional Technical and Integration Manager at Sandoz AG
- Worked for several M&A projects (Eire, Sunshine C, Coral) in the role of IT project manager and cross-functional technical manager / integration manager.
- Preparation and maintenance of project charters, project change requests and project plans.
- Weekly project status report.
- Preparation of decision papers and steering committee slidedecks.
- Risk & issue management.
- Tracking and managing activities, dependencies and deliverables across all functional IT domains.
- Data migration (planning and execution).
Christian R.
Last position:
Project Manager, Outlook and Teams Rollout at BWI
- Gathering information
- Creating rollout wave concepts
- Coordinating employees
- Monitoring and managing activities
- Project management including analysis and reporting to the board
- Creating instructions and specifications
- Training floorwalkers
- Supporting the rollout on site
- VIP support
- Introducing SharePoint
Robert K.
Last position:
Interim Manager | Group Leader in the IT Operations & Digitalization Division "Databases, Operations & Support" (DOS) at Landwirtschaftliche RentenBank
- Technical leadership and further development of a team of 28 IT staff (internal & external) in the areas HelpDesk/HelpLine, RHEL (Red Hat), MUREX (trading system & applications), SAP basis operations
- Managing external service providers (including FI-TS for SAP basis operations)
- Personnel, resource and budget planning for the IT department and projects
- Introducing and establishing regular communication formats (weekly status meetings, team and cross-department meetings)
- Ensuring application operations in a hybrid environment (Windows/Linux with database and web/application servers)
- Supporting transformation projects to modernize the application landscape (e.g. DevOps approaches)
- Setting up and implementing a digital IT procurement for hardware & software (e.g. with DELL)
- Developing and managing the "IT Operations DOS" department based on corporate strategy
- Preparing management reports & decision papers on IT projects, optimization potential and automation opportunities
- Representing the department in the advisory boards of the Rentenbank and ensuring regulatory compliance (BaFin §44, GDPR, BSI, MaRisk)
Carsten R.
Last position:
Enterprise Product Owner at opta data IT GmbH
- Product responsibility for the central platform "one" as a group-wide web-based customer portal
- Coordination of the connection of 20 group companies to the product platform
- Derivation and steering of a group-wide product strategy and roadmap aligned with company goals
- Prioritization and bundling of strategic requirements from the various group companies
- Harmonization of different interests and moderation of complex decision-making processes at management level
- Ensuring the technical and business integration of the product into existing system landscapes, business processes, and business models
- Building transparent governance and decision-making structures for group-wide product development
- Representation of the product towards internal and external stakeholders at leadership level
Olaf K.
Last position:
CIO Advisor・IT Strategy・Tech/IT Due Diligence・Enterprise Architecture・IT Governance・AI Transformation・ex-BCG Platinion at Kiese IT
- -- ENGLISH Version (Deutsche Version unten) ---
Experience
- Ex-BCG Platinion: 14 years as Manager & Chief IT Architect, leading large-scale IT transformations in complex group structures
- 20+ years of C-level consulting across AI/IT strategy, enterprise architecture, IT organization, transformation, M&A due diligence, project recovery, and interim management
- IT leadership experience with cross-functional, intercultural teams of up to 100+ people
- Hands-on background in software engineering, IT architecture, and project management
- Fortune Europe 500 focus; numerous international projects; SME and start-up experience
Core services:
- IT strategy, enterprise architecture (EAM), target architectures and roadmaps
- PE/M&A/carve-out IT/tech due diligence, asset valuation, cost estimation
- GenAI transformation, process automation, and AI governance
- IT reorganization, target operating model (TOM), agile transformation
- IT governance, development and ITSM process optimization (BizDevOps, SAFe)
- Review and recovery of critical large-scale IT programs
- Planning and steering of transformation programs and IT project portfolios
- IT vendor and platform selection (RfI / RfP)
- Coaching & Interim management
Industries (selection): Insurance, financial services & banking, energy & utilities, telecommunications, retail & consumer goods, logistics, media, industry & engineering, healthcare, professional services
Projects (selection):
M&A Buy-side IT/Tech Due Diligence of an Acquisition in the Energy Sector (Utility, Smart Home) — AI-augmented with Anthropic Claude
AI Initiative for LLM-Based Optimisation and Automation of Sales and Billing Processes
Interim management Enterprise Architecture & group target architecture/roadmap development (METRO)
Reorganization: Design and introduction of agile IT target operating model at international wholesale group (METRO)
Design and implementation of agile BizDevOps target operating model (E.ON Grid Solutions)
Platform/vendor selection for renewal of core insurance solution of start-up (ELEMENT Insurance)
Establishment of project assurance capability and review/recovery of critical transformation projects (ERGO)
Enterprise architecture management and development of divisional/solution architectures (Deutsche Post DHL)
Strategic pricing architecture decisions in digital sales application landscape (E.ON Energie)
IT due diligence: Architecture evaluation and monetary valuation of IT assets (ProSiebenSAT.1 Media)
Interim management of group-wide security/compliance programme (ERGO)
Enabling an application landscape for different sales organizations and product structures (E.ON Energie)
Realignment of business/IT strategy and InsurTech platform selection (RfI, RfP) (nexible, ERGO Digital Ventures)
Stabilization/optimization of an agile/SAFe business/IT DevOps landscape transformation (Lufthansa AirPlus)
Process optimization and design/management of digitization and robotics introduction in power plants (RWE Nuclear)
BSS target architecture development for fixed/mobile networks convergence (Deutsche Telekom)
Optimization of IT organization model and methodology in application development and testing (Deutsche Telekom)
Evaluation of fulfillment of a general contractor agreement for run-off/migration of contract portfolios (ERGO)
-- DEUTSCHE Version (English version above) ---
Experience
- Ex-BCG Platinion: 14 years of strategy and implementation of large-scale IT transformations in complex corporate structures (Manager & Chief IT Architect)
- 20+ years of C-level-adjacent IT consulting: IT strategy, enterprise architecture, IT organization, transformation, due diligence, project recovery, and interim management
- IT leadership responsibility for cross-functional, intercultural teams of up to 100+ people
- Solid hands-on experience in software development, IT architecture, and project management
- Focus on Fortune Europe 500, numerous international projects; SME and start-up experience
Industries: insurance · financial services & banking · energy · telecommunications · retail & consumer goods · industry & engineering · logistics · media · healthcare
Services (focus areas):
- IT strategy, enterprise architecture (EAM), IT landscape target visions and roadmaps
- M&A/carve-out IT/tech due diligence, asset valuation, and cost estimation
- GenAI transformation, process automation, and AI governance
- IT reorganization, target operating model (TOM), agile transformation
- IT governance, development and ITSM processes (BizDevOps, SAFe)
- Review and recovery of critical large-scale IT projects
- Planning/steering of transformation programs and IT project portfolios
- IT service provider/platform selection (RfI, RfP)
- IT project management (agile, classic, hybrid)
- Coaching & interim management
Projects (selection):
- M&A buyer-side IT/tech due diligence of an acquisition in the energy sector (utility, smart home) — AI-augmented with Anthropic Claude
- AI initiative for LLM-supported optimization and automation of sales and billing processes
- Interim management of Enterprise Architecture and development of group target architecture in wholesale (METRO)
- Reorganization: design and introduction of an agile IT target operating model (TOM) at an international wholesale group (METRO)
- IT reorganization: introduction of an agile BizDevOps target operating model (TOM) at an energy group (E.ON Grid Solutions)
- Platform selection / vendor selection for renewal of the core insurance solution of a B2B2C start-up (ELEMENT Insurance)
- Process optimization, digitalization, and introduction of robotics in power plants (RWE Nuclear)
- Assessment of fulfillment of a general contractor agreement for run-off/migration of life insurance portfolios (ERGO)
- Business/IT strategy and InsurTech platform selection for a digital insurer/start-up (nexible, ERGO Digital Ventures)
- Enabling an energy application landscape for multiple sales units (E.ON Energie)
- Strategic architecture decisions in price management of a digital sales application landscape at an energy group (E.ON Energie)
- Stabilization/optimization of an agile DevOps IT transformation in business travel and payment management (Lufthansa AirPlus)
- Interim management in a group-wide security and compliance program of a global insurer (ERGO)
- Building project assurance capability as well as review and optimization/recovery of critical IT projects in an insurance group (ERGO)
- Building enterprise architecture management and development of domain and solution architectures for a logistics group (Deutsche Post DHL)
- M&A IT due diligence – evaluation and valuation of IT assets in the media sector (ProSiebenSAT.1 Media)
- Development of BSS target architecture and roadmap for fixed/mobile convergence (Deutsche Telekom)
- Optimization of IT governance/organization and methodology in application development and testing at a telecommunications group (Deutsche Telekom)
Wadim L.
Last position:
Fullstack Developer at dripwear.app
Development of an iOS app for virtual try-on and outfit suggestions
The goal of the project is to develop a mobile application for personalized, photorealistic outfit suggestions. Users should be able to upload their own photos, try on clothes virtually, and find products that can be bought directly in the generated suggestions.
- Planning and implementation of the onboarding and photo upload in the iOS app
- Development of the mobile application with Expo and React Native
- Implementation of a Hono/Node.js backend for user, product, and generation processes
- Building an asynchronous processing pipeline with BullMQ and Redis
- Connection of PostgreSQL/pgvector and S3 for product, image, and generation data
- Integration of Gemini and OpenAI for outfit generation and image processing
- Implementation of a credit system and integration of RevenueCat
- Integration of Stripe Connect and affiliate product feeds for products that can be bought directly
Label: TypeScript, React Native, Expo, Hono, Node.js, PostgreSQL/pgvector, BullMQ, Redis, S3, Gemini, OpenAI, RevenueCat, Stripe Connect, Docker
Michael K.
Last position:
Enterprise Architect, Lead Architect of the transformation program and coach at Swiss Ministry
- Development of the overall architecture
- Support for the respective workstreams in developing architectures in the areas of infrastructure, data centers, security, and network topology
- Management of the architect pool
- Support for program management in setting up the transformation project based on agile methods
- Consideration of regulatory requirements for IT projects in the federal administration
Tezcan D.
Last position:
Solution Architect / Project Manager at German Football Association
- Overall responsibility for the project lifecycle from scope definition to completion
- Close collaboration with platform teams, IT leaders, and external service providers
- Application of SAFe principles and structured sprint work
- Creation of a migration roadmap with clear milestones
- Monitoring of the lifecycle: onboarding, repository migration, replication of permissions, and system tests
- Visualization of the architecture with PlantUML and Gliffy as well as documentation in Confluence
- Regular status reports and running knowledge transfer sessions
Diego E.
Last position:
RPG Software Developer from RPG III to Free Format
- Development of software and system support for RPG development.
- Development, optimization and maintenance of programs in RPG (RPG II to ILE Free Format).
- Performing integration tasks, data management as well as applying and managing system updates.
- User support and training to ensure smooth system operation.
Birgit S.
Last position:
Business Analysis, Requirements Engineer at BMW
Refinement of epics and user stories to achieve a higher degree of automation in CRM usage. Testing of new Discountsystem
Oliver O.
Last position:
Embedded Software Architect at Automotive supplier
Stellar SR6 G7 line, 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-R52+ MCU.
- MISRA-C, C99, Greenhills ARM compiler
- Dassault AUTOSAR Builder
- EB Tresos
- Sparx Enterprise Architect 16.1
- VS Code
- Python xml, lxml, NumPy and Pandas
ISO 26262, ISO 21434, hypervisor, key management, HSM. Tooling & automation. LieberLieber LemonTree + Sparx EA. Jira, Confluence, SharePoint. Git/Github. DevOps through Jenkins & Conan.
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Statistics of experts using COBOL
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
31 years

Position duration
3.2 years

Positions per freelancer
19

Top business areas
Information Technology, Product Development, Project Management

Top industries
Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Insurance

Certification focus areas
Information Technology, Project Management, Quality Assurance
Bachelor's degree or higher
78%
Master's degree or higher
49%
Doctorate
7%

Certifications per freelancer
3

Most common languages
German, English, French

Speak two or more languages
95%
Based on our profile pool as of 19 Sep 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers in this technology in Germany are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range.
Discover detailed COBOL rate benchmarks:
Explore rate insightsAverage rates of experts in Germany using COBOL
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
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 19 Sep 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
COBOL experts industry focus
See which industries our matched freelancers work in most often — every figure is calculated live from the freelancers on FRATCH.
- Information Technology (90%)
- Banking and Finance (75%)
- Insurance (53%)
- Manufacturing (51%)
- Automotive (44%)
- Professional Services (42%)
- Transportation (41%)
- Retail (41%)
Please note that freelancers can work across multiple industries, so percentages overlap.
About the technology
Mission-Critical Mainframe Processing
Common Business-Oriented Language powers core transactional backbones across global enterprise infrastructure. The procedural programming language excels at deterministic business computations, high-volume ledger accounting, and massive sequential record processing. Large organizations rely on it to run foundational operations with absolute numerical accuracy.
The Enterprise Mainframe Ecosystem
- IBM z/OS, OS/390, and VSE operating environments
- Transaction management through CICS and IMS TM
- Relational and hierarchical data storage using DB2 and VSAM
- Automated batch scheduling with JCL and tools like Control-M
- Modern toolchains including Micro Focus and IBM Enterprise COBOL
Primary Core Computing Use Cases
- Overnight batch settlement and automated clearinghouse transfers
- Insurance policy lifecycle administration and claims calculations
- High-throughput payment processing networks
- Enterprise resource planning in heavy industrial supply chains
- Data extraction and transformation pipelines feeding modern cloud analytics
Industrial Demand Across Germany
German institutions maintain extensive enterprise codebases, particularly within banking, public administration, and automotive logistics. Organizations in Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart run core banking platforms and statutory pension registers that require deep domain knowledge alongside strict compliance with federal data sovereignty and BaFin regulatory standards.
Modernization and Integration Projects
Organizations frequently hire external specialists when wrapping legacy core modules into modern service architectures. Freelance specialists build RESTful interfaces, expose mainframe transactions to distributed microservices, and decouple deeply intertwined business logic. They ensure seamless interoperability between decades of proven calculation routines and current cloud stacks.
Hallmarks of Veteran Specialists
Distinguished professionals combine deep mainframe debugging expertise with modern DevOps awareness. They read complex Copybooks effortlessly, profile batch job performance to reduce processor consumption, and refactor legacy structures without introducing regressions. Strong specialists also bridge documentation gaps and safely implement statutory regulatory updates.
Frequently asked questions
Everything clients usually want to know about COBOL, in one place.
Enterprises run COBOL to process massive volumes of structured commercial transactions with exact precision. The language avoids floating-point inaccuracies through native fixed-point arithmetic, making it ideal for financial ledgers, regulatory reporting, and overnight batch runs.
Rewriting complete core business logic from scratch poses significant operational and financial risk. Engaging COBOL professionals allows enterprises to modernize progressively, expose legacy services via APIs, and maintain business stability without replacing proven systems.
Competent specialists working with Common Business-Oriented Language generally possess hands-on command of JCL, DB2, and CICS or IMS. Experience with modern enterprise integration layers, Git, and automated testing tools like IBM Z Open Unit is increasingly valuable.
Working with Enterprise COBOL in Germany often involves handling BaFin guidelines, GDPR rules, and strict internal audit frameworks. Local specialists ensure that audit trails, cryptographic modules, and data retention rules remain compliant during code refactoring.
Most tasks in COBOL run securely over remote VPN tunnels into modern mainframe emulators or partitioned LPAR environments. While remote work is standard, sensitive German banking environments occasionally request periodic on-site visits for architecture planning or security clearances.
While languages like Java or C# offer rich object-oriented abstractions for distributed systems, COBOL remains unmatched in native alphanumeric record manipulation and high-throughput batch efficiency. Most enterprises prefer hybrid architectures rather than direct replacements.
Legacy business systems contain decades of intertwined dependencies, requiring seasoned COBOL specialists who can trace complex logic without comprehensive specifications. Junior profiles struggle with undocumented macros, atypical JCL setups, and deep hardware constraints.
Evaluate a COBOL professional through practical debugging exercises involving CICS command-level programming, VSAM file handling, and SQL tuning in DB2. Strong candidates clearly articulate how they refactor monolithic modules while preserving data integrity.
The average hourly rate of freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects is 100 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 804 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects, 78% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 49% hold at least a Master's degree, and 7% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects have 31 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 3.2 years.
The most common languages among freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are German (100%), English (94%), and French (30%).
The most common industries among freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are Information Technology (90%), Banking and Finance (75%), and Insurance (53%).
The most common business areas among freelancers in Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are Information Technology (100%), Product Development (76%), and Project Management (75%).
Main locations of FRATCH Experts, who have recently used COBOL
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
Countries:
- Germany
- Austria
- Switzerland
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