Cybersecurity Experts in Essen

• Industry: mechanical engineering, vehicle manufacturing
• Regulations: Data Act
• Project focus: data governance, legally compliant use of machine data, data platforms
• Assigned by: CFO, platform product owner

Successes/Results (early phase):

• Compliance support for the setup of an internal standardized data usage platform based on Databricks.
• Created the basis for the legally compliant and effective use of machine data, including:
• Technical: gap analysis and closing of gaps in the segmentation and maintenance of collected machine data.
• Technical: consideration of data flows from the platform to users and third parties.
• Organizational: drafting and finalizing the required data usage agreements.

• Operation and further development of the network and security infrastructure.

• Monitoring, analysis and resolution of network and security incidents.

• Cross-department collaboration with other specialist teams for operations, further development and reporting.

• Firewall vulnerability analysis.

• Firewall rule approvals.

• Troubleshooting IP communication issues in the network and firewall infrastructure.

• Security-critical IT infrastructure, processing of personal data, compliance with legal regulations.

• Products: Palo Alto Networks Firewalls, Cisco ACI, Checkpoint Firewalls, F5

• Technologies: SDN, SDWAN, Cisco EPIC, Cisco ACI

KEY PROJECTS

Since 05/2023 | Bank | Senior Cyber Security Consultant (external)

• Advising and guiding the system owners in creating and further developing IT security concepts
• Coordinating and tracking the remediation of findings from reviews and audits
• Advising on the implementation of regulatory requirements for information security

10/2023 – 02/2024 | Fintech | Project Manager (external)

• Project management to close various audit gaps in the field of information security
• Conceptual design and implementation of an information security management system based on ISO/IEC 27001
• Creation and further development of ISMS documents and processes

• CHG Meridian AG is a financial company focused on leasing in the areas of IT technology, logistics and medical technology and is regulated by BaFin. One part of the company is Return to Remarketing, where devices delivered to the technology center (notebooks, smartphones, tablets, etc.) are prepared for resale. The project I supported was responsible for enabling damage assessment of returned lease devices, documenting them visually in the form of pictures, enabling invoicing for the customer, and making the pictures available via the in-house customer platform. This was achieved through a combination of in-house development within the internal development department and the use of SaaS products. The second project was the transition of SaaS tendering software, purchased by the business unit, into the operations of the CHG IT department. Evaluation of security questions in relation to BaFin requirements, development of an authorization concept, implementation of single sign-on, documentation of the application in the CHG systems (CMDB, iKnow, etc.) and handover into operations.

Used technologies and methods: NIS2, DORA, agile software development, Scrum, Kanban, ServiceNow, SaaS, MS Teams, MS SharePoint, Active Directory, Entra ID, CMDB, incident management, change management, request management, service level agreement

• Completed 25+ hands-on labs focusing on digital forensics, incident response, and advanced threat hunting techniques.
• Earned top-tier badges in malware analysis, enterprise log analysis, and threat intelligence gathering.
• Developed specialised skills in forensic report writing and evidence collection methodologies to support incident investigations.

• Founded technology consulting practice delivering business strategy & operations, digital transformation, and enterprise tech & innovation services to telecommunications, cybersecurity, and IT enterprise clients, leveraging 15+ years of Fortune 500 sector expertise
• Developing digital transformation and modernization strategies for legacy system optimization, cloud-native implementations, and operational process enhancement using proven PRINCE2 and agile methodologies
• Building consulting frameworks for project & product management, portfolio governance, and business coaching services while establishing initial client relationships in EMEA markets

In my role as Managing Director of QFITS GmbH, I support companies throughout the entire project cycle - from requirements gathering and process analysis to the design of suitable system solutions and all the way to implementation and quality assurance. My focus is on the introduction and integration of POS and ERP systems as well as their seamless connection to existing backend systems and interfaces.

Direct food sales (09/2025 – 05/2026) Support of a project from requirements analysis to the introduction and integration of a new POS system for a direct food sales company. A special focus was on archiving POS logs as well as preparing and providing them as transactions for connected surrounding systems. In addition, design and setup of functional tests and performance tests for the existing backend system, which had to be seamlessly integrated with the POS system.

• Led workstream for analysis and optimisation of the solution development and release process within the newly established organizational structure
• Analyzed and adopted existing processes after transition of technical responsibility to E.ON Digital Services
• Supported the agile development approach within engineering teams
• Established a unified workflow for business requirements and clear communication interfaces, documented using Atlassian Jira on both the business and engineering sides
• Created dashboards with Rich Filters for Jira Dashboards to provide an overview of feature releases and their connection to technical releases
• Designed new burnup charts and statistics per release to improve transparency of overall technical progress at the product level

• Provided expert level consulting for lifecycle, upgrades and refresh activities
• Used Remedy for effort recording and billing to customers
• Used ServiceNow for service management and workflow
• Used Jira for project management with agile/Scrum methods
• Used Confluence for documentation
• Worked with customer-specific software tools
• Worked with customer-provided and secured hardware suitable for IT security operations infrastructure setup for customers
• Built firewall rule sets and handed over to service owner and delivery teams
• Environment: Cisco ASA, Cisco Firepower, CSM, Cisco AnyConnect, Cisco ISE, Check Point VSX and gateways

Various projects with focus areas:

• Growth (internationalization)
• Digitization (processes and business models)
• Conflict resolution (mediation, restoring productivity and employee satisfaction)
• Process optimization

• SD-WAN solution by Aruba – Swiss energy company (330 sites): design and implementation of an SD-WAN branch solution with Aruba 9004 gateways, encrypted overlay, policy-based routing, WAN load balancing, and centralized management via Aruba Central.
• LAN/WLAN & security – schools in Germany (9 sites): deployment of Aruba switches & AP-505, FortiGate 80F firewalls; setup of Checkmk monitoring, incident and change management, and secure admin access (BeyondTrust).
• Multi-site security – energy billing company (20 sites): deployment of a complete Fortinet solution (FortiGate HA cluster, FortiSwitch PoE, FortiAP), IPsec remote-access VPN via FortiClient, centralized management via FortiCloud, IntraID authentication, operations and incident management.
• Data center migration – German client: migration of data center switches (Mellanox), firewall cluster, and OfficeConnect switches to a new data center; securing configurations, implementing HA designs, testing, monitoring, and coordinated change and incident processes. Setup of two new 6300 M VSX clustered switches.
• Data center security – university hospital: implementation of a high-availability FortiGate 400F firewall cluster across three data centers; security policy design, operational support, and change/incident management.
• Enterprise campus & network access control – manufacturing company in Germany: introduction of Aruba ClearPass NAC, setup of a VSX-based switching architecture, secure WLAN access with MPSK, and integration into existing networks.
• EU client (Germany & Poland) – Sophos firewalls: operations, incident and change management of Sophos firewalls including IPsec VPN; troubleshooting and ongoing optimization of security configurations.
• Network modernization – pharmacy client in Germany: design and rollout of core and access switching (Mellanox, Aruba Instant On), migration from Sophos to Fortinet firewalls, network segmentation, and security hardening.

• Plan and design complex production systems as part of a team
• Develop and modify electrical circuit diagrams
• Design electrical machine controls and drive technology
• Troubleshoot electronic assemblies
• Develop PLC and visualization software as well as process control software
• Identify and implement optimization measures
• Create operating instructions
• Ensure IT security of all operational technology
• Support building services
• Technologies: Eplan P8, PCS7, ProLeiT, PlantiT, TIA, S7

• Enhanced quality assurance of documents, processes and required evidence in preparation for the upcoming KRITIS audit 2025.
• Reviewing and commenting on all relevant documents.
• Advising authors and document owners on inquiries and during the creation process.
• Supporting departments with IT security inquiries.
• Used tools/Frameworks MS Office, SharePoint, Jira, Confluence, ISO27001+, NIS-2 (EU 2022/2555), B3S (Statutory Health & Private Health Insurance), BSIG / IT-SIG 2.0, BSI-KritisV, BSI-C5, BSI Baseline Protection (200-2, 200-4), ServiceNow, RCE (EU 2022/2557), SGB, GDPR

• Contact person for the client for all matters related to delivery of services from the subproject
• Responsible for delivering the subproject and coordinating the deliverables to be achieved (project planning)
• Validating sprint planning of the teams against the project plan
• First escalation point if estimates cannot be agreed
• Resource management for 17 project staff
• Continuous process improvement
• Risk management of any kind that can threaten delivery
• Reporting results internally and to the client, e.g. project execution and milestone achievement
• Responsible for the budget in his subproject (revenue, profit)
• Identifying and implementing financial optimization needs
• Ensuring that Jira items are maintained according to financial and agile guidelines in his subproject
• Building an Informatica core team
• Project management for various migration projects