Cybersecurity Experts in Frankfurt

2nd LoD/Change the Bank (CtB)

• CtB: External consultant and workstream lead for rectifying findings by BaFin following a special IT audit in the 2nd LoD, management of the work package for revising the ICT Risk Management & ICT Asset Classification in accordance with DORA Chapter 2, the processes for structural analysis, protection requirements, and control assessments (4 FTEs).

• Delivery of various end-customer projects in server and network infrastructure on time, in quality, and within budget.
• Project 1: Firewall renewal, replacement of an ASA firewall with a Fortinet firewall at an automotive supplier.
• Project 2: Migration of file services from dedicated servers at 5 branch locations into a central managed file service, including DHCP, directory, and print services, as well as decommissioning of the old domain controllers.
• Project 3: Renewal of the network infrastructure at the headquarters and branch locations of a logistics company and transition of the LAN, WLAN, and firewall environments into a managed network service.
• Project 4: Network renewal, replacement of the core and access switches at the headquarters of a medical technology company and transition into a managed network service.
• Project 5: Firewall renewal, replacement of an ASA firewall with a Fortinet firewall for a city.
• Environment: ASA and Fortinet firewalls, Cisco network components, ITSM Heat/Ivanti, Confluence.

• Error analysis and fixes including performance optimization of the in-house developed platform API
• Change and incident management in day-to-day operations
• Responsible for compliance with security and compliance requirements
• Vendor management for software development and maintenance
• Planning and execution of migration of legacy services to a cloud native platform

Role in the project: project staff, implementation team

Used skills: requirements analysis, IT service and application management, IT operations, error analysis and performance optimization, software maintenance and lifecycle management

Project environment: Cloud Native Platform (Kubernetes, Crossplane, AWS, ArgoCD, Grafana)

• Define the QA strategy and plan for the above mentioned OEMs project.

• Identify applicable processes, methods, and standards to be followed (eg, GS_95014, KGAS, ISO/IEC 15504, ISO 26262, ISO 21434, etc.).

• Plan reviews, audits, and assessments as per the strategy.

• Check whether the project follows defined processes (System, software, mechanical, hardware, testing, change, configuration, problem, risk etc.) as per strategy.

• Provide QA support to software process: software requirement analysis, software architectural design, software detailed design and unit construction, software unit verification, software component verification and integration verification, software verification processes.

• Monitor compliance with organization-wide and project-specific standards.

• Verify that deviations are documented and escalated.

• Review work products (requirements, design docs, test cases, code, reports (MISRA, C0, C1, coding standards), etc.).

• Check compliance with standards, templates, and checklists.

• Ensure that bi-directional traceability exists (e.g., requirements ↔ design ↔ tests).

• Give objective evidence (not influenced by delivery pressure) during assessments.

• Identify non-conformances (process not followed, missing approvals, wrong standard).

• Report deviations and track them until closure.

• Verify that corrective actions are implemented (5why, Ishikawa, 8D, FMEA, FTA, DFM, DRP, PCC, LLBP, PDCA).

• Provide QA status reports to management and project stakeholders.

• Highlight risks related to process non-compliance.

• Deliver objective evidence for assessments/audits (e.g., ASPICE, ISO/IEC 15504, ISO 26262, ISO 21434, ISO_PAS_8800).

• Collect and analyze QA findings.

• Suggest process improvements.

• Support lessons learned activities.

• Achieved ASPICE Level 1 and Level 2 for multiple Audi and Mercedes-Benz projects assessments.

• Platform established and running stably; deliberately reducing my involvement to refocus on an engineering mandate in the financial sector.
• Built an own SaaS learning platform from the ground up and scaled it to over 20,000 users (over 6,000 courses sold, B2C and B2B); end-to-end ownership from development through infrastructure to operations.
• Built a lab environment that provisions an isolated Linux container per user (Docker, Traefik, Go), including automatic provisioning and a dedicated subdomain per user.
• Integrated LLM features into the product and accelerated development end-to-end with AI-assisted workflows (Claude Code, Codex); CI/CD with automated tests.

• Implementation of specified DevOps solutions to automate infrastructure (Terraform, Bicep, CloudFormation, Ansible) on-premises datacenter (Ovirt, Proxmox, Ceph Cluster, MinIO) and private cloud.
• Administration, configuration and implementation of CI/CD DevOps pipelines (GitLab, GitFlow) to support development process (Artifactory, Prometheus, Istio, service mesh, Helm Chart, OpenShift (Red Hat Enterprise) / Kubernetes cluster), Red Hat Satellite.
• Administration, setup, monitoring and patching of Linux infrastructure based on Red Hat Enterprise for Dev, Test and QA.
• Use of Scrum and Kanban methods.
• Administration, configuration and implementation of security standards for deploying on Dev, Test, QA and Prod stages of the new ePA applications.
• Development of new plugins and add-ons needed on current infrastructure.
• Database support.
• Data analytics support (Python, Spark, Pandas, Power BI, Splunk Enterprise).
• Implementation of best practices for DevSecOps and BizDevOps using GitOps (ArgoCD), Streamlit framework, Semaphore Ansible UI.
• Configuration and testing of iperf, uperf, sysbench using benchmark-operator for external source data and IoT/MDM devices, creating reports via ELK / OpenSearch.
• Building a new Databricks platform to collect and analyze big data from different sources and IoT devices into Hadoop framework (Python, Pandas, PySpark, Power BI, Apache Airflow).
• Building backend data aggregation and processing to automate configuration deployment between different OpenShift clusters and big data framework (Python, Pandas, PySpark, Apache Spark, PostgreSQL, Django 2, Ansible Automation, Jira JSM).
• Building a new ML pipeline platform using Kubeflow, TensorFlow, KServe.
• Data extraction, transformation and loading from different data sources including structured and unstructured data to analytic DWH / big data cluster using Python, Pandas, Polars, Power BI, Django backend and PostgreSQL.
• Setup of new DevOps Test and QA HashiCorp Vault cluster for PKI and IAM.
• Configuration and testing of automated patching based on CVSS score, SIEM-integrated CVEs.
• Use of Nexpose and InsightVM to scan vulnerability events in network, host, container and application.
• Design and implementation of secure and scalable AWS architectures including VPC, EC2, S3, RDS and Route53 and similar setups on Azure and GCP.
• Automated system provisioning and deployment using CloudFormation templates.
• Configuration of IAM roles, policies and permissions to ensure secure access control.
• Patch management, backup automation and disaster recovery setup on AWS infrastructure.
• Monitoring and optimization of system performance using AWS CloudWatch and AWS Trusted Advisor.
• Support of VMware services (vSphere, Aria, Horizon) and the virtual desktop environment.
• Development and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD and AWS CodePipeline with interface to Nutanix.
• Configuration of AWS CloudWatch to monitor application performance and system events.
• Planning and execution of migration of on-premises applications to AWS cloud platforms.
• Deployment of containerized applications using Docker and Kubernetes in AWS environments.
• Deployment of internal software packages between availability zones using AWS CodeDeploy.
• Building and deploying ML models using Scikit-learn, XGBoost and Spark MLlib including hyperparameter tuning, model evaluation and production deployment.

• Design and global rollout of sensitivity labels (confidentiality labels) for automated classification and encryption of business-critical data.
• Definition and rollout of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to protect IP and personal data across endpoints, Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and non-Microsoft clouds.
• Setup of Insider Risk Management policies to detect and contain excessive data leaks and risky user behavior.
• Implementation of GDPR and retention requirements through automated retention policies and structured records management.
• Technical support for legal teams in internal and external investigations using eDiscovery (Standard/Premium) and Content Search.
• Continuous improvement of the security and compliance level by reviewing the Microsoft Compliance Manager and closing gaps (regulations such as ISO 27001, NIS-2)

• Working as a freelance ICT journalist for print and online media, as well as a communications consultant for medium-sized German and Dutch IT companies.
• Creating specialist publications, white papers, and journalistic articles on topics such as AI, IT sustainability, climate protection through low-code development, and the introduction of the electronic invoice, etc. (>100 work samples in the original can be viewed at [link])
• Analyzing and reporting on cybersecurity trends, including the NIS-2 directive, Security by Design, and the development of associative computers.
• Conducting expert interviews with specialists and executives on technological innovations such as digital shadows in production and predictive maintenance.
• Numerous publications in trade media such as Wirtschaftsinformatik & Management, IM+io, IT&Production, Digital Business Magazin, eGovernment Computing, etc.

• Designed and specified the technical network integration of a new business-critical application system (MUREX) in the capital markets area in a complex interface and outsourcing environment.

• Created component specifications, a catalog of measures and an implementation plan.

• Ensured proper integration of the developed results in line with the bank’s framework: IT compliance, IT security, change and release management.

• Selected and integrated a new service provider for the bank; moved critical bank applications to the provider.

• Designed, implemented and supported the new Cisco network and Fortinet security setup at the service provider data center.

• Acted as technical interface between the bank, service providers and consulting partners.

• Supported and further developed the network and security infrastructure (clients, servers, networks); performed error analysis and implemented solutions within agreed service levels.

• Analyzed and diagnosed all security and network failures, glitches and malfunctions.

• Initiated continuous improvements to ensure efficient resource use and acceptable response times for users.

• Provided network support in a financial services organization and prepared operational changes on production banking network infrastructure for both large and small projects within strict change management discipline.

• Designed, defined, tested, governed and improved engineering standards.

• Performed the role of network architect for medium to large projects involving team resources.

• Built and successfully certified the Information Security Management System (ISMS) according to ISO 27001 in seven country organizations (Ghana, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania).
• Full implementation of the ISMS from kick-off phase to certification, including defining the governance structure and process landscape.
• Developed and delivered target-group-specific trainings, workshops, and coaching sessions for local responsible persons on the basics of information security and ISMS operations.
• Designed and continuously improved training concepts and content to increase understanding and acceptance.
• Identified and implemented improvements in processes and tools, including risk management for international projects.
• Optimized central ISMS core processes from the idea through pilot operation and fine-tuning to global rollout.
• Optimized knowledge management, as well as work aids and methods for the global ISMS team.
• Built and moderated cross-functional coordination with key interfaces to the ISMS.
• Microsoft Teams, Excel, SharePoint Lists, Power Apps.

• Creation of construction schedules and standard plans.
• Preparation and submission of traffic control orders (VRO) and RSA-compliant plans.
• Application for and documentation of all permits, including excavation permits and water permits.
• Carrying out and documenting site inspections.
• Maintaining digital site diaries.
• Coordinating and selecting subcontractor crews.
• Checking and approving measurements.
• Ensuring compliance with all technical requirements and standards.
• Summarizing and passing on operator rules to the subcontractors.

• Implemented an access control solution and prepared tender documents for a visitor management system.
• As project manager, I was responsible for the successful rollout of a cloud-based access control system for two sites with around 4,000 employees.
• Accountable for the successful execution of the project.
• Created and aligned project plans and status reports with all stakeholders.
• Prepared/coordinated an initial effort or cost estimate and related planning for operational services implementation.
• Identified interfaces.
• Ensured budget and schedule compliance.
• As tender manager / demand manager, the following specific tasks were my responsibility:
• Analyzing potential suppliers.
• Gathering requirements.
• Creating and aligning the requirements catalog.
• Developing an evaluation matrix.
• Preparing the tender documents.

• Provided consulting for modernizing legacy applications
• Delivered critical features under tight deadlines for backend and frontend
• Technologies: C#, .NET, WPF, WCF, REST, Angular, MS SQL Server

• Recognition of national notified bodies
• Preparation of cybersecurity competency reports
• EU Radio Equipment Directive