Disaster Recovery Experts in Cologne
matched in minutes by AIHire experts who design recovery strategies, automate failover and test backup resilience across cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments. FRATCH connects you with precise matches from vetted, available freelancers without slowing down urgent continuity work.
Meet FRATCH Experts in Cologne, who have recently used Disaster Recovery
Jens R.
Last position:
Platform Architect & Senior Developer at Direct client, industrial measurement technology, medium-sized company
- Technical leadership across hardware, firmware, and software teams; scope: hardware/firmware team (4 people) and leadership group (5 people)
- Consolidated and documented a product family that had grown over more than 15 years and aligned it with CRA compliance — from the bare-metal I/O module to the cloud interface.
- Provided the most important customer product with the essential requirements and architecture documentation within two months — for a firmware landscape that had grown over more than 15 years. It now supports the customer’s modernization strategy.
- Established a monthly reporting line to the supervisory board and executive board within three months: nine meetings since 12/2025. The report itself is versioned and built from the CI pipeline; it is based on automatically collected activity and release data instead of assessments.
- Built a container-based CI/CD infrastructure from scratch: cross-compilation, host tests, and documentation builds in one continuous pipeline.
- Introduced declarative QA gates for DevOps and development artifacts — from the start using lefthook instead of pre-commit, executed in a dedicated container image.
Technologies used: arc42, req42, tpo42, docToolchain, PlantUML, ArchiMate, C4 model, ADR, C, C++ (GTest), CMake, Bare Metal (ARM Cortex-M3/M7), OCI containers, Jenkins, lefthook, Prometheus, Grafana, SBOM, CRA, OPC, SCADA, PLC integration, IPv6 migration, Zero Trust, Sociocracy 3.0, Cynefin
Pierre G.
Last position:
Ansible Automation, Windows Third Level Support at DB InfraGO AG
- PRISMA project
- Ansible automation
- Windows third-level support for Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2013, Windows 2016, Windows 2019
Halil O.
Last position:
Senior Cloud Operations & DevSecOps Engineer (Azure / Terraform / CI-CD) at KfW Bankengruppe
Regulated environment within a German banking group (approx. 8,500 employees, hybrid cloud strategy).
Responsible for operating, provisioning, and continuously securing business-critical platforms – including a GenAI chat application, a big data/AI platform, and data science workspaces based on Azure Virtual Desktops and VMs. Ownership of Azure DevOps projects for ShaiHulud and React2Shell, as well as BSI alerts – Security Operations improvements across the SDLC.
Deployment responsibility for the GenAI chat application, big data/AI platform (BDAI), and data science workspaces (AVD/VM-based) in the respective landing zones.
Deployment & release management: end-to-end responsibility for deploying portal and service applications across multiple Azure landing zones, including technical approvals, compliance with development team deployment guidelines, and ensuring ITIL-based change and release processes via ServiceNow.
Azure landing zones & network architecture: design, provisioning, and operation of Azure landing zones for 3-tier web applications with enhanced network segmentation, VNet peering, hub-and-spoke architectures, private endpoints, and firewall integration across separate subscriptions and tenants.
Azure DevOps governance & operations: ownership of the Azure DevOps organization, including projects, repositories, and CI/CD pipelines; implementation of governance requirements such as branch policies, approval gates, permission models, and audit-ready operating structures.
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform): design, implementation, and operation of a modular Terraform architecture for standardized cloud infrastructure deployment, including state management, provider versioning, reusability, and policy-as-code approaches.
CI/CD pipeline engineering: design, operation, and optimization of complex YAML-based CI/CD pipelines with multi-stage deployments, template standardization, self-hosted agents, integrated secret management, and automated quality and security checks.
Git migration & platform consolidation: planning and execution of repository and pipeline migration from Azure DevOps to GitLab CI/CD, including automated scripts, full Git history transfer, pipeline porting, and platform consolidation.
Container & platform operations (AKS): operation and security assessment of containerized workloads on Azure Kubernetes Service, centralization of on-premises container registries for ACR.
OpenShift (OCP) security reviews: security assessment of code baselines, build pipelines, and deployment processes for on-premises OpenShift clusters with critical applications, and derivation of specific hardening recommendations.
Shift-left security & DevSecOps transformation: introduction of a company-wide shift-left approach for early security integration in development and deployment processes, enabling developers to perform self-led security checks and sustainably reduce vulnerabilities before production (IDE integrations, pre-commit hooks, local scanners).
Software supply chain security: analysis and mitigation of supply chain risks in NPM- and Yarn-based applications through dependency audits, CI/CD pipeline hardening, token rotation, and restriction of risky build and lifecycle mechanisms.
Frontend & framework security (React / Next.js): security assessment and coordination of critical vulnerability remediation across platform applications and web frameworks, including coordination and complementary technical mitigations with all teams following BSI alerts.
Software composition analysis (SCA): introduction and operation of automated vulnerability scans for container images, pipelines/artifacts, and third-party dependencies, including SBOM exports within CI/CD pipelines.
SAST/DAST integration: design and piloting of static and dynamic application security tests in close collaboration with security architecture and development teams, for continuous improvement of code and runtime security, and establishing operational acceptance tests.
Artifact & registry consolidation: analysis and consolidation of all package and container repositories for service applications and AKS workloads, aiming for a centralized, secured registry strategy with centralized vulnerability scanning and governance.
Dependency-Track & SBOM strategy: advising the compliance board on introducing a central SBOM and vulnerability management platform to increase enterprise-wide dependency transparency and accelerate CVE response capability.
CI/CD pipeline hardening: security analysis and cleanup of the existing pipeline landscape by removing unused pipelines, improving secrets hygiene, implementing least-privilege principles, and isolating build agent environments.
Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) optimization: analysis and tuning of existing Azure WAF rules (OWASP Top 10 Core Rule Set, DSR/SDC, custom rules) to defend against known vulnerabilities and exploit patterns, including reducing false positives and improving threat detection.
Documentation & stakeholder communication: creating and maintaining technical documentation, runbooks, and architecture overviews in Jira and Confluence, as well as active knowledge transfer between operations, development, security, and compliance stakeholders.
Serdar C.
Last position:
Consultant at Freelance
- ISO 27001 implementation & audit readiness
- NIS2 & DORA compliance support
- Interim / fractional CISO services
- IT risk & controls (ITGC, SOX, COBIT, BAIT)
- M&A and IT due diligence for startups/ventures
- Business continuity management (BCM, ISO 22301)
- Cybersecurity framework development (NIST, ISO, BSI)
- GRC tool advisory (Archer, ServiceNow)
Valeri M.
Last position:
Associate Partner - Information Security Consulting at Insentis GmbH
- Improvement of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) based on ISO 27001, NIS2, DORA, B3S, TISAX and BSI IT Baseline Protection
- Conducting comprehensive gap analyses to identify gaps and derive action plans according to the above standards and regulations; management and KPIs
- Data Loss Prevention strategy and implementation using MS Purview
- Vulnerability and patch management, security monitoring
- Risk analysis and threat modeling using the STRIDE methodology
- Development of vendor risk assessments, implementation of risk classifications, conducting supplier assessments and implementing technical monitoring solutions (e.g. Security ScoreCard)
- Securing cloud environments (AWS and Azure); expertise in CSPM/CNAPP (Wiz), cloud migration, secure CI/CD pipelines, container security and best practices in AWS, Azure and Office 365
- Application security: penetration testing, DevSecOps, OWASP, pre-commit hooks, key and secret management, IDE plugins, static source code analysis, dependency checks, container scanning, vulnerability management, CIS benchmarks and compliance
- Security assessment and hardening according to CIS benchmarks and cloud conformity in AWS, Office 365 and Azure
Nikolaus B.
Last position:
ICT Risk Management and Information Security at B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG
- Independently develop policies, guidelines, and frameworks for ICT risk management and information security
- Advise business units on ICT risk management and information security
- Further develop the ICT risk management framework that governs the identification, assessment, and control of ICT risks
- Evaluate the Information Security Management System (ISMS) and adjust it for new challenges
- Conduct risk analyses to identify and assess potential ICT risks and information security risks for the Metzler Group
- Advise on defining and implementing measures to reduce risks and improve the resilience of ICT systems
- Advise on ensuring compliance with relevant internal and external regulatory requirements (MaRisk, DORA, BAIT, BSI IT baseline protection, ISMS, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, ISO 27005, BCM ISO 22301)
- Advise on internal and cross-functional projects (SAP DORA compliance, Target2, Section 8a BSI Act)
Christian G.
Last position:
Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Gothaer Solutions GmbH
- Deputy lead of the 10-member information security management team in a highly regulated environment (DORA, VAIT, BAIT)
- Direct reporting lines to the CIO of the Gothaer Group and the management board of Gothaer Solutions
- Regular member of the Group Risk Committee and the Compliance Committee
- Managing and coordinating information security processes within the company and with IT service providers
- Leading task forces for handling information security incidents
- Contributing to IT emergency and business continuity management
Gazi B.
Last position:
Senior IT Architect, SAP, SAP BTP Architect, CPI Senior Consultant and Architect at Uniper Corporate IT
Developing and implementing IT architectures for business-critical applications, BCM/ITSCM, SAP, BTP and S/4HANA, Azure, interfaces and IT infrastructure according to Uniper security guidelines and compliance policies
IT cloud infrastructure management: Requirements management and SLA definition for critical SAP and non-SAP applications and infrastructures based on the Key Production Environment algorithm; creating a conceptual target architecture; creating agile project plans for migration; risk management and vulnerability analysis; developing training content and e-learnings; establishing and optimizing risk management processes; creating action catalogs, architectures and ITSCM/emergency plans; identifying and managing internal and external partners
Developing BCM/ITSCM concepts and IT infrastructure architectures for business-critical applications according to Azure Cloud, SAP BTP and Uniper governance frameworks; documenting and implementing ITSCM/emergency plans in line with disaster recovery patterns; creating training materials and coordinating training sessions; testing, simulating and optimizing BCM/ITSCM plans and IT architectures; ongoing training of management and staff on IT architectures, operating models, SAP BTP as well as BCM and emergency plans
Technical lead of the SAP services team: Managing and coordinating external vendors, service owners and application managers; developing and implementing ITSM processes (incident, problem, change, SLM, IT security, provider management, ITSCM, asset and configuration management); training internal and external service providers and service managers; optimizing IT service contracts and OLAs; updating the service catalog; communicating and escalating issues; defining responsibilities and monitoring SLA criteria; conducting root cause analysis; partly acting as release manager for SAP ERP releases
Migration: Requirements management, budget and financial planning; risk management; defining and implementing transformation and migration plans; weekly reporting to Uniper vice presidents and senior management; maintaining project plans and backlogs in Jira and Azure DevOps; managing up to 50 internal and external stakeholders; workshops and meetings; quality assurance: defining quality gateways and monitoring
Test management: Creating and documenting test plans; evaluating test risks; identifying stakeholders for test plans; documenting test scenarios; defining error categories and quality gateways; coordinating and executing tests
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Statistics of experts using Disaster Recovery
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
18 years (Germany: 22 years)
Position duration
2.1 years (Germany: 2.4 years)
Positions per freelancer
20 (Germany: 16)
Top business areas
Information Technology, Project Management, Quality Assurance
Top industries
Information Technology, Energy, Banking and Finance
Certification focus areas
Information Technology, Audit, Operations
Bachelor's degree or higher
60% (Germany: 83%)
Master's degree or higher
40% (Germany: 55%)
Doctorate
20% (Germany: 8%)
Certifications per freelancer
11 (Germany: 7)
Most common languages
German, English, Turkish
Speak two or more languages
100% (Germany: 99%)
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 Cologne 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.
Average rates of experts in Cologne using Disaster Recovery
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.
Disaster Recovery 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 (100%)
- Energy (75%)
- Banking and Finance (75%)
- Healthcare (63%)
- Manufacturing (63%)
- Insurance (50%)
- Government and Administration (50%)
- Chemical (38%)
Please note that freelancers can work across multiple industries, so percentages overlap.
About the technology
What Disaster Recovery Covers
Disaster Recovery, often shortened to DR, is the discipline of restoring applications, infrastructure, data and essential services after an outage or disruptive event. It combines recovery planning, resilient architecture, backup operations and controlled testing so a company can return to an acceptable operating state. Disaster recovery planning is closely linked to business continuity, but focuses more directly on technology recovery.
Systems and Deliverables
Professionals create practical recovery capabilities for data centres, cloud workloads and hybrid estates. Typical deliverables include:
- Recovery strategies for applications, databases and core infrastructure
- Backup, replication and restore designs with documented dependencies
- Runbooks for failover, recovery validation and service return
- Recovery time and recovery point objectives aligned with business needs
Ecosystem and Tooling
The work spans cloud recovery services, virtualisation, storage replication, database backups and infrastructure automation. Specialists may work with AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, VMware, Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, Kubernetes and Terraform, while also integrating monitoring, identity, networking and security controls. Tool choice depends on workload criticality, data location, compliance needs and operational ownership.
When Companies Need Support
Companies bring in freelance expertise when a recovery plan is outdated, a migration changes the risk profile or an audit exposes gaps. External support is also valuable during acquisitions, cloud adoption, ransomware preparation and major platform changes. In Cologne, specialists may collaborate remotely with distributed teams or work on site where data-centre access, workshops or local German-language coordination matters.
- Recovery tests fail or have never been completed
- Backups exist but restore procedures are unclear
- Critical services lack documented dependencies
- Recovery responsibilities are spread across too many teams
What Strong Specialists Do
Strong professionals connect business priorities with technical recovery steps. They map dependencies, challenge assumed recovery times, protect backup access and make procedures usable under pressure. They also measure test outcomes, record lessons and update plans as systems change. Clear documentation and calm communication matter as much as knowledge of a particular vendor.
Choosing the Right Expertise
Match the specialist to the environment and the recovery risk, not only to a tool name. Ask for evidence of recovery testing, cloud or on-premises experience, automation skills and secure handling of backup data. The right professional can explain trade-offs between backup, replication, high availability and manual recovery, then leave the team with tested procedures it can maintain.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about Disaster Recovery? Start with the answers below.
Disaster Recovery is used to restore critical systems, applications and data after incidents such as hardware failure, cyberattacks, human error or major service outages. A sound DR capability defines priorities, recovery steps, responsible teams and the evidence needed to confirm that services are usable again.
Disaster Recovery focuses on restoring technology and data after disruption. Business continuity covers the wider ability to keep essential operations running, while high availability reduces interruption through redundant systems operating during normal service. Companies often use all three approaches together.
A strong Disaster Recovery specialist usually understands cloud infrastructure, networking, identity, storage, databases, security and automation. Experience with incident response, monitoring, infrastructure as code and service management also helps turn a written plan into a repeatable recovery process.
The right level of experience depends on the systems, business impact and recovery complexity. A focused backup review may need a different specialist from a cross-cloud recovery programme involving regulated data, legacy infrastructure and many application dependencies. Look for evidence of comparable recovery tests and production incidents.
Many Disaster Recovery activities can be handled remotely, including discovery, design, documentation, automation and recovery exercises. On-site work may still help with data-centre access, hardware checks or workshops, while teams in Cologne can agree on German- or English-language collaboration based on their operating model.
Evaluate Disaster Recovery work through tested results rather than documents alone. Ask whether backups were restored, dependencies were validated, recovery objectives were measured and findings were assigned to owners. Clear runbooks, repeatable exercises and useful evidence are strong quality signals.
No. Disaster Recovery also requires protected backup access, restore procedures, dependency mapping, suitable infrastructure and people who know their responsibilities. Replication can speed recovery, but it does not replace independent backups or testing because errors and malicious changes can otherwise spread.
Freelancers working with Disaster Recovery should expect detailed discovery, access constraints and questions about business priorities. They may design recovery patterns, improve backup operations, run simulations or document procedures across several teams. Good assignments leave enough time for testing and for transferring knowledge to internal staff.
The average hourly rate of freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects is 132 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 1,054 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects, 60% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 40% hold at least a Master's degree, and 20% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects have 18 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.1 years.
The most common languages among freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects are German (100%), English (100%), and Turkish (38%).
The most common industries among freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects are Information Technology (100%), Energy (75%), and Banking and Finance (75%).
The most common business areas among freelancers in Cologne, Germany who have used Disaster Recovery in their recent projects are Information Technology (100%), Project Management (100%), and Quality Assurance (75%).
Main locations of FRATCH Experts, who have recently used Disaster Recovery
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.
Berlin Hamburg Munich 
Cologne Frankfurt Stuttgart Dusseldorf Leipzig Dortmund Essen Bremen Dresden Hanover Nuremberg 
Berlin 
Munich 
Frankfurt 
Dusseldorf Countries:
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FRATCH CEO
