DORA Experts

Management of several MFA methods for centralized authentication within a group. Interface between various stakeholders such as Support, Finance, Developers, and Security departments. Assessment of compliance requirements such as KRITIS. Budget controlling and monitoring of KPIs and SLAs. Support with internal and external audits on MFA topics and with connecting new systems. Review of operational documentation. Participation in steering committees and leadership of service review meetings and decision-making committees.

Tools/Frameworks: FIDO, Yubikey, Veridium, BSI Grundschutz, NIST

• Developed a market entry strategy for the claims division of an insurance services provider.
• Analyzed and optimized existing claims processes.
• Defined management metrics and KPIs to improve performance and efficiency.
• Advised management on market positioning and process digitalization.
• Led an IT team of 13 employees as part of an interim vacancy cover.
• Ensured stable IT operations and managed external IT service providers.
• Led regulatory projects, particularly the implementation of the DORA regulation.
• Prepared and supported an IT security audit.
• Change management and conflict moderation in a challenging transformation environment (FI migration).

• Private Equity owned precision grinding machines for Auto, Military & Aerospace – 1200 Employees
• Acting as Interim Group CIO / CISO consolidating Global IT back to Europe – M&A consolidation
• Managed major Security event and post event cleanup – Reporting to regulators
• Performed Vendor & Contract Management – full assessment of capabilities
• Guided Infrastructure refresh & Security Hygiene assessments

• Requirements management, process planning, interface function, ISMS setup, and documentation
• Setup and establishment of an ISMS according to ISO 27001 and establishment of emergency management / ITSCM
• Coordination of the circumstances with the public-sector IT service provider
• Consideration of KRITIS relevance within the scope and implementation of a B3S
• Development of requirements for document control and the continuous improvement process
• Preparation of relevant project documents
• Analysis of existing processes and preparation of guidelines
• Requirements gathering for ISMS and ITSCM and coordination with the IT service provider, including definition of interfaces
• Analysis of communication processes and escalation paths
• Review of documents for risk management, ISMS, emergency preparedness, and emergency response
• Redesign of the complete documentation and preparation of new relevant documents
• Development of necessary rules, policies, and concepts
• Interface between customer and service provider to ensure document quality
• Coordination of protection needs with specialist departments, particularly regarding KRITIS relevance, and planning of resulting measures
• Development of preventive measures to minimize the risk of data center outages in scenarios such as pandemics or ransomware attacks
• Definition of the test strategy for IT emergency exercises
• Initiation of necessary awareness training measures for specialist departments
• External Information Security Officer
• Introduction of document control

Two parallel workstreams: (1) Tech Due Diligence for acquisitions and portfolio companies. (2) AI strategy certification and AI governance consulting.

• Tech assessments for PE/VC acquisitions: code reviews, architecture analysis, scalability assessment
• Tech assessment frameworks and integration roadmaps for portfolio companies
• TÜV SÜD certification program: AI governance, EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act)
• Strategic AI roadmap development for mid-sized companies

Results:

• Delivered several tech DD reports for investment decisions
• Developed integration roadmaps for portfolio companies
• TÜV SÜD “AI Strategy & Application Expert” (expected 31.12.2026)

• Built a scalable nearshore IT developer hub (Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland) as an independent company through a BOT model (Build – Operate – Transfer)
• Identified, selected, and managed full-service agencies; introduced management and control mechanisms, including KPIs, SLAs, and regular service reviews
• Prepared and reviewed data processing agreements and framework contracts in coordination with Legal & Compliance; integrated regulatory requirements (including KRITIS) into process design
• Advised on cloud vs. on-premise strategies, data storage, and authorization concepts; supported Procurement with tendering and service provider evaluations
• Managed change and process harmonization between internal teams and nearshore partners; reported to executive management, CFO, and CIO

Result: Scalable IT developer hub with an audit-ready governance model, reduced operating costs, and accelerated product development.

• Completed the integration of log sources into Microsoft Sentinel, including GCP workloads – centralized consolidation of all security-relevant events from Azure and GCP environments for complete end-to-end telemetry and comprehensive compliance evidence
• Developed custom rules and use cases based on the GFG Use-Case Library and the MITRE ATT&CK Matrix to cover company-specific threats and GFG-relevant scenarios with precise, mapped detection rules
• Tuned detection rules to minimize false positives, optimized detection thresholds, and modeled exceptions – enabling the SOC to work with relevant, prioritized alerts while reducing Mean Time to Detect/Respond
• Built SOAR capabilities in Sentinel by developing playbooks to automate recurring response processes such as containment, user and host isolation, and ticketing – shorter response times and 24/7 scalability
• Designed and built a log transformation solution to normalize and enrich incoming raw logs (GeoIP, CMDB, threat intelligence) and convert them into a consistent schema for high-performance KQL queries, use case logic, and correlations
• Managed Azure security through Azure Policies to enforce security and compliance standards, prevent drift, and continuously remediate deviations
• Operated the Defender XDR portal to link endpoint, identity, email, and SaaS signals with Sentinel findings, enable holistic incident triage, and orchestrate measures directly from XDR

Technologies: Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, Azure Policy, KQL, GCP, MITRE ATT&CK

Stabilization of an Azure/.NET landscape in live operation.

• Architecture, DevOps, and operational readiness; technical decisions under time pressure
• Azure DevOps, monitoring, ETL/ELT, cloud security, FinOps, and data-mesh-related topics

Technologies: Azure DevOps, .NET, CI/CD, monitoring, FinOps

Establishment of Compliance Department & DORA Operationalization

• Establishment of a complete compliance organization in accordance with DORA
• Development and operationalization of the SfO
• Use of AI agents for automation:
• Evaluation of due diligence questionnaires including risk classification
• AI-supported contract analysis (DORA/MaRisk compliance)
• Monitoring of external data sources (cyber incidents, newsfeeds)
• Establishment of a decentralized risk and action register
• Preparation of GAP analyses and derivation of measures
• Establishment and maintenance of the Outsourcing Information Register
• Use of proprietary TPRM frameworks, checklists and process models

Establishment of Compliance Department & DORA Operationalization

• Establishment of a complete compliance organization in accordance with DORA
• Development and operationalization of the SfO
• Use of AI agents for automation:
• Evaluation of due diligence questionnaires including risk classification
• AI-supported contract analysis (DORA/MaRisk compliance)
• Monitoring of external data sources (cyber incidents, newsfeeds)
• Establishment of a decentralized risk and action register
• Preparation of GAP analyses and derivation of measures
• Establishment and maintenance of the Outsourcing Information Register
• Use of proprietary TPRM frameworks, checklists and process models
• Project controlling - presentation and structured measurement of project goals achieved as part of management reporting.
• Overall responsibility for establishing a Compliance, Governance and Risk organization
• Establishment of an integrated GRC model and executive reporting for the Management Board.

• Analyzed, structured, and documented business requirements for digital investment solutions, such as robo-advisors.
• Designed applications for new retirement products, including user flows, UX requirements, and functional specifications.
• Modeled and optimized business processes and coordinated with stakeholders while taking regulatory requirements in the financial sector into account.

• 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.

• Program management for the development of an IoT platform on behalf of Deutsche Telekom IoT and 1NCE
• Structuring and coordinating the project teams and stakeholders involved to ensure robust project and decision-making structures
• Coaching project participants on the organization, collaboration, and implementation of the platform initiative

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

Strategic consulting for the development and strengthening of ISMS structures (ISO 27001 / BSI IT-Grundschutz), including onboarding, gap analyses, and preparation of the IT organization for DORA requirements (ICT third-party risk) and NIS2 compliance. Auditing compliance requirements in a regulated environment.