Instant Payments Experts in Germany

Project: SCS (Settlement / Clearing Services)

Settlement platform serving multiple trading and clearing venues — counterparty risk safeguarding, settlement volume reduction, central risk management, and post-trade anonymity.

Technologies: Java 17, Spring Boot 3, Microservices, Spring Data JPA, SonarQube, Fortify (SCST), Mockito, Jenkins, OpenShift, Maven, Podman, GitHub, JIRA, Liquibase, Swagger, AMQP, Apache Camel, Terraform, PostgreSQL, Instana, Graylog.

• Identified and remediated CVEs in third-party libraries using SCA tooling, strengthening the security posture of production components.
• Maintained 90% code coverage with SonarQube, improving code quality and reducing production defects.
• Enabled mTLS for database authentication and message broker connections, enforcing encrypted, certificate-validated communication.
• Designed and deployed microservices with asynchronous, REST-based communication between components.
• Optimized a high-volume REST API (~200K requests) by reducing response time from 3s to 2s (33% improvement), boosting throughput and reliability under production load.
• Automated build and continuous integration pipelines using Maven and Jenkins.
• Orchestrated containerized workloads on Podman/OpenShift and governed schema evolution with Liquibase, ensuring reliable, repeatable deployments across all environments.
• Optimized Java code and implemented EHCache-based caching, improving application performance.
• Streamlined release management by governing application images, JAR versions, and dependencies through DBAG Artifactory, ensuring version consistency and audit traceability across environments

• Close collaboration with development teams to ensure alignment with project objectives
• Assessment of in-scope assets, creation of requirements, and support of the public tender process through the selection of a provider
• Creation and maintenance of UML sequence diagrams to document system interactions
• Extensive use of Agile/Scrum methodology and Spotify model
• Development and implementation of cutover and dress rehearsal plans together with the application managers

AI Assistance and Target Vision for Partially Autonomous Energy Portfolio Management

Building an AI control layer directly on the up-to-date daily live portfolio of a large energy provider — not as an isolated pilot, but as an operational extension of the existing DB1 and portfolio management. The goal is the gradual development from assistance through monitoring/alerting to analysis agents with Human-in-the-Loop approvals, supplemented by a role-specific System of Engagement alongside the BI System of Record. At the same time, the business case, target vision and management pitch compared with static monthly reporting are being developed.

• AI control layer: Design and build on the existing live portfolio data product (several million contracts) — development stages assistance → monitoring/alerting → agents with Human-in-the-Loop approvals.
• LLM-supported data analysis: Semantic queries, SQL/tool integration and additional RAG components based on portfolio, plan-versus-actual and data quality data (Azure OpenAI, Snowflake), with drill-downs to individual contract level.
• Analysis agents: Multi-stage agents for variance and driver analyses of churn, price adjustments, volumes and procurement costs.
• Views concept: Role-specific interfaces for business units, management and C-level as a System of Engagement alongside the BI System of Record.
• Business case & pitch: Target vision and cost-benefit argumentation compared with static monthly reporting.
• LLM setup (privacy & security): Coordination with IT Security and Data Protection — EU region, data separation and approval processes.
• Agent architecture: Multi-stage agent pipelines (analysis → validation → summary) with documented data sources, tool calls, review steps and source references for each statement.
• Data foundation: Built on the up-to-date daily DB1 data product (Snowflake, dbt) — portfolio, plan-versus-actual and data quality metrics as the common basis for all AI analyses.
• Guardrails & evaluation: Evaluation and approval processes for LLM responses relating to management-relevant statements — test sets, metrics and human review.
• Prototyping & validation: Iterative validation of agent responses with the business unit — test question catalogue, feedback loops and response quality for each release.
• Roadmap & development stages: Detailed stages from assistance → monitoring/alerting → partially autonomous management, including transition criteria and governance for each stage.
• Integration: Integration into the existing BI and data landscape — BI remains the System of Record, while the AI layer provides interactive drill-down paths as the System of Engagement.
• Enablement: Enablement of business users — prompting guides, training and an operating model for ongoing use.
• Management: Coordination of business units, Data Engineering, IT Security and Data Protection.
• Change Management: Communication and expectation management with business units and management throughout the development stages.

Results:

• Built on an existing up-to-date daily data product with several million contracts
• Established an LLM setup coordinated with Data Protection and IT Security in the EU region, including data separation and approvals
• Defined three development stages through to partially autonomous management
• Designed role-specific views for business units, management and C-level
• Developed the business case and management pitch for the development stages
• Established an iterative response-quality validation process with the business unit
• Designed the operating model for assistance operations and initiated validation

Stack: Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Snowflake, dbt, React, TypeScript, Entra ID, RAG, Agentic AI, analysis agents, Human-in-the-Loop, Prompt Engineering, LLM Evaluation, LLMOps, GDPR / EU region, Azure DevOps, Python, SQL, Change Management

• Stakeholder management and coordination of board meetings
• Acquisition of speakers as well as management and moderation of physical and virtual EPSM meetings for members and guests from the payment industry
• Organization and coordination of working groups on regulatory topics (DORA, PCI-DSS, AML, PSD3/PSR)
• Consulting and representing EPSM on social channels, on the web and at external events and trade fairs

• Introduction of giro card with Visa Debit card payment function (Combocard) for Commerzbank
• Support for the Card Processing Team (card processing; Clearing & Settlement incl. Dispute Management teams) in project work
• Creation of requirements for the Clearing & Settlement team, Authorization team (AZ) and Card Production team (KP) as part of a requirements catalog
• Requirements engineering (requirements management) with business contact person
• Participation in workstream meetings between VISA Inc., SRC Security Research & Consulting GmbH, Commerzbank AG and consulting firms (PwC and Senacor Technologies AG)
• Sprint planning with Jira tickets of type Task and use of Confluence
• Creation and presentation of weekly status reports for the Clearing & Settlement, Dispute Management and Reporting & GUI workstreams
• Coordination with network and file transfer teams for connection tests of new interfaces, e.g. setup of host keys, use of VPN or sipnet connections
• Coordination of the delivery of test files, e.g. exchange rates (FX rates; TC 56 of VISA rates), VISA Debit and Credit transactions (format Base II) and EANSS/ISS Base II clearing files to the Debit Clearing System (DCS)
• Conducting coordination meetings on the use of Visanet Settlement Service (VSS) and PSD2 reports and payment traffic statistics (ZVS)
• Organizing workshops with FiServ (First Data) on Dispute Management and complaint handling
• Setup and maintenance of Open Point List (OPL) in Confluence
• Technologies/methods: Jira, Confluence, giro card, VISA Debit card, payments, Kanban board, BIN, routing, CIQ, VPAY, ScalaTest, Dispute Management

• Acted as a trusted advisor to leadership, driving strategic initiatives, structuring meetings, and ensuring follow-through on key priorities.
• Led the launch of a corporate travel platform, aligning cross-functional teams and improving operational efficiency.
• Conducted market and competitive analyses to identify growth opportunities and inform business and investment decisions.
• Supported M&A and venture evaluations, contributing to global expansion and portfolio strategy.
• Developed strategy briefs, business cases, and executive presentations to enable data-driven decision-making.
• Managed quarterly and annual planning processes, tracked KPIs, and ensured alignment with organizational goals.
• Planned and executed brand initiatives, including organizing Techno at Bharat Tex, enhancing industry visibility and partnerships.
• Strengthened internal communication cadence and governance frameworks, improving execution efficiency by 20%.
• Drove process improvements to enhance execution discipline and strategic alignment.
• Enhanced governance and reporting mechanisms to increase accountability, milestone tracking, and performance visibility.
• Collaborated closely with finance, product, and strategy teams to ensure timely delivery of cross-functional priorities.
• Fostered knowledge-sharing and continuous-improvement practices to strengthen organizational collaboration and execution.

• Business analysis of payments for the introduction of Wero EPI in Germany.
• Analysis and optimization of merchant processes in the context of acquiring and issuing.
• Analysis of interfaces for instant payments.
• Analysis of SCT-Inst processes, settlement mechanisms and reporting processes.
• Identification and clarification of gaps in merchant processes.
• Analysis and documentation of clearing and settlement processes.
• OSPlus process analysis and documentation.
• Coordination and alignment with scheme management as well as various payment service providers and financial institutions on merchant processes.
• Preparation and follow-up as well as active participation in EPI meetings on technical coordination and regulatory topics in payments, including content familiarization and prioritization.
• Preparation and documentation of project and steering committees in the EPI environment.
• Creation of status reports for the subproject.
• Maintenance and structuring of Confluence pages for project documentation.
• Coordination and alignment with the issuing teams on individual customer processes as well as aligning with bank processes and acquirer processes in the Wero environment.
• Communication with payment service providers regarding merchant and bank processes in the Wero environment.
• Organizational support for project management in special tasks in the EPI and Wero environment.
• Digital filing and documentation in Confluence and Microsoft Teams.
• Planning, implementation and tracking of work packages and steps.
• Quality assurance and project control.
• Consulting on IT strategy, IT architecture and interface management in the EPI and Wero environment.
• Technical environment: Jira, Confluence, XML, JSON, MS Office (Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint), SharePoint, Draw.io, Innovator, 3rd-level support, ITIL, creation and updating of software documentation, interface management, OSPlus, Scrum, KYC, payment, European Payments Initiative (EPI), Wero, Microsoft Loop, Instant Payments, SCT-Inst.

• Creation and implementation of a multilingual, relational MariaDB database to reflect the requirements of a booking system designed for safaris in Africa
• Testing the front- and backend functionality, registration of clients and suppliers, the editorial system and the payment workflow
• Defect management and documentation via BugHerd
• Implementation of an automatic internal deployment of deliveries provided by an external company via bash scripts
• Coordination of external companies in the function of a project manager (Stakeholder Management)

• Empower businesses to harness AI-driven app solutions for transformative growth
• Combine hands-on development with strategic AI consulting to turn complex ideas into smart, scalable products
• Passionate about creating software that delivers real-world impact

• Responsibility for testing and quality assurance of application processes
• Creation and execution of test cases based on defined acceptance criteria
• Documentation of deviations and analysis, as well as initiation of necessary corrective actions
• Ensuring the flow of information within the team and with other specialist departments
• Maintenance and further development of test automation
• Adapting Selenium-based automation to every release and sprint change
• Extending test automation with new processes
• Performing security tests
• Identifying typical vulnerabilities (e.g. XSS, SQL injection, insecure headers) through automated tests in the CI/CD flow
• Use of technologies Selenium (including integration with security scanners such as OWASP ZAP), Unix/SQL environments and optionally Cypress, SAP, C#, Java, GitLab, Jira, Confluence, REST API, Postman, HP-ALM, SSI, Octane, WinSCP.

• Mobile Wallet/Mobile Pay
• Issuer & non payment product & partner manager
• Strategic alignment for Samsung Wallet for the future

• Modernised post-merger regulated payment-processing infrastructure (KRITIS).
• Established cloud-enabled platform and ensured PCI and regulatory compliance.