IT Service Management Experts in Cologne

Analysis and optimization of end-to-end processes in various business areas such as sales, procurement, order processing, and logistics. Redesign of the ERP system. Identification of optimization potential, especially in areas with media discontinuities and manual activities, as well as creation of a prioritized transformation roadmap with clear business cases and implementation recommendations. Management of automation initiatives. RPA at the production site in China. Evaluation and introduction of relevant AI use cases, as well as building basic AI capabilities within the organization. Training internal project team members and supporting them throughout the transformation process to develop a culture of continuous improvement. Close collaboration with IT and external implementation partners, with reporting to senior management.

Main responsibilities and achievements:

• Analysis of business processes and design of automated processes
• Training and support for employees in China and Germany
• 20% cost savings in logistics
• Regular status reports to senior management

Responsible for the IT operations of a medium-sized mechanical engineering company (approximately 2 000 employees, annual revenue of approximately 400 million euros worldwide). Direct responsibility for 13 employees. At the same time, project manager for an internal carve-out (commercial and technical separation of the two business units worldwide).

Industry: Mechanical and plant engineering

Function: Director IT

• Responsibility for outsourced IT operations; provider management and service management.
• Responsibility for the complete separation of the two business units (applications, SAP R//3, Active Directory, IT infrastructure, ...); project planning and management; selection and management of service providers.
• TiSAX certification for one business unit; budget planning 2025 ff.
• Establishment and structuring of application operations, including the definition of operating models, SLAs/KPIs, and provider management in the SAP environment.
• Preparation of the operating organization for application operations of S/4 Hana (private cloud).

Project: Rollout of new infrastructure components

• Defined and managed the implementation of an overarching management framework with clear roles and responsibilities as part of the hardware rollout.
• Designed and established governance and control mechanisms, including the development of compliance requirements and processes for continuous quality assurance, supported by ServiceNow.
• Coordinated technical activities between service, infrastructure and specialist teams to ensure the smooth delivery and commissioning of printers and notebooks.
• Created a detailed rollout plan with specific timelines, milestones and responsibilities.
• Managed the procurement, delivery, testing, configuration, installation and on-site commissioning of hardware, including integration into existing IT systems.
• Established and continuously optimized processes for the procurement, distribution and use of printers and notebooks.
• Developed and implemented standardized provisioning processes, analyzed existing procedures, harmonized the processes involved and ensured compliance with security, compliance and quality requirements.
• Introduced agile methods to continuously improve the hardware provisioning process.
• Promoted collaboration through clear responsibilities and communication structures between internal IT teams and external service providers.
• Documented and monitored rollout progress, created rollout reports and tracked hardware implementation in real time.
• Supported change management and organized and delivered training sessions for end users.
• Created user manuals and online resources.
• Analyzed the existing hardware landscape, created hardware inventories, assessed current equipment and checked hardware compatibility.
• Developed detailed infrastructure mappings.
• Planned, organized and conducted structured interviews with key stakeholders and created requirements documents.

• PRISMA project
• Ansible automation
• Windows third-level support for Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2013, Windows 2016, Windows 2019

• Program Manager for a strategically highly relevant compliance project in the enterprise segment (C4)
• Management of 6 workstreams
• Establishment of the project organization, communication structures, project and budget planning, risk management
• Reporting to CIO
• Moderation of steering committee meetings
• Moderation of critical solution processes
• Responsibility for adapting the operating model of the IT organizations in Germany, the EU and India, including planning and managing the relocation of affected employees

• Responsibility, also as rollout manager, for the successful transition of a basic OZG platform into the client's standard operations by planning and implementing measures along Service Transition and Service Operation according to ITIL, including workshops in a SAFe environment with more than 40 operational stakeholders
• Building and maintaining cross-organizational stakeholder relationships by organizing and running various information sessions on technical configurations and user guides (platform and EfA services)
• Designing and improving various operational and project documents such as the ITIL operations manual, OLA, SLA, service support concept and rollout instructions
• Modeling project-based processes according to BPMN 2.0, EPK and UML related to OZG services with the goal of integrating them into the operational e-government process landscape (SOA)
• Coordinating operational stakeholders and KPI reporting to the project management team using agile methods according to SAFe
• Tech stack / tools: Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneNote, Outlook, Teams), Skype for Business, Cisco Webex, ADONIS, MindManager, Jira, Confluence

• 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)

• Successfully transformed an established support/ITSM team into an agile product development team.
• Realigned a formerly cohesive DevOps team that had drifted apart by developing a shared strategy and improving collaboration with a more data-driven mindset.
• Took on the role of Product Owner during the extended absence of the original Product Owner while guiding the team toward self-organization and adopting a customer-centric perspective.
• Designed, developed and implemented an AI initiative to systematically tap into artificial intelligence potential within the business unit.
• Managed stakeholders and developed and conducted an AI Design Thinking workshop, including AI fundamentals and insights.
• Trained the excellence cluster (UX/strategy/agile methods) on artificial intelligence as a methodological competency in team coaching.
• Provided strategic consulting and coaching to the Demand & Innovation team on process optimization, focusing on efficiency gains and improved prioritization mechanisms.
• Developed and delivered tailored training to promote agile mindsets and practices for various audiences, from development teams to leadership levels.
• Facilitated large-group workshops to foster cross-department collaboration and improve communication structures.
• Introduced OKR methodology for strategic team alignment and to promote transparent performance measurement.
• Provided conflict coaching and mediation in critical team situations to create a trusting and productive work atmosphere.
• Supported change management with a focus on the Prosci methodology for the sustainable embedding of new ways of working and digital transformation.
• Member of the Leading X leadership team.

• Spearheaded strategic and operational oversight of IT infrastructures to accelerate innovation and ensure audit-proof delivery.
• Acted as key liaison between management, business departments, and engineering, actively engaging in coding, cloud architecture, and CI/CD to resolve critical path challenges.
• Engineered and implemented an AI Governance Program to manage risks and ensure compliance with the EU AI Act, reducing AI use-case approval times from 8 to 3 weeks.
• Delivered and deployed secure AI systems into production (RAG-based knowledge platforms), resulting in a 35% decrease in standard support ticket volume.
• Established robust security standards and governance frameworks for APIs (OAuth2/OIDC, mTLS) and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP) to guarantee compliance and system integrity.
• Hardened cloud infrastructure by implementing Zero Trust principles and a comprehensive observability stack (logging/alerting), achieving 99.9% availability in a 24/7 on-call environment.

• All Windows clients are managed in a hybrid, central AD
• Client standardization
• Implementation of information security policy requirements
• Development of new infrastructure services delivered as a managed service by a new provider
• New IT platform is a central and secure directory service
• M365 Azure AD
• MS terminal services
• Zscaler
• M365 cloud for workplace management
• PaaS / SaaS is procured through a new provider

• Service owner of the receivables management platform Ikarus
• Management and coordination of external 1st-level service providers
• Team leadership and building ITIL-compliant support structures
• Managing the handover to 3rd-level support (internal & external, incl. vendor/development)
• Stakeholder management between the business unit, IT, and external partners
• Jira ticket automations and maintenance of Confluence documentation

• Created as-is network documentation for a Bechtle customer
• Analyzed existing configurations and adjusted them
• Advised on Fortinet and Check Point products
• Troubleshot complex routing, switching and application issues
• Tools: MS Azure, FortiManager, Cisco Nexus & Catalyst, Cisco WLAN Controller, Citrix Netscaler SD-WAN, MS Visio, Checkpoint VSX, Wireshark

• Supporting the application of agile principles and practices
• Training and coaching the Scrum team and leaders in agile ways of working and self-organization
• Running retrospectives and identifying continuous improvement actions
• Identifying impediments and coordinating actions to remove them
• Coordinating sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives
• Supporting the management of project tools (JIRA, Confluence, Concept-Board)
• Establishing additional Scrum teams and promoting cross-team communication and metrics

• Hybrid role as the first software engineer in the company to bootstrap the organization, laying out technical foundation and advising management on organizational aspects.
• Set up the SaaS platform architecture, selected languages and tools, and designed processes to deliver customer value quickly and reliably.
• Designed and implemented build and continuous deployment pipeline with multi-tenant approach enabling extreme scaling of the SaaS platform.
• Established initial ITSM and support processes, provided monitoring and alarming, and participated in the on-call team.
• Proposed new approaches to scale the platform and improve backend interfaces to mitigate bugs and communication overhead.
• Mentored new employees and served as a trustful team member and lateral leader.
• Conducted interviews for technical roles.
• Used technologies: Typescript, Node.js, Bash, Google Cloud Platform (App Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Google Endpoints, Firebase), GitHub Actions, Docker, Terraform, MongoDB, Firebase, REST APIs, GraphQL.