Podman Expert

Task: Operator development and observability

Technologies and skills: Kubernetes, Valkey-Operator, Crossplane, Backstage, OpenPortal, OTEL, Grafana Cloud, Azure DevOps, Artifactory, Flux, Alloy, Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, OCF, Copilot

What I did:

• Evaluated/developed Valkey-Operator
• Set up OpenTelemetry
• Integrated it with OpenPortal/Backstage/CrossPlane

Project: Defect Generation on Test-Bench Images of Metal Surfaces Environment: Automated Visual Inspection (AVI), Metallurgy & Manufacturing

• Objective & Implementation: Designed, architected, and trained Generative Adversarial Networks (Pix2PixHD / SPADE) for image-to-image transformation. Targeted generation of synthetic material defects (e.g., cracks, inclusions, scale) on rough metal surfaces under real test-bench lighting conditions for privacy-compliant and efficient dataset expansion (data augmentation).
• Technical Design: Implemented robust Generative AI and computer vision pipelines in Python and PyTorch. Used semantic segmentation approaches for mask-controlled defect synthesis and subsequent evaluation with EfficientDet object detection models.
• Business Impact: Massive dataset upscaling (10x) without time-consuming and costly physical test-bench runs, while significantly improving the detection performance of automated inspection systems.

Technologies & Skills Used: Python | PyTorch | SPADE | Pix2PixHD | EfficientDet | Machine Learning | Semantic Segmentation | Computer Vision

• 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

• Implementation of a full-stack application with Angular as frontend framework and Java as backend language
• Use of the Swagger OpenAPI specification for REST communication between frontend and backend applications
• Control of a card printer via the Nexus Card SDK framework
• Design and implementation of card management software with web interface and JavaFX module for printer monitoring
• Use of Cucumber tests for test automation and creation of test artifacts for testing outside the development environment
• Use of Wireshark for network investigations to analyze the API of a third-party product and to check the REST API of the self-developed software

• Responsible for the backlog and roadmap of a production SaaS compliance platform for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), with around 30 customers on AWS and Docker.
• Coordinated feature development and API integrations across 2 external and internal development teams.
• API integrations with the EU EUDR API and SAP.
• 70% fewer customer-reported issues, supporting ISO-27001 certification.

• Designed a migration strategy for WLS applications to BKA Cloud and Stack IT

• Created a hybrid cloud for internal testing and development with Kubernetes

• Transformed the IT landscape from an outdated monolithic architecture to a cloud-based architecture

• Integrated new CI/CD processes using Azure Pipelines

• Quadrupled the processing throughput for personnel security checks

• Migrated personnel security screening applications to Docker-based applications

• Implemented CI/deployment pipelines using Azure DevOps

• Environment: Java Springboot, Kubernetes, Oracle Weblogic, OpenID, Camunda, JUnit, TOGAF

• Ticket automation for smart devices; SharePoint
• Python, JavaScript, Java, Gradle
• CI/CD Git pipeline and secure programming

• Development and introduction of operations processes
• Preparation of complete documentation packages (including incident management and operations support) to meet compliance requirements
• Introduction of a workshop on IaC (Infrastructure as Code)
• Technical consulting for the project security concept (ISMS)
• Installation and operation of Kubernetes clusters on AWS, on-prem, and Azure
• Hybrid cloud architecture design (on-prem, Hetzner, AWS)
• Analysis and troubleshooting of incidents and system outages
• Network adjustments for firewall rules, gateways, OpenVPN settings, and IPsec tunnels (pfSense)
• Technical consulting on Bitbucket, Jenkins, and GitLab CI/CD pipelines
• Consulting on Ansible deployments and infrastructure automation
• Consulting on building a scalable system in the cloud (AWS / Azure)
• Technologies / Tools: Ansible, Terraform, AWS, Azure, VPN, pfSense, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Kubernetes, GitLab Runner, ISMS, Golang, Prometheus, Grafana, S3, Lambda, RDS, ECS, Cognito, OIDC, Harbor, MinIO, Postgres, Redis, Keycloak, Ceph, Proxmox, CloudFormation, PostgreSQL, Flux CD, Hetzner, IONOS, Sonatype Nexus Repository, Entra ID, Dex IdP, Pulumi

Task:

• Design and build a proof of concept (PoC) for a future-proof virtualization platform, taking secure system architectures into account
• Assess the current state of existing infrastructures and develop selection and evaluation criteria for the right OS virtualization platform
• Carry out the requirements analysis and then create and prioritize tickets in the ticket system
• Complete and continuously update a tool evaluation matrix based on PoC results
• Support team knowledge building through clear documentation of the approach and results in Confluence
• Enterprise analysis of existing hardware (creating different BoMs)

Technologies: Vmware, Vmware Aria Operations, Osism, Canonical OpenStack, FishOs, Linux, Terraform, Ansible, Confluence, Alma

Oracle Project Management and Automation

As part of the project, the operation of an Oracle infrastructure was automated through the development and enhancement of Puppet modules and the migration of existing Bash scripts to a standardized configuration management solution.

The project aimed to standardize and automate administrative processes, improve the maintainability of the Oracle platform, and increase the efficiency and traceability of infrastructure management through the use of Infrastructure as Code.

• Analyzed and migrated existing Bash shell scripts to a Puppet-based automation solution
• Developed and enhanced Puppet modules for Oracle environments
• Automated installation, configuration, and operational processes using Infrastructure as Code
• Standardized and optimized configuration management for Oracle systems
• Created and maintained technical and operational documentation
• Planned, coordinated, and provided technical support for project implementation
• Operated and automated Oracle systems on x86-based Linux server platforms
• Tested and ensured the quality of the developed Puppet modules
• Analyzed and resolved technical issues related to automation and migration
• Worked closely with business units and infrastructure teams to implement automation requirements

Technologies used: Puppet 7/8, SLES 15, Oracle 19, Oracle Grid, SVN, Windows Server, Confluence, VS Code, Ruby, Bash, Pass

Built and operated the entire infrastructure and observability platform for an AI agent evaluation platform on AWS/Kubernetes. Led the evolution of an AI-first cloud-native platform by building end-to-end observability, automating infrastructure and CI/CD, improving reliability and scalability, optimizing performance through data-driven engineering, and operating in an AI-native development workflow centered on rapid iteration, code review, and automation. Tech stack included Terraform, AWS, Kubernetes, Grafana, Github Actions, Python, and Cursor.

• Developed a new web app to manage and configure counting devices for large events
• Technologies: .NET 10, C#, Blazor, MudBlazor, MySQL, Git

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

Carve-out project: Creation of certification strategy, implementation and requirements plans across several standards — ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 22301, ISO/IEC 20000-1, BSI IT-Grundschutz and BSI TR- RESISCAN

• Cross-standard assessment of the current state and risk evaluation
• Coordination with stakeholders across departments: ISB, management, certification bodies, legal and data protection
• Consulting in the areas of information security, GRC and IT auditing