Professional Summary

Engineering leader with 25 years of experience building and scaling software systems, SaaS platforms, and engineering organizations of up to 50+ engineers. I specialize in scaling and restructuring teams to improve delivery speed, reliability, and organizational durability, with a background in multi-team leadership, leadership-layer design, people development, and cross-functional delivery.

I combine engineering leadership with hands-on technical judgment across architecture, system design, and complex problem solving in data-intensive and cloud-based platforms. My experience includes production reliability, platform engineering, distributed systems, technical decision-making, and translating complex technical work into executable plans across teams.

Over the past year, I have deepened my work in modern engineering practices through hands-on product building, platform engineering, and AI-assisted software delivery. I designed and validated a structured development approach connecting product definition, technical design, and implementation using coding agents and LLM-based tooling in a controlled, reviewable way. I have also built a geospatial AI agent that applies multi-step reasoning to location-specific analysis.

Skills & Expertise

Engineering Leadership: Scaling and restructuring engineering organizations, multi-layer leadership models, organizational design, high-autonomy teams, performance management

People Leadership: Coaching engineers and managers, leadership development, succession planning, hiring, feedback and career growth

Product, Delivery & Architecture: Product and platform engineering, cross-functional delivery, SaaS platforms, distributed systems, system design, production reliability, technical decision-making

Platform Engineering & CI/CD: Kubernetes, K3s, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD/GitOps, Docker, cloud deployment, developer experience, infrastructure prioritization, reliability and operability practices

AI-Assisted Delivery: Designing AI-assisted software delivery workflows, specification-driven development, task decomposition, coding-agent integration, context shaping, skill and tool orchestration, LLM-supported implementation and review

Agentic AI Workflows: OpenAI API, LangChain, LangGraph, LangSmith-based, geospatial AI agent development, multi-step reasoning workflows, structured selection of actions, metrics, and data context for location-specific analysis

Hands-On Technical Stack: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Material UI, Node.js, Express, Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Docker, Kubernetes/K3s, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, AWS, Hetzner, Keycloak

Professional Experience

Independent Product Architect & Engineer | GeoForm
Sep 2025 – Present

Impact: Used an independent hands-on build phase to deepen practical expertise in AI-assisted software delivery, agentic AI workflows, and modern platform engineering while designing and building GeoForm, a geospatial product serving as a proving ground for workflow design, coding-agent usage, and full-stack product implementation. In parallel, developed Shape, an artifact-driven workflow for controlled and reviewable AI-assisted delivery.

Key Highlights:

• Developed Shape as a Structured AI-Assisted Delivery Workflow: Designed and refined an artifact-driven workflow connecting product definition, technical design, implementation planning, and execution into a controlled and reviewable model for AI-assisted software development. Validated that the method transfers across multiple coding agents and model setups.
• Validated the Workflow Through Real Product Work: Applied Shape day to day while building GeoForm, using it across feature specification, task decomposition, implementation, and review in a live build environment rather than as a theoretical process concept.
• Built a Geospatial AI Agent: Implemented a LangChain/LangGraph-based geospatial AI agent using OpenStreetMap data, POI category selection, tile-based metric calculation, and selected tile inspection to support multi-step reasoning over location-specific questions.
• Built, Deployed, and Validated GeoForm in Real-World Scenarios: Delivered GeoForm end to end, deployed it on Hetzner and AWS, and used it in practical reporting contexts to validate the product and exercise the delivery workflow beyond internal prototyping.
• Modernized CI/CD and Platform Operations: Migrated GeoForm delivery to a modern GitHub Actions, ArgoCD/GitOps, and Kubernetes/K3s-based CI/CD model, gaining current hands-on working knowledge of cloud-native deployment, release automation, cluster-based operations, and developer workflow improvements.

Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Material UI, Node.js, Python, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, LangChain, LangGraph, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Kubernetes, AWS / Hetzner, Mapbox, GDAL, OpenStreetMap ecosystem, Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode.

VP Engineering | Schwarz Media Platform (Schwarz Dienstleistungen)
Jan 2023 – Aug 2025 | Remote

Impact: Led a 30-engineer, multi-disciplinary organization (Frontend, Backend, Data, ML, DevOps), delivering the first production release of the SMP platform across multiple European markets and establishing the foundations for reliable, scalable operation.

Key Highlights:

• Organizational Structuring & Leadership Layer: Stabilized a multi-team engineering organization with clear ownership and an Engineering Management layer. Established structures and operating practices that remained effective throughout platform delivery and subsequent scaling phases.
• Delivery of First SMP Platform Release: Led end-to-end engineering execution of the first SMP release across multiple markets, coordinating cross-team dependencies and aligning engineering, product, and platform stakeholders to deliver a production-ready system.
• Reliability & Operational Maturity: Introduced production-grade reliability practices, including SLOs, on-call structures, and incident response processes. Established a consistent approach to service ownership that enabled teams to operate and maintain their systems independently.
• People Leadership & Development: Managed Engineering Managers and senior engineers through regular one-on-ones and skip-level engagement. Supported career growth, performance management, and development of leadership capabilities within the organization.
• High-Autonomy Delivery Model: Shifted teams toward ownership-based delivery, reducing dependency on centralized coordination and enabling engineers to take responsibility for end-to-end outcomes while maintaining alignment across teams.
• Platform & Data Integration: Led the integration of the Schwarz Star Data Insights ecosystem, enabling reliable data exchange between SMP and Star platforms and ensuring a smooth transition of ownership and responsibilities across teams.
• Technical Product Ownership (Platform/DevOps): Acted as Technical Product Owner for infrastructure and DevOps initiatives, prioritizing improvements in deployment, developer experience, and platform stability.
• Product & Engineering Alignment: Translated product goals into executable technical scope, clarifying requirements, sequencing work, and aligning cross-team dependencies to ensure predictable delivery of complex platform initiatives.

Technologies: Go, Python, React, Airflow, Spark, BigQuery, Snowflake, Kubernetes, ArgoCD, GCP

SVP Engineering | TrustYou
Jan 2021 – Dec 2022 | Munich / Remote

Impact: Led and stabilized a 50+ engineer, multi-team organization across 12 teams, building a scalable leadership structure and restoring delivery capacity during a period of organizational transition and remote-first shift.

Key Highlights:

• Organizational Design & Scaling: Built and formalized a multi-layer engineering organization across 12 teams, introducing Director and Engineering Manager roles, clear ownership and decision-making structures, and a structured engineering salary grid to improve organizational clarity and consistency.
• Leadership Development & Succession: Identified, promoted, and coached internal leaders into Engineering Manager and Director roles, strengthening leadership capacity and enabling decentralized decision-making across the organization.
• Department Stabilization & Capacity Rebuild: Rebuilt team capacity and delivery stability following organizational and market changes, restoring predictable execution across platform teams.
• Remote-First Transformation: Led the transition to a remote-first operating model, establishing communication practices, team structures, and working agreements that maintained productivity, engagement, and retention.
• Delivery Governance & Engineering Standards: Introduced lightweight governance mechanisms, including DORA KPIs, technology radar, and architecture chapters, improving visibility, alignment, and engineering decision-making without slowing delivery.
• Product & Engineering Alignment: Partnered closely with the CEO and Product leadership to align technical execution with business priorities, supporting informed trade-offs and predictable delivery of complex platform initiatives.
• Platform Evolution & Technology Adoption: Supported adoption of scalable data and infrastructure technologies (e.g., ClickHouse, Kubernetes, ArgoCD) to improve system performance and support growing product demands.

Technologies: Python, Ruby, React, ClickHouse, Airflow, Spark, Hadoop, Kubernetes, ArgoCD, AWS

Director of Engineering | TrustYou
Jul 2017 – Dec 2020 | Munich

Impact: Scaled the engineering organization from 2 to 5 teams (~25 engineers), establishing the initial leadership structure, delivery practices, and technical foundations that supported the company’s subsequent growth.

Key Highlights:

• Team Scaling & Organizational Foundations: Expanded the engineering organization from 2 to 5 cross-functional teams, introducing initial team structures, ownership boundaries, and coordination mechanisms across platform components and shared services.
• Leadership Development: Managed Engineering Managers and mentored senior engineers, developing early leadership capacity within the organization and preparing the foundation for a multi-layer structure.
• Delivery of Complex Initiatives: Coordinated delivery across engineering, QA, and Professional Services (~50 people total), enabling execution of complex, cross-functional platform initiatives.
• Operational Maturity: Introduced incident management and root cause analysis practices, improving system reliability and establishing a consistent approach to handling production issues.
• Engineering Practices & Career Growth: Implemented structured career paths and OKR-based workflows, supporting performance management, transparency, and professional development across teams.
• Frontend & Quality Improvements: Established frontend (React) and QA chapters, improving development consistency, collaboration, and overall product quality.
• Product Collaboration: Partnered closely with Product and business stakeholders to deliver new platform capabilities, including TrustYou Restaurants and Mobile, expanding the product offering and supporting new revenue streams.

Technologies: Python, Ruby, React, React Native, PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS, Heroku

Team Manager | TrustYou
Jan 2014 – Jun 2017 | Munich

Managed a team of ~10 engineers responsible for TrustYou Analytics. Worked closely with engineers on system design, delivery planning, and production support while coordinating development, QA, and operations delivery.

Technical Project Manager | TrustYou
Jun 2013 – Dec 2016 | Munich

Led technical delivery of the Accor Voice of the Guest platform, used by 4,000+ hotels worldwide. Acted as the main technical contact for Accor-specific platform development, translating customer requirements into executable technical work and coordinating engineering teams, product stakeholders, rollout activities, and delivery across multiple markets.

Senior Software Architect | TrustYou
Jan 2011 – Dec 2013 | Munich

Designed and implemented core components of the TrustYou platform, including data processing workflows, SSO services, and analytics systems that formed the foundation of the company’s analytics and data platform.

Technologies: Java, JavaScript, Python, Hadoop, PostgreSQL

Earlier Career

Senior Developer | HDPublish (2010–2011)
Designed and developed HDtrack, a web-based eCRM platform for PR and communications professionals.

Senior Software Engineer | Avid Technology (2007–2009)
Led development of data migration components for the Interplay media platform.

Senior Technical Consultant | Autonomy (2006–2007)
Worked primarily on-site with customers, developing enterprise search platform extensions for KPMG using the Autonomy IDOL stack.

Team Lead / Analyst | ABG S.A. (2002–2006)
Led server-side implementation for the CEPiK national vehicle registry system and contributed to large-scale government system design. Worked as a system analyst on the IACS system for ARiMR, collaborating directly with customer representatives on PRD-level requirements.

Education

M.Sc. Computer Science | Wroclaw University of Technology
M.Sc. Marketing and Management | Wroclaw University of Economics

Certifications

• Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO)
• Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
• Sun Certified Enterprise Architect
• Sun Certified Web Component Developer
• Sun Certified Programmer