As a dedicated and strategic Global Lead DevSecOps and Head of the DevOps Center of Competence (CoC), I bring significant experience in establishing and scaling modern software development, security, and operational practices within a global organization.
My work contributes to organizational improvements by building effective international teams from the ground up, defining and implementing company-wide processes, promoting user-centric platform engineering principles, and acting as a catalyst for digital cultural transformation.
I am skilled in fostering cross-functional collaboration, engaging with stakeholders at all levels, and aligning technology initiatives with strategic business objectives - such as B. Braun's data-centric "Digital Excellence" strategy - to enhance efficiency, mitigate risk, and improve digital product delivery.
Currently, I also serve as Product Owner for the Developer Platform, guiding its roadmap and ensuring it meets the evolving needs of internal development teams through agile practices (Scrum/Kanban), feature definition, and backlog management.
Professional Summary
[since 03/2024] Global Lead DevSecOps & Head of CoC DevOps
Leading the DevSecOps Strategy & DevOps Center of Competence
Currently spearheading global DevSecOps strategy, building the central DevOps CoC from the ground up, and guiding the evolution of user-centric internal developer platforms to support company-wide digital excellence.
Led the B. Braun Health Cloud initiative, significantly driving cloud adoption and modernizing critical infrastructure within a regulated (GxP, ISO 27001) medical technology environment.
[12/2017 - 01/2021 ] Senior System Architect
Technical Architecture Lead: Health Cloud & IoMT
Played a pivotal role in designing foundational cloud-native PaaS solutions and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) architecture, crucial for B. Braun's digital product strategy and transformation.
[01/2014 - 12/2017] Senior System Engineer
Linux System Engineer/Architect
Established and scaled the enterprise Linux environment, introduced Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, and modernized core IT systems through strategic migrations.
[10/2010 - 12/2013 ] Freelance IT Consultant
Service Delivery & System Engineering
Provided specialized consultancy to the automotive industry (primarily Audi AG), focusing on High-Performance Computing (HPC) and large-scale Linux environments.
[01/2007 - 06/2009] System Engineer, science + computing ag
High Performance Computing (HPC)
Delivered key infrastructure consulting for HPC clusters, building a strong technical foundation in complex system integration for major clients like Audi AG.
[01/2006 - 12/2006] System Administrator, CUNet GmbH
Web Services & Virtualization
Managed web services and introduced early Linux virtualization technologies, optimizing infrastructure for web and mail server clusters.
Core Capabilities
Strategic Leadership
Building and scaling international DevSecOps teams and Center of Competence; defining and implementing company-wide technical strategies and processes from inception.
Platform Engineering & Product Ownership
Leading the vision, roadmap, and development of data-centric cloud platforms (Microsoft Azure) and developer enablement tools.
DevSecOps & Automation
Implementing comprehensive CI/CD workflows, Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, and embedding security (DevSecOps) throughout the software lifecycle.
Cultural Transformation
Acting as a catalyst for adopting agile methodologies, cloud-native practices, and a collaborative DevOps mindset across global organizations.
Compliance & Regulated Environments
Ensuring solutions meet stringent requirements such as GxP, ISO 27001, and Computerized System Validation (CSV).
Professional Experience
This is a detailed overview of my professional experience, showcasing my roles, responsibilities, and achievements in various positions, emphasizing my career progression and expertise in DevSecOps, cloud engineering, and digital transformation.
Current Position
Global Lead DevSecOps (since March 2024) & Head of DevOps Center of Competence (CoC) (since December 2024)
As Global Lead DevSecOps, I am responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of DevSecOps practices. Concurrently, as Head of the DevOps CoC (established December 2024 and to which I was immediately assigned), my focus is on building this central function from scratch, leading its growing international team, and guiding the adoption of modern, efficient, and secure software delivery methodologies across the company.
Key Responsibilities & Achievements
Strategic Leadership & CoC Development (Built from Scratch)
Spearheaded the establishment and now leading the DevOps Center of Competence (CoC) from its inception, creating a central, company-wide function providing expert guidance, standardized tooling, and operational support for DevSecOps practices.
Hold direct personnel responsibility for a specialized team of 4 engineers, with active recruitment for 7 additional roles, continuously scaling and growing the team to meet evolving business demands.
Defined job profiles and role definitions for CoC team growth and implemented a comprehensive technical assessment process for hiring specialized DevOps engineers.
Fostering knowledge transfer and capability building within the CoC and wider organization.
Overseeing CoC support and collaboration across key international development hubs and Shared Service Centers (Barcelona, Sofia, Poznan, Freiburg, Tuttlingen, Melsungen), with strategic planning for expansion to Malaysia and Colombia to enable 24x7 "Follow the Sun" global operations.
Process & Platform Transformation
Designed, implemented, and rolled out the company's first standardized DevSecOps process from scratch within three months, establishing a unified framework for secure and efficient software development and delivery lifecycles, aligning with B. Braun's data-centric "Digital Excellence" strategy.
Initiated and guided a strategic shift in the company's cloud platform approach by promoting user-centric platform engineering principles. Advocated for and facilitated the creation of a dedicated Platform Engineering team, fostering collaboration with the Infrastructure Platform team to redesign the cloud platform for enhanced usability and effectiveness.
As Product Owner for the internal Developer Platform, define and manage the product vision and roadmap, gather user requirements, translate needs into user stories and product features, manage stakeholder expectations, negotiate contracts, and coordinate between platform teams and product development teams to ensure it serves as a critical enabler for our digital foundation services.
Compliance & Risk Management
Actively developing and implementing key compliance initiatives, including a new Software Release Process (securing preliminary QM approval), adaptation of the Computerized System Validation (CSV) process for cloud-native development, and validation of the standard toolchain to meet GxP and ISO 27001 requirements.
Technical Enablement & Support
Provided valuable hands-on consulting and support to multiple product teams developing B. Braun's Anchor Products, building their infrastructure from scratch and implementing tailored release workflows to enable self-sufficient delivery processes, even prior to the formal establishment of the current role.
Future Vision & Continuous Improvement
Actively planning the implementation of DORA metrics and the adoption of the CNCF Cloud Native Maturity Model to objectively measure performance, identify bottlenecks, and drive a culture of continuous improvement within software delivery and operations.
Platform Owner & Product Owner
B. Braun Health Cloud
B. Braun SE - Melsungen, Germany January 2021 - March 2024 (3 years 3 months)
Led the design, development, and overall responsibility for the B. Braun Health Cloud, a cloud-native platform supporting modern digital medical applications within a regulated GxP and ISO 27001 compliant environment.
Defined product vision, features, and roadmap; managed backlog and release planning using agile (Scrum/Kanban) methodologies.
Collaborated with strategic partners to drive multi-regional deployments on Azure, ensuring high service quality, reliability, and scalability.
Promoted the adoption of cloud technologies and agile practices across the organization, acting as a catalyst for digital cultural transformation.
Led a developer enablement program (08.2018 - 12.2020) focused on cloud-native practices, delivering hands-on workshops on containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), Azure cloud resource management, microservice architecture, and event-driven design.
Senior System Architect
Technical Architecture Lead: B. Braun Health Cloud
B. Braun Melsungen AG - Melsungen, Germany January 2018 - January 2021 (3 years 1 month)
Led the technical architecture and design of a provider-agnostic cloud platform (PaaS concept for "Digital Product Factory"), including cloud provider selection (Azure) and implementation of GitOps principles.
Architected and led the implementation of a fully automated "source to production" CI/CD toolchain (Git, Jenkins, Spinnaker, Kubernetes, Docker), significantly improving deployment efficiency for digital product teams.
Worked closely with strategic partners on multi-regional deployments and service quality.
Championed cloud services adoption and modern development mindsets within the company.
Acted as a key enabler for the digital transformation of B. Braun, promoting cloud-native practices and agile methodologies across the organization.
Technical Architecture Lead: Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)
B. Braun Melsungen AG - Melsungen, Germany December 2017 - April 2019 (1 year 5 months)
Led the technical architecture to connect medical devices from regulated environments to the B. Braun Health Cloud.
Defined core concepts, selected appropriate IoT architecture, and led vendor evaluation (e.g., PTC Thingworx, Azure IoT, SAP Leonardo).
Advised business units on smart device integration for various IoMT initiatives.
Ensured operational stability and optimization of the AIX and Linux landscape, including incident, service request, and change management.
Designed and built a scalable Linux environment and deployment infrastructure from scratch.
Defined a Standard Operating Environment (SOE), OS lifecycle, and automated operational processes.
Implemented Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles using Ansible; led the technical migration from Puppet to Ansible for configuration management, including dynamic inventory design and automated testing.
Successfully migrated critical systems (Webservices, SAP, Oracle) from AIX and Windows to Linux.
Engineered and led the phased implementation and upgrades of Red Hat Satellite 6 for centralized Linux environment management.
Developed and implemented a comprehensive operations concept for the global Linux environment, including OS lifecycle management and international support structures.
Led the planning and build-out of the Linux infrastructure for the migration of the SAP landscape from AIX to Linux.
Freelance IT Consultant
IT Consultant & System Engineer
IT Beratung Sebastian Ickler - Ingolstadt, Germany October 2010 - December 2013 (3 years 3 months)
Provided consultancy to the automotive industry (primarily Audi AG) on Linux deployment, configuration, and HPC.
Specialized in high-performance compute (HPC) clusters (e.g., planning 500-node cluster infrastructure module for Audi AG) and large-scale Linux workstation environments (2000+).
Led projects involving KPI measurement systems (Python, Django, HighCharts) and PoCs for Windows desktop virtualization on Linux with 3D acceleration (RHEV, Citrix HDX).
System Engineer
High Performance Computing (HPC)
science + computing ag - Ingolstadt, Germany January 2007 - June 2009 (2 years 6 months)
Delivered infrastructure consulting for High-Performance Compute (HPC) clusters at Audi AG.
Integrated HPC systems with Infiniband into operational structures, created RHEL-based installation images, and configured rapid deployment systems (scVenus).
Supported CAx workstations based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
System Administrator
Web Services & Virtualization
CUNet GmbH - Munich, Germany January 2006 - December 2006 (1 year)
Managed web services, introduced Linux virtualization (vServer), and optimized infrastructure.
Planned and integrated a redundant, highly available web and mail server cluster (Apache, MySQL, Postfix, Courier).
Education
Technical University Munich
Munich, Germany
Studies in Information Technology (2004 - 2006)
K+S IT Services GmbH (formerly "data process GmbH")
