Cologne · Development Lead · 15+ Years
Engineering leadership with implementation depth.
I lead and deliver software initiatives end-to-end: from architecture and platform strategy to reliable production delivery. With 15+ years of experience, I combine strong engineering fundamentals with pragmatic leadership to build scalable systems and effective teams.
Dev Lead · Ampega
01 — About
About Me
I am a Development Lead and Full Stack Software Engineer based in Cologne. Over more than 15 years I have delivered software across the full lifecycle, from architecture and implementation through operations and continuous improvement.
In my current role at Ampega I own technical direction, delivery governance and team enablement. That means defining architectural standards, aligning stakeholders, and keeping releases stable and predictable in a complex enterprise environment.
- Domains
- Financial services, asset management, enterprise software
- Languages
- German (native) · Russian (native) · English (business fluent)
- Based in
- Cologne, Germany
- What I do
- I design and evolve event-driven, service-oriented systems, lead teams through demanding delivery phases, and establish development practices that hold up under pressure. My core stack is TypeScript, Java, Vue, Docker and Kubernetes, grounded in Domain-Driven Design, CQRS and Event Sourcing.
- How I work
- Sustainable software comes from clear architecture, strong ownership and disciplined execution. I favour pragmatic decisions, transparent communication and iterative delivery. Technology choices have to earn their place through business value and long-term maintainability.
- Where I am heading
- I work actively on AI-driven engineering, evaluating autonomous agents, Model Context Protocol and Retrieval-Augmented Generation against real developer productivity rather than hype. Alongside that I mentor junior developers and share knowledge through code reviews and technical exchange.
02 — Experience
Fifteen years of delivery
Jan 2022 – Present
Development Lead – Technical Lead
- Led delivery of business-critical software initiatives using Scrum, including roadmap planning, milestone ownership, and cross-team coordination
- Drove backlog strategy and prioritization to align technical execution with product and business goals
- Designed and evolved scalable web application architectures with a focus on reliability, maintainability, and security
- Managed engineering execution, resolved delivery bottlenecks, and improved team throughput through clear technical governance
- Integrated DevOps practices into delivery workflows, including deployment standards and operational quality controls
- Planned and implemented interfaces to internal enterprise systems for robust end-to-end process integration
Oct 2019 – Jan 2022
Project Lead – Product Owner – Development Consultant
- Managed software development projects from requirements definition through implementation and rollout
- Designed web application solutions with clear domain modeling and structured technical specifications
- Acted as Product Owner in customer environments, balancing stakeholder expectations with delivery feasibility
- Advised clients on Atlassian ecosystems (Jira, Confluence), including process optimization and tool adoption
Jan 2015 – Oct 2019
Full Stack Software Developer & Atlassian Consultant
- Developed, tested, and deployed modular software solutions with high availability and production-grade quality standards
- Designed and implemented Jira and Confluence extensions tailored to enterprise workflow requirements
- Improved existing systems through structured bug fixing, performance optimization, and environment-specific adaptations
- Delivered web client applications with a strong focus on usability, maintainability, and integration readiness
- Consulted on Jira and Confluence implementations in enterprise settings, including installation, configuration, and customization
- Conducted user and administrator training to improve adoption, process clarity, and platform effectiveness
Jul 2010 – Jul 2016
Freelance
Software Developer
Freelance
- Delivered website projects based on Joomla and WordPress, including setup, customization, and client-specific features
- Built custom web solutions for small and medium-sized business requirements
- Implemented and customized Atlassian environments for project collaboration and workflow management
- Developed Jira and Confluence extensions to automate and standardize recurring business processes
03 — Skills
The stack I build with
Languages
- Java
- JavaScript
- Python
- TypeScript
Frameworks & Libraries
- Axon
- GraphQL
- Hibernate
- JPA
- Lombok
- MapStruct
- NodeJS
- Nuxt
- Prisma
- Quarkus
- React
- Spring
- VueJS
Infrastructure & Cloud
- AWS
- Azure
- CloudFoundry
- Docker
- Helm
- Kafka
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
Databases
- Elasticsearch
- Liquibase
- MongoDB
- MySQL
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
Testing
- ArchUnit
- JUnit
- Mockito
- Selenium
- Spock
- TestContainers
Security
- Keycloak
- SonarQube
- Veracode
Observability
- Grafana
- OpenTelemetry
- Prometheus
- Splunk
AI & ML
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- GitHub Copilot
- MCP
Practices & Architecture
04 — Credentials
Education & certifications
Education
Master of Science – Computer Science
2026 – Present In progress
- AI & Machine Learning
- Distributed Systems
- Software Engineering
Bachelor of Science – Computer Science
2010 – 2015
- Database Programming
- Java Programming
- Mobile Computing
Bachelor of Business Administration
2012 – 2015
- Business Administration
- Economics
- Management
Certifications
Atlassian Sales Professional
04/2019
Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator
11/2017
Atlassian Marketing Professional
08/2017
Atlassian Operations Professional
08/2017
05 — Working together
How I work with teams
Collaboration
Are you looking for a new role?
I am where I want to be: at Ampega in Cologne, with work that challenges me and people I enjoy working with. This site is my profile, not an offer. That said, I rarely turn down a good conversation.
Where are you most effective?
Wherever responsibility and shaping things come together. I do not want to decide without understanding what I am deciding on — and I want to bring along the people who will carry it. I am most at home with questions that have no ready-made answer yet. What counts is not my role anyway, but what a team achieves together.
How do you approach something new?
With curiosity and no settled opinion. I look first at how things actually are rather than how they are described — the interesting part is almost always in the gap between the two. Not knowing something I consider no weakness. Not wanting to know is.
Team
How do you support less experienced colleagues?
By handing over real responsibility and then not hovering. Experience cannot be explained, it comes from doing it yourself — and that includes being allowed to make mistakes. Anyone afraid of them stops taking chances and learns nothing. My job is to create the setting where a mistake surfaces early and costs no one anything.
What do you expect from a team?
Openness while a problem is still small — and the ambition not only to name what is not working, but how it could be better. Beyond that, the willingness to look past your own patch and occasionally past your own role. And the attitude of never being finished with learning, and of letting others share in it. Disagreement on the substance is expressly welcome.
Get in touch
Good to meet you.
This site is my professional profile rather than an offer. If you want to reach me — a question, an exchange, or just to say hello — email, LinkedIn and Xing all work.