Christian Weinbörner - Interim Business Analyst / Product Owner

Dortmund, Germany

Experience

Feb 2024 - Present

2 years

Berlin, Germany

Interim Business Analyst / Product Owner

Federal Printing Office GmbH (via FourEnergy GmbH)

Initial assessment of requirements using a business value prioritization framework
Identifying issues and gathering and evaluating requirements using UML, BPMN, and design thinking methods for iterative requirements analysis through interviews and workshops
Using user story mapping in Miro to visualize and align functional requirements (e.g., correct transmission of all application data and their attachments to the specialist system) as well as non-functional requirements (e.g., complete and provable deletion of an applicant's data) with stakeholders
Proactive stakeholder management of internal and external stakeholders from authorities, business units, organizations, and companies
Creating status reports for transparent communication of project progress and upcoming tasks
Responsible for a REST-based integration solution (middleware) for secure data exchange between core systems and external specialist applications; ensuring stability and performance in ongoing operations
Supporting product owners in prioritizing requirements in the backlog and during product discovery
Communicating plans to internal and external stakeholders and temporarily taking over product owner tasks and responsibilities during staffing changes

Jan 2024 - Dec 2025

2 years

Developer

VaultLabs.ai

Designing and developing VaultLabs.ai, a highly secure AI chat solution for businesses and organizations to handle strictly confidential data
Focus on zero-knowledge data architecture, local AI model hosting, and compliance with German data protection regulations to ensure digital sovereignty
Strategic focus on open source and digital sovereignty, including active contributions to the open source community
Architecting and implementing a zero-knowledge platform with end-to-end encryption to secure data confidentiality throughout processing
Integrating local, self-hosted models to ensure data is processed only locally
Implementing granular role-based access control (RBAC) and detailed audit trails for compliance purposes
Ensuring responsive design and a seamless user experience across desktop, laptop, and mobile devices by using a modern web framework
Developing and optimizing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines to enrich large language models (LLMs) with domain-specific knowledge for generating precise and relevant responses

Jan 2024 - Dec 2024

1 year

Developer

FixThisBug.de

Developing a system for generating multilingual and context-aware error descriptions (German/English) to provide users with precise and understandable feedback and support effective debugging
Building and operating Supabase as a central data platform to support storage and management of analytics and correction data
Implementing Docker containers to standardize development, testing, and production environments, leading to more reliable platform deployments
Designing and implementing automatic code correction mechanisms with syntax highlighting to provide clear visual feedback and maximize understandability of corrections
Implementing a real-time code analysis engine using AI models for automated error checking and optimization suggestions
Integrating LLM backends (Ollama and vLLM) for flexible and high-performance code analysis and correction to improve efficiency and accuracy
Building an interactive learning component with a knowledge base for error prevention and long-term, sustainable improvement of code quality
Supporting a wide range of programming languages to provide a versatile and universally applicable code analysis and correction platform

Apr 2022 - Oct 2023

1 year 7 months

Berlin, Germany

Interim Product Owner

Federal Printing Office GmbH (via Questax AG)

Aligning and developing an overarching product vision with other product owners in the Federal Portal project and with the client using the Product Vision Canvas to sustainably advance the IT service portfolio
Gathering, documenting, and consolidating requirements using UML and BPMN to detail the modeling of the "Process Management" subproduct as part of the Online Access Act (OZG) implementation
Organizing and conducting regular workshops as part of product discovery with client-side stakeholders from various federal agencies to present, discuss, and validate project results
Using user story mapping in Miro to visualize and align product ideas with the client and end customers
Incorporating design thinking methods for continuous analysis, development, and domain validation of interactive prototypes against functional goals, using real production use cases in close collaboration with UX/UI designers
Preparing results as decision-making materials and optimization suggestions for the functional concept and system architecture
Quarterly review of goals and expectations with the client, development team, and management to analyze work results, identify improvement potentials, and ensure adherence to quality standards throughout the project
Providing regular advice to the client and internal stakeholders on prioritizing new and changed requirements and aligning them within the long-term product vision

Jan 2020 - Present

6 years 1 month

Founder and Managing Director (part-time)

Weinbörner UG

Part-time consulting and support for companies in AI, data integration, and business analytics
Developing tailored solutions for automated ETL processes of business data and subsequent AI integration for data analysis
Planning, designing, and implementing a platform for AI-assisted debugging ([link]
Product launch of a platform for secure AI usage for highly sensitive and private data ([link]

Jun 2019 - Feb 2022

2 years 9 months

Dortmund, Germany

Product Owner

IHK-GfI mbH

Responsible for developing the web app prototype and testing it with pilot customers, including planning and running functional tests to evaluate functionality and user acceptance, and continuously adjusting the prototype based on test results and feedback
Designed the product vision and strategy in workshops with pilot customers and the development team using user story mapping and product vision canvas to modernize the existing IT service portfolio
Presented initial product ideas as product pitches and demonstrated the prototype at the C-level of IHK-GfI and the pilot customers
Regularly validated drafts and prototypes through functional tests and user feedback using design sprints to continuously improve usability and functionality
Used Miro and business model canvas to validate and continuously adjust the product idea with stakeholders, including technical experts, domain experts, and pilot customers from the IHKs, in design thinking workshops
Shaped the business architecture by creating domain concepts and the application architecture by defining use cases
Planned and held improvement and feedback workshops with end users and maintained targeted stakeholder communication with domain experts and decision-makers, including using user story mapping to gather requirements and feedback
Conceptualized and implemented an AI use case for an automated approval process of auditors’ timesheets using machine learning

Feb 2015 - May 2019

4 years 4 months

Mülheim, Germany

Senior Project Associate

ALDI International Services GmbH & Co. oHG

Created domain concepts and use cases to enhance the product portfolio and converted them into user stories and test cases as guidelines for the development team in a hybrid project combining waterfall and agile methods
Modeled and visualized domain concepts using UML and BPMN to clearly show system architecture and processes for precise communication and technical planning
Documented customer feedback, requirements, and domain concepts in Confluence to ensure a central and transparent information base for the entire project team
Managed the international rollout of the mobile app, including related user training and workshops
Validated requirements together with customers through regular feedback sessions to ensure full coverage of customer needs
Coordinated external development partners to enhance interfaces and ensure compliance with quality standards and IT security guidelines
Introduced quality improvement measures with the external development partner to reduce errors and bugs in the application
Conducted workshops with central purchasing and international branches to envision and plan the next product release

Jan 2013 - Jan 2015

2 years 1 month

Dortmund, Germany

Embedded Software Developer

Fachhochschule Dortmund

Designed and developed a system for data collection and transmission via powerline communication
Implemented data integration protocols for heterogeneous sensor systems
Developed data models for efficient sensor data transfer
Conducted data analysis to optimize transmission quality

Jun 2010 - Dec 2012

2 years 7 months

Dortmund, Germany

Software Developer

Fraunhofer Institut für Software und Systemtechnik

Implemented data integration interfaces for medical devices in the AAL area
Developed data processing workflows for health data
Integrated heterogeneous data sources into a central platform
Maintained and supported the embedded Linux environment

Skills

Data Platforms: Etl Processes, Data Modeling, Devops & Ci/cd, Gitlab, Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes
Data Governance
Integration Tools: Rest Apis, Event-driven Architecture, Service Bus
Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Miro
Ai: Data Collection Pipelines, Rag, Embedding, Mlops & Fine-tuning
Databases: Relational Databases (Postgresql), Vector Databases (Qdrant, Chroma)