Samir Soliman - Project Manager in the Cybersecurity Department for 2 operational companies of the RWE Group

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Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Experience

Mar 2023 - Present

2 years 5 months

Essen, Germany

Project Manager in the Cybersecurity Department for 2 operational companies of the RWE Group

RWE AG

Introduced the new group cybersecurity strategy based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
Managed, coached, and guided the OpCo in their cybersecurity status quo analysis according to the NIST CSF methodology.
Conducted gap analysis vs. industry benchmark and target maturity level.
Client: CISO of RWE AG.
Further details are currently confidential.

Nov 2022 - Mar 2023

5 months

Mannheim, Germany

Analysis and Documentation of Today’s IAM Joiner, Leaver and Mover Processes

ABB

Status quo analysis of current joiner, leaver, and mover processes covering process, data, systems, and involved roles and groups.
From central HR system through ServiceNow ticketing, Microsoft Identity Management Server to global Active Directory.
Developed new process proposals to reduce and simplify steps and increase automation for the future joiner, leaver, and mover process as basis for implementing in the new IAM tool Clearsky.
Client: Global Head of IAM.
Process analysis including involved parties (RACI matrix).
Data flow and trigger analysis.
Technical analysis of involved systems.
Tabular and graphical documentation.
Analyzed and consolidated current Active Directory standards for forest & domain structure, naming conventions for users, groups, and OUs.
Collected country deviation aspects.
Dimension: 5 domains worldwide, 180,000 user and service accounts, Azure sync + O365 usage.
Developed and aligned with HR and AD team a simplified, more automated IAM process workflow for implementation in Clearsky.
Weekly sync with the Global Head of Active Directory.

Sep 2022 - Oct 2022

2 months

Mannheim, Germany

Status Quo Analysis and Risk Assessment (Heat Map)

ABB

Designed and piloted a status quo infrastructure analysis and risk assessment (heat map) for 2 sites, covering servers and business-critical applications and compared with current CMDB (ServiceNow) data and other in-house solution.
Developed interview guide and question list.
Created data collection guide per site; based on OBASHI model (Ownership, Business Process, Application, System, Infrastructure).
Developed customer risk classification guide.
Built complex PowerBI/Excel sheets to consolidate and analyze exports from ServiceNow CMDB, the internal tool, and VMware vCenter for data alignment, consistency check, and dependency mapping.
Conducted technical interviews at sites.
Summarized results in a management presentation.

Aug 2022 - Oct 2022

3 months

Essen, Germany

Taskforce Lead

Lowell Group – DACH Region

Organized rebuild of customer reporting after cyber-attack.
Conditions: Loss of decentralized DWH and data basis for monthly customer reports on legacy platform. Fully rebuilt data in central DWH and redeveloped all reports on modern central reporting platforms.
Aligned with customer management team on report priorities.
Agreed acceptance criteria with operations team for needed reports.
Coordinated with data warehouse team for fastest data delivery in DWH.
Daily meetings with BI team on status and blocking issues in report development.
Organized temporary SMEs via central demand management board.

Feb 2022 - Jul 2022

6 months

Berlin, Germany

Pre-project for the main "Digitalization of Berlin Schools" project

Senatsverwaltung

Designed ICT target architecture: analyzed current state and developed target architecture considering Berlin’s ICT architecture guidelines.
Details are currently confidential.
Conditions: E-Government law implementation of Berlin’s 2021 digital strategy and ICT architecture guidelines.

Jun 2021 - Dec 2021

7 months

Nuremberg, Germany

Took Over Ongoing Program due to Program Manager Change

Consorsbank Private Investing (PI) / BNP Paribas

Interim program management for Windows Client integration program of Consorsbank PI Germany into BNP Paribas Group including Win7 to Win10 migration.
Dedicated team: application packaging engineer, technical application troubleshooter, network troubleshooting expert, UAT specialist, test & reporting coordinator, rollout team.
Close cooperation with IAM/IDM team.
Weekly progress reviews with BNP group.
Monthly steering committee with Germany CIO & CEO.
Biggest challenge: managing complex application dependencies and organizing technical solutions for legacy apps to meet group’s higher security standards.

Mar 2021 - May 2021

3 months

Essen, Germany

Support in Building Program Governance

Lowell Group – DACH Region

With 3 colleagues, developed governance framework for multimillion software development program to improve collaboration and stay audit-ready.
Defined organizational structure.
Set documentation requirements.
Managed templates.
Meeting management and minutes definitions.
Defined roles.
Risk management and reporting.
Procurement process within program.
On-/offboarding processes.
Supplier management and approval process.
Invoice receipt, review, and approval.
Set program roadmap guardrails.
Set resource management guardrails.

Jul 2020 - Feb 2021

8 months

Essen, Germany

Board-Level Project (top DACH priority until 15.02.21)

Lowell Group – DACH Region

Led migration of key 고객’s dedicated system environment to new strategic platform for new consumer portal and electronic payment options.
12 streams, ~30 members.
Agile planning; hundreds of story points.
Overview:
Complete status quo analysis of 40+ workflows, 140+ letter templates, 35+ reports, 10+ interfaces.
Mapped 870+ fields from old to new platform.
Redeveloped workflows, letters, and reports on target system.
Migrated 60,000+ cases including current lifecycle status.
Migrated 300,000+ documents including GDPR article 15 requests.
Switched core application platform.
Switched to new central DMS (ENAIO V9).
Switched to new central scanning for incoming mail.
Board granted carte blanche to request any resources.
Weekly personal progress presentations to board.
Further details are confidential.

Nov 2018 - Jul 2020

1 year 9 months

Essen, Germany

Transformation Team Lead

Lowell Group – DACH Region

Led 2 external staff and coached internal application owners.
Achieved data center migration readiness.
Mapped all physical and virtual systems.
Identified all business- and IT-critical applications including communication links, licenses, and migration options in preparation for full data center move to international private cloud.
Mapped services and dependencies as service trees in CMDB (i-doit) and linked to periodic data center scans (JDisc).
Documented role and rights assignment processes in applications including AD-based assignments and privileged accounts.
Added security expertise: QA of Windows 2016 and Red Hat hardening templates based on latest CIS guidelines.
Liaison with BCM and DSFA teams to ensure correct CMDB mapping.
Holding → companies list → business-critical processes per company → supporting IT services → infrastructure components.
Gained experience in high-level datacenter design over 2 sites including block storage, SAN, DMZ.
Environment: ~1300 VMware VMs, ~140 apps, 34 infrastructure services.
Clarified Win10 app dependencies for new VDI environment with VMware App Volumes.
Tools: ARIS, JDisc, i-doit, Ivanti, JIRA, Confluence, Datadobi, VMware 6.7, Horizon View 7, Windows Server 2019, Exchange 2019, NetApp→Isilon migration, Oracle Exadata.

Jul 2018 - Oct 2018

4 months

Essen, Germany

Status Quo Analysis of Business–IT Alignment including Strengths/Weaknesses

Lowell Group – DACH Region

Commissioned by CEO.
Focused on process collaboration and IT maturity across dimensions vs. corporate center and target model, plus IT governance and risk gaps.
Conducted 37 interviews across C-level (CEO, CFO, CSO, COO, CRO, CIO), next 2 management levels, and key finance/reporting and IT experts.
Created detailed heat map matrix for 14 subsidiaries across 56 IT dimensions, rating what to address before/during/after planned data center outsourcing.
Analyzed causes of process weaknesses, governance gaps, IT risks, and offered concrete recommendations.
Presented optimization and development opportunities and recommendations to C-level steering committee.

Oct 2016 - Jul 2018

1 year 10 months

Hanover, Germany

Mapped Technical Element Chains and Dependencies

Vereinigte Hannoversche Versicherung (VHV Group)

For 23 business-critical processes and their ~95 applications from process to hardware in the data center.
Consolidated data sources, normalized, and automated periodic import with Power Query.
Developed data structure to capture all ITIL relevant info in coordination with ITSCM team for technical restart plans and pre-change impact analyses.
Created detailed change impact checklist for enterprise customers, made mandatory internally.
Analyzed ITSM/CMDB tool "i-doit" and 3 SM-View add-ons, delivered decision paper for group use and interfaces to JDisc (discovery) and CHECK_MK (monitoring).
Single point of contact for VHV over 7 months to SHD (SM-View maker) as top influencer & preview tester, identified 40+ bugs.
Managed product owners for apps and DC infrastructure and monitoring team to document technical chains and implement monitoring points in CHECK_MK for SLA monitoring.
Mapped full service trees and element chains for ~100 applications in 20+ processes per BIA, including roles, access, and permissions.
Established i-doit as leading data-consolidation CMDB in CMS group.
Performed SLA weak point analysis on that basis.
Prepared for IT operations to meet BSI KritisV (§7) and VAIT draft requirements on IT asset lifecycle in CMDB.
Unique: highly complex environment covering entire DC hardware/software stack and organizational responsibilities.

Jul 2016 - Sep 2016

3 months

Munich, Germany

Health Check Inventory

Pro7Sat1 Applications GmbH

Focused on availability and peak loads of 6 most critical apps in TV core process and mapped into a heat map.
Dimensions:
IT service processes for infrastructure and app operations, test and change processes with current KPIs.
Monitoring (technical and business).
Architecture analysis, especially technical debt.
Documentation.
Collaboration with business.
Challenge: complex production under multi-provider and tight timeline.
Close work with business impact analysis (ISMS).

Dec 2015 - Jun 2016

7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Lead for Software Extension of Central Message Gateway

Deutsche Bahn, DB Mobility Logistics AG

System: central message gateway for train-to-ground communication (location, diagnostics, passenger info) routed to back-office systems.
Goal: create and roll out robust generic interface based on Software AG ESB.
PM method: agile with product breakdown structure.
Tool: JIRA.
Team: 9 people.
Budget: €350,000–€400,000.

Aug 2014 - Dec 2015

1 year 5 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Infrastructure Architect in RIS (Passenger Information System) Team

Deutsche Bahn, DB Mobility Logistics AG

Learned complex RIS landscape and architecture.
Analyzed and assessed current IT platform for tech and ops cost optimization.
Reviewed proposed RIS consolidation measures and gave recommendations.
Evaluated future fit for growing load and requirements.
Focus: hardware/software costs, message queue tech, DB views.
Developed versioning approach for software module interfaces to allow independent releases.
Consolidated hundreds of test cases into essential set.
Contributed to 300-item ESB selection criteria catalog and unified evaluation matrix to final product choice.
Member of SOA governance team, created SOA governance concept via weekly workshops.
Drafted software interface contract and agreement documents covering context, escalation matrix, SLAs, functional/nonfunctional requirements, business criticality, change acceptance process, roles, volumes, etc.
Supported PXR (RIS future) team on linking new RIS landscape with legacy.
Used SCRUM and Kanban PM.
Designed CI/CD pipeline concept for ESB project.

Jul 2014 - Jul 2014

1 month

Munich, Germany

Remote

Workshop Series on Future Workplace and Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (Pbb)

Presented current solutions from Microsoft (Remote Desktop Services) and Citrix (XenApp/XenDesktop).
Created detailed market overview of top MDM solutions.
Developed and presented extensive legal and security aspects of outsourcing.

Nov 2012 - Dec 2013

1 year 2 months

Kronberg, Germany

IT Solution Architect for Infrastructure Outsourcing

Accenture GmbH

Strengthened IO solution team on large infrastructure outsourcing bids.
Tasks:
Technical analysis of tender documents.
Defined service descriptions and wrote technical solution sections.
Created cost-benefit analyses and cost estimates.
Contributed to managed service design.
Major bid: Gematik: highly secure infrastructure and data center operations for German health card.
Responsible for BMC-based monitoring concept.
Special task: study on cloud-based unified collaboration market.

Dec 2010 - Jun 2012

1 year 7 months

Kelsterbach, Germany

Lead IT Architect in “DeskBase” Project

Lufthansa Systems (LHS)

Private cloud/Citrix based future workplace for LHS and Lufthansa group subsidiaries.
Responsibilities:
Overall architectural ownership on client side in complex project.
1 year main contact for internal stakeholders on all product requirements, until requirement management was set up including SLA KPIs.
Key solution: design and test of technical solution to connect 400 global sites over narrowband links via WAN accelerator.
Multimonth production test between Panama and US data center.

Aug 2010 - Dec 2010

5 months

Eschborn, Germany

Project Lead in Flagship “Erasmus Global Release & Deployment Team” Project

Deutsche Bank

Defined requirements for new global release & deployment tool.
Onboarded flagship “Erasmus” project to new R&D process.

Jun 2010 - Aug 2010

3 months

Munich, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert for Citrix VDI Platform

Hewlett-Packard

Hardened VDI platform for 100 external Panasonic consultants on behalf of HP.
Lead architect; solution based on XenDesktop & Visionapp Suite.

Aug 2009 - Nov 2009

4 months

Munich, Germany

Subproject Lead in “AdZ” (Future Workplace) Project

Finanz Informatik Technologie Services (FI-TS)

Covered file/storage, printing services, and pre-production environment.
Defined and described file server setup, storage structures, and access rights concepts for groups, users, and services.
Set up print server solution using ThinPrint.
Defined test and acceptance environment setup and criteria.

Jun 2008 - Aug 2009

1 year 3 months

Stuttgart, Germany

Overall Responsible Lead for Quality Improvement Board at EDC

Daimler – Headquarters

Built and led central Quality Improvement Board including complaint management in Daimler AG’s European Data Center, led 8-member problem expert team.
Introduced 8D reports for standardized quality defect reporting.
Analyzed causes of SLA breaks and customer-view quality issues in changes.
Redefined basic change acceptance criteria.
Developed corrections for checklists, fallback procedures, runbooks, and new guidelines for change advisory board and change closure communication.

Jan 2008 - Jun 2008

6 months

Düsseldorf, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert DRIVE/VIC Project

Vodafone – Headquarters

Led rollout of new international XP client for newly formed Vodafone Global Services (VGS) and defined success criteria.
Reduced application landscape from over 1,200 to 720 apps.
Modernized app access and permission concept.
Eliminated user-based permissions by role definitions and removed privileged local technical users.

Oct 2007 - Dec 2007

3 months

London, United Kingdom

Remote

Project Lead and Technical Expert in GRAS+ Project

Barclays Bank – Head Office

Technical lead for proof of concept & pilot implementation of global remote access solution (SSL VPN) with endpoint control security.

Jul 2007 - Sep 2007

3 months

Bern, Switzerland

Project Lead and IT Solution Architect in AQUA Project

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)

Managed 4 SMEs (technical subtopics) and fully responsible for management study "Client Strategy up to 2011."

Dec 2006 - Jun 2007

7 months

London, United Kingdom

Production Lead in BDS+ Project

Barclays Bank – Head Office

Led production of BDS+ pilot environment (central Citrix setup for future workplace) and managed Citrix & MOM 2005 3rd level support team.
Member of change advisory board for this platform.
Environment size: ~39,000 users; 2,800 pilot users.

Aug 2006 - Nov 2006

4 months

London, United Kingdom

Project Lead and Technical Expert in BDS+ Project

Barclays Bank – Head Office

Enterprise design, install automation, and implementation of Microsoft Live Communication Server 2005 based unified communication solution in BDS+ project.
Complex multinational, multi-provider environment.

Apr 2005 - Aug 2006

1 year 5 months

Mülheim, Germany

Overall Project Lead & Lead Architect in ZIP Project

PLUS Markets – Headquarters, Tengelmann Group

Designed, detailed planned, and led setup of multilingual (8 languages) central IT production to connect all global PLUS markets and sites to headquarters, also production lead and core member of change advisory board in pilot.
Defined service description for new IT product, agreed acceptance criteria, and developed modern role/group-based permission concept for central apps.

Dec 2004 - Apr 2005

5 months

Offenbach, Germany

Security Consultant

IZB Prod

Designed hardening for Windows servers and applications & process draft for efficient acceptance and later patching of hardened systems including DMZ systems.

Oct 2004 - Dec 2004

3 months

Offenbach, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert in RDS Project

IZB Prod

Designed, implemented, and piloted antivirus for central NetApp filer system in RDS project.

Jul 2003 - Sep 2004

1 year 3 months

Munich, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert in RDS Project

IZB Soft & IZB Prod

RDS (recentralization of distributed systems) terminal server project for 42,000 users.
Built and led third level support.
Led taskforce, chief change manager (6 months) for RDS project.
Developed concept for versioned software distribution in multi-tenant environment using Enteo Netinstall.

Jan 2003 - Jul 2003

7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Security Consultant

Colt Telecom

Developed hardening guides for Microsoft OS, SQL, and IIS based on best practices (Common Criteria, NSA guides, Hacking Exposed) & tested with Qualys Guard.
Led discovery of hacker attacks and forensic evidence gathering with security firm nruns.
Built protection system that logs daily system changes vs. previous day and alarms on unauthorized changes.
Updated role and rights concept and assignments to auto-identify unauthorized changes.
Created encrypted "addendum" for changes listing all change-induced modifications as approval for the monitoring system.

Dec 2001 - Sep 2002

10 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert

Credit Suisse

Led migration from NT4 to Active Directory.
Designed new application role and rights concept on AD basis.
Led and implemented central antivirus for all German Windows servers.
German representative in global engineering team for Windows clients and servers (focus on hardening per Common Criteria) in Switzerland.

Aug 2000 - Nov 2001

1 year 4 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert

Dresdner Bank & DREGIS (Dresdner Global IT Services)

Developed service descriptions for rollout of IT services and products within bank.
Led or supported many internal IT projects for DREGIS and Dresdner Bank, including board project for remote access for Allianz advisors during merger.
Key project: collected and consolidated automated server and app installation procedures for NT servers (Pronet, MS unattend, SMS, ASDIS, etc.) and their role and rights concepts and assignment processes.

Mar 2000 - Aug 2000

6 months

Cologne, Germany

Head of Technology Development

Advopolis AG

Built internet portal for lawyers & tax advisors.
Managed external development at Blaxxun.
Cooperated with Datev on digital signatures so clients can sign contracts online.
Focused on security, vital for both professions.

Dec 1999 - Mar 2000

4 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert

Dresdner Bank & DREGIS (Dresdner Global IT Services)

Analyzed and introduced DHCP usage in corporate network.
Coordinated and documented fixed IP dependencies with 6 business units.

Jul 1999 - Nov 1999

5 months

Wiesbaden, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert

Depfa BauBoden Bank (now Areal Bank)

NT4 migration using Netsupport Netinstall in 2000.
Developed extensive automated tests with time shifts.
Completed migration 1 month before year-end.

Apr 1998 - Jul 1999

1 year 4 months

Koblenz, Germany

Technical Lead and SMS 2.0 Subproject Lead in ADK Project

Debeka Versicherung

Provided 10,000 field staff with software & data via SMS 2.0, downloading insurance info and uploading new contracts.
Goal: reduce repeat customer visits for same contract (was over 70%) and free up 1,000 data typists in branches via automated host upload.

Jan 1998 - Apr 1998

4 months

Germany

Project Leads

Various Clients

KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt: network impact analysis for NT in token ring environment, 2 days/week.
Viessmann (HQ), Allendorf-Eder: client software rollout lead, 1 day/week onsite, rest remote.
Debeka Versicherung, Koblenz: created high-level concept in ADK project; 2 days/week.

Jul 1997 - Oct 1997

4 months

Karlsruhe, Germany

Project Lead and Technical Expert

Sparkasse

Designed and built fully automated NT4 client installation including 30+ business applications.
Client lockdown & hardening based on Prodacta Pronet.
Set up group-based rights and access options.

Jun 1995 - Sep 1995

4 months

Darmstadt, Germany