Stefan V. - Senior Manager Projects / Agile Coach / CSPO

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Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Experience

Jan 2021 - Dec 2024

4 years

Germany

Senior Manager Projects

Cognizant Technology Solutions GmbH

Agile coach and Scrum Master in property insurance/underwriting for Allianz Technology
Team 1: Kanban/Scrumban in DevOps mode: new features, migrated distributed monolith to microservices, reduced technical debt and refactored, implemented CI/CD, expanded automated testing
Team 2: SAFe team for greenfield global software service with German adaptation and AI integration (Cythora)
Conducted Scrum trainings, authored Scrum manuals in Confluence, facilitated all ceremonies, built an experimental just culture, scaled team from 7 to 20
Led requirements engineering and prioritization via business value for Product Owner, risk identification
Managed project budget, JIRA monitoring and automation, steering committee support, and test strategy
Implemented SAFe integration, PI planning, flight levels, and road mapping

Jul 2020 - Sep 2020

3 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Freelance Concept Development

3defacto Spezial-Maschinenbau

Concept for website relaunch including market analysis, communication concept, wireframes, sitemap, and text

Jan 2020 - May 2020

5 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Technical Consultant

Freilichtmuseum Hessenpark GmbH

Technical consulting for WordPress relaunch and drafting service provider tender

Aug 2019 - Dec 2019

5 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Scrum Master / Agile Coach

KfW

Introduced Scrum for KfW Business Team MDa1 (Digital Business Development)
Developed MVP for first external KfW API on MS Azure API Gateway for digital finance and funding advisor for loans and grants
Coached team of 8 plus external implementation team
Conducted Scrum and lean training for team, product owner, and management; facilitated all ceremonies
Managed IT governance and integration into existing KfW IT based on MS Azure API Server
Integrated Scrum team increments into KfW structures and coached executive management and stakeholders

Mar 2019 - Aug 2019

6 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Agile Coach

ti&m AG

Conducted diverse projects, market studies, and sales presentations in digital health, smart cities, and smart banking
Coached teams of 3–9

May 2018 - Oct 2018

6 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Product Owner

Triplesense Reply GmbH

Managed CMS migration and relaunch of Burda Community Network advertising portal in TYPO3
Scrum Product Owner, led onshore and nearshore teams of 6–12 plus Romanian team
Handled client communication, project budget, and risk management, status reporting, IT governance, data import and migration solutions

Nov 2017 - Mar 2018

5 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Product Owner

ETECTURE GmbH

Implemented multi-brand platform for Radeberger Group in FirstSpirit CMS
Managed 2 pilot brands as Product Owner
Developed business case and technical and organizational integration for 26 beer brands
Oversaw project management, client communication, stakeholder management, status reporting, and risk management

Jul 2016 - Nov 2017

1 year 5 months

Kronberg, Germany

Freelance Agile Coach

Fidelity International

Introduced agile ways of working and conducted training for teams in Kronberg, Dublin, Boston, and Delhi under 'New Ways of Working'
Managed requirements for all European markets
Reorganized teams, delivered Scrum training, administered JIRA and Confluence, facilitated ceremonies, coordinated stakeholders, monitored projects via JIRA, and introduced 'Innovation Buying'

Jan 2015 - Feb 2016

1 year 2 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Senior Project Manager / Agile Coach

Neuland+Herzer GmbH

Led relaunch of BASF EN Health & Nutrition in Adobe CQ5
Provided strategic social media consulting for BASF EN B2B communication
Introduced agile methodologies
Delivered solutions for migrating complex web pages with chemical formulas, molecules, and data tables
Managed client relations, initiated editorial processes, led project management and team for implementation

Aug 2014 - Apr 2015

9 months

Prague, Czech Republic

Freelance Agile Coach / Scrum Master

ETECTURE @ Ogilvy

Consulted on agile transformation for Nestlé Global Infant Nutrition web development and OgilvyOne Development Prague using Drupal
Served as Scrum Master for R+V Versicherung relaunch
Coached teams of 15–22 in Prague and 7 for R+V Versicherung
Trained teams, clients, and steering committees on Scrum and agile methods; managed requests and requirements for global Nestlé markets; introduced JIRA and Confluence; handled project estimation, risk management, and executive communication

Sep 2012 - Jul 2014

1 year 11 months

Frankfurt, Germany

European Platform Manager / Manager E-Business & Technology

KIA Motors Europe GmbH

Technical lead and strategic development of Sitecore platform for 18 European markets
Managed external vendors for hosting, CDN, tracking/SEO, semantic web, car configurator, and subsystems
Executed various marketing campaigns
Coordinated innovation and request management across markets, global domain consolidation, mobile-first strategy, and vendor pitches

Jan 2012 - Aug 2012

8 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Product Owner

ETECTURE GmbH / OgilvyOne

Developed and implemented Volkswagen customer portal 'Mein Auto.' on Liferay and Adobe CQ5 with front-end technologies for games and brand content integration
Served as Scrum Product Owner for 20–25 team members
Planned projects, managed budgets and resources, liaised with VW steering committee, managed risks, and oversaw IT governance and agile testing

Jun 2011 - Nov 2011

6 months

Wiesbaden, Germany

Freelance Interims Unit-Leitung / Account Manager

Scholz & Volkmer

Interim unit leadership and account management on projects for Daimler, Mercedes-Benz, and EnBW

Jan 2011 - Mar 2011

3 months

Cologne, Germany

Freelance Consultant

edicos

Concept for Mainova relaunch

Jan 2009 - Dec 2010

2 years

Singapore

Freelance Senior Project Manager

Neuland + Herzer

Developed collaboration and crowdsourcing platform 'Simplify' for BASF Asia Pacific
Focus on leadership communication and diversity & inclusion

May 2008 - Nov 2008

7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Freelance Senior Project Manager

Leo Burnett / ARC Worldwide

Managed online projects for Baileys, Oral-B, Fissler, and Leo Burnett

Aug 2007 - Jan 2008

6 months

Hamburg, Germany

Freelance Senior Project Manager

HanseNet / Alice

Coordinated web processes and provided business and IT operations consulting

Sep 2006 - Mar 2007

7 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Freelance Consultant

T-Online / InteractiveMedia

Consultant in affiliate marketing and requirements management

Jul 2006 - Jun 2007

1 year

Friedrichsdorf, Germany

Freelance Author

M.I.T newmedia GmbH

Developed concept and storyboard for school learning portal in biology, mathematics, and politics

Mar 2006 - Sep 2006

7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Concept Developer

Blue Mars

Conducted study 'Youth, Internet and Politics' for European Parliament; BASF Innovation Awards

Mar 2006 - Mar 2006

1 month

Kronberg, Germany

Consultant

Braun GmbH

Guerilla marketing

Feb 2006 - Feb 2006

1 month

Friedrichsdorf, Germany

Consultant

M.I.T newmedia GmbH

E-learning and specialist articles

Feb 2006 - Feb 2006

1 month

Berlin, Germany

Consultant

Mercedes-Benz Deutschland / DCVD

Surveys and guerilla marketing

Dec 2005 - Jan 2006

2 months

Nuremberg, Germany

Consultant

Neckermann online

Concept and copywriting

Nov 2004 - Nov 2005

1 year 1 month

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Manager

Peter Schmidt Group

Managed projects, acquisition, and built internal project management and QA processes for clients including Hankook, HQ Europe, AachenMünchener, and Eurohypo

Feb 2003 - Aug 2003

7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Senior Consultant E-Learning

Avinci – The Know-How Company

Jul 2002 - Dec 2002

6 months

Friedrichsdorf, Germany

Unit-Leader / Senior Project Manager

M.I.T newmedia GmbH

Led 16 team members; clients included BMW Group, Honda North Europe, and Dunlop

Jul 2000 - Jun 2002

2 years

Offenbach, Germany

Project Manager / Consultant / Usability Engineer

GFT Technologies AG / Pixelfactory GmbH

Worked on projects for Conrad Electronic, DaimlerChrysler AG eMB, DaimlerChrysler Sales Organization Germany, and DaimlerChrysler Bank

Sep 1998 - Jul 2000

1 year 11 months

Nuremberg, Germany

Head of Text and Editorial / Project Manager

eskatoo – Agency for Innovative Communication

Jun 1998 - Sep 1998

4 months

Bonn, Germany

Project Manager

tops.net online publishing services

Apr 1997 - Apr 1998

1 year 1 month

Germany

Lecturer / Author / HTML Programmer / Online Editor

Self-Employed

Website programming, copywriting, concept, and web design

Sep 1996 - Apr 1997

8 months

Berlin, Germany

Digital Producer

Lufthansa Systems

Summary

I have spent many years driving agile transformation as a coach and manager, helping teams and managers to improve work processes and deliver value through agile frameworks. I have introduced Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, and lean practices across various industries, enabling technology, finance, and insurance sectors to evolve digital solutions and streamline and accelerate project delivery and releases.

Release early, release often - and be fast with improvements and new features. Or die tryin' ;-)

I continuously focus on agile methodologies, clear communication, effective stakeholder management (for your local BA's or product managers or your european or global markets) , and hands-on training to support growth. My work has ranged from evolving distributed systems and managing budgets to implementing CI/CD and integrating AI features, consistently ensuring projects meet strategic goals.