Thomas Übermeier - Head of Engineering

Q: Where is Thomas based?

Thomas is based in Berlin, Germany .

Q: What languages does Thomas speak?

Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), Spanish (Elementary), Dutch (Elementary) .

Q: How many years of experience does Thomas have?

Thomas has at least 23 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 10 different companies . The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 4 months . Note that Thomas may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Q: What is Thomas's latest experience?

Thomas's most recent position is Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight .

Q: What companies has Thomas worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Thomas has worked for IOG / Midnight , Parity Technologies , and Self-Employed / Ingenire .

Q: Which industries is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Information Technology (IT) , Banking and Finance , and Insurance . Thomas also has some experience in Healthcare , Biotechnology , and Pharmaceutical .

Q: Which business areas is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology (IT) , Project Management , and Customer Service . Thomas also has some experience in Strategy and Planning , Product Development , and Operations .

Q: Which industries has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology (IT) , Banking and Finance , and Insurance .

Q: Which business areas has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Project Management , Strategy and Planning , and Information Technology (IT) .

Recommended expert

Berlin, Germany

Experience

Aug 2023 - Nov 2024

1 year 4 months

Head of Engineering - Midnight

IOG / Midnight

Built and scaled a 35-member engineering team (Core Engineering, QA, and SRE) in 12 months, accelerating Midnight’s blockchain development on Parity’s Substrate framework.
Defined strategic direction and aligned technology development with business objectives as a key member of the leadership.
Optimized software development processes and implemented agile methodologies, enhancing operational efficiency and code security.
Delivered projects in a fast-paced startup environment through effective project management and resource allocation.

Jan 2021 - Jul 2022

1 year 7 months

VP (Substrate Engineering)

Parity Technologies

Led and mentored a 50-member globally distributed engineering team responsible for the Rust-based Substrate framework and the ink! smart contract language.
Scaled the organization by 80% year-over-year, redesigning hiring and onboarding processes to support rapid growth.
Orchestrated the turnaround of a team whose product was recommended for decommissioning by creating and leading a task force to restore accountability and save the product line.
Enhanced cross-team communication by establishing regular update calls and engineering all-hands, contributing to overall company strategy.
Designed and executed a compensation restructuring plan to align engineering efforts with business goals.
Served as a member of the company’s leadership team, setting direction and strategy.

Jul 2020 - Present

5 years 8 months

Principal Engineering Advisor

Self-Employed / Ingenire

Provided fractional CTO expertise for multiple organizations, guiding technology strategy and execution.
As Senior Consultant (via beON), directed DevOps projects for the ERGO insurance group, managing OpenShift/Kubernetes clusters and driving agile transformations.
Developed and showcased multiple proof-of-concept applications for AI/LLM use cases.
Advised on bespoke software engineering solutions, specializing in blockchain and fintech.

May 2018 - Feb 2020

1 year 10 months

Head of IT Operations, Mercedes Pay

Daimler Mobility Services

Built the 21-person technical operations department from zero, hiring and mentoring teams across Berlin and Stuttgart in SRE, infrastructure engineering, BI, and customer support.
Spearheaded migration of the Java/EKS/Kafka-based payment platform to AWS.
Improved platform reliability, raising SLA from 98% to over 99.9% by moving to AWS and eliminating legacy system failures.
Achieved full PCI-DSS compliance for the new cloud infrastructure.
Defined the strategic roadmap for infrastructure, transitioning from hands-on (Terraform, Python) to strategic management.

May 2013 - Feb 2018

4 years 10 months

Staff Systems Engineer

ServiceNow

Served as substitute and temporary team manager for the EMEA system engineering teams in Amsterdam and London.
Managed all operating systems and databases, including 80,000 MySQL instances.
Architected cloud infrastructure for tens of thousands of systems, including automation systems, global backup strategy, and datacenter bootstrapping.
Led complex, cross-department projects to change fundamental parts of the cloud.
Developed Python- and Ruby-based automation software with global git merge rights.

Jul 2011 - May 2013

1 year 11 months

Integration Engineer

IMC Financial Markets

Operated and maintained low-latency, high-frequency trading systems and automated deployments.
Wrote unit and automation tests, database backup scripts, and automation scripts for TeamCity and Jenkins.
Collaborated with development and trading teams to resolve issues and drive new features.

Jun 2009 - Jun 2011

2 years 1 month

Head of IT Systems & Infrastructure

Novartis Research Foundation (Friedrich Miescher Institute)

Managed the complete IT infrastructure across three data centers, including large compute systems.
Reported planning and status of infrastructure to the institute’s IT committee.

Aug 2008 - Mar 2009

8 months

Senior Systems Engineer

Future Route

Designed and migrated the platform to Amazon EC2 and S3.
Developed and deployed a scalable build system, software deployment pipelines, and system configuration.

Jun 2004 - Jul 2008

4 years 2 months

Team Lead EMEA Production Support

Red Hat

Managed the EMEA enterprise support team (11 members) and defined global support processes.
Led technical support engineering for the DACH and TAM regions.
Provided frontline technical support engineering and coordination.

Oct 2001 - Jan 2004

2 years 4 months

Software Developer with Team Lead Function

Via Appia Telekommunikation Consulting

Developed database applications in Perl, PHP, and C++, including a patient management system for the public health sector.

Industries Experience

See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time. Longer bars indicate deeper hands-on experience, while shorter ones reflect targeted or project-based work.

Experienced in Information Technology (17.5 years), Banking and Finance (9 years), Insurance (5.5 years), Healthcare (2.5 years), Automotive (2 years), and Biotechnology (2 years).

Information Technology

Banking and Finance

Insurance

Healthcare

Automotive

Biotechnology

Business Areas Experience

The graph below provides a cumulative view of the freelancer's experience across multiple business areas, calculated from completed and active engagements. It highlights the areas where the freelancer has most frequently contributed to planning, execution, and delivery of business outcomes.

Experienced in Information Technology (19 years), Project Management (10.5 years), Customer Service (6 years), Strategy (5.5 years), Product Development (5 years), and Operations (4 years).

Information Technology

Project Management

Customer Service

Strategy

Product Development

Operations

Summary

Fintech and blockchain engineering leader with 25+ years’ experience; scaled orgs to 50+ and led a 35-engineer program to ship the Midnight testnet.
Drove AWS migrations and platform hardening that lifted payments uptime from 98% to 99.9%+ and achieved PCI-DSS certification.
Builds high-performing teams, cuts delivery lead time, and aligns technology roadmaps to revenue and risk for C-level outcomes.

Skills

Leadership & Cto/vp Engineering/head Of Engineering Roles, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Strategic Strategy Planning, And Operational Framework Development.
Blockchain & It Zero-knowledge Proofs, Substrate Framework, Rust Programming, Cloud Infrastructure, Devops, Innovation And Agile Methodologies.
Project & Resource Management, End-to-end Project Delivery, Process Optimization, Performance Metrics, And Stakeholder Engagement.
Global & Remote Team Management, Scaling, Hiring, Onboarding, Compensation Restructuring, And Inter-team Communication Enhancement.

Languages

German

Native

English

Advanced

Spanish

Elementary

Dutch

Elementary

Education

Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen

Computer Science, unfinished · Computer Science · Erlangen, Germany

Certifications & licenses

CCL

Center for Creative Leadership

Certified Scrum Master

PCI-DSS Certification

RHCE

Profile

Created

November 2025

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Frequently asked questions

Do you have questions? Here you can find further information.

Where is Thomas based?

Thomas is based in Berlin, Germany.

What languages does Thomas speak?

Thomas speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), Spanish (Elementary), Dutch (Elementary).

How many years of experience does Thomas have?

Thomas has at least 23 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 10 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 4 months. Note that Thomas may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

What roles would Thomas be best suited for?

Based on recent experience, Thomas would be well-suited for roles such as: Head of Engineering - Midnight, VP (Substrate Engineering), Principal Engineering Advisor.

What is Thomas's latest experience?

Thomas's most recent position is Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight.

What companies has Thomas worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Thomas has worked for IOG / Midnight, Parity Technologies, and Self-Employed / Ingenire.

Which industries is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in industries like Information Technology (IT), Banking and Finance, and Insurance. Thomas also has some experience in Healthcare, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical.

Which business areas is Thomas most experienced in?

Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology (IT), Project Management, and Customer Service. Thomas also has some experience in Strategy and Planning, Product Development, and Operations.

Which industries has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology (IT), Banking and Finance, and Insurance.

Which business areas has Thomas worked in recently?

Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Project Management, Strategy and Planning, and Information Technology (IT).

What is Thomas's education?

Thomas holds a Master in Computer Science from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Nürnberg-Erlangen.

Does Thomas have any certificates?

Thomas has 4 certificates. Among them, these include: CCL, Certified Scrum Master, and PCI-DSS Certification.

What is the availability of Thomas?

Thomas is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.

What is the rate of Thomas?

Thomas's rate depends on the specific project requirements. Please use the Meet button on the profile to schedule a meeting and discuss the details.