Dipl.-Inf. Andreas Schwarzkopf

Individual Contributor, Engineering Manager & Executive Leadership

25 years of hands-on coding experience, 15 years as a professional full-stack developer in agile teams, and nearly 10 years serving on executive boards. A specialist in backend systems, algorithm design, and relational data modelling. An analytical thinker and problem solver with a consistent record of successful project delivery and only excellent references from past partners.

25 years of hands-on coding experience, 15 years as a professional full-stack developer in agile teams, and nearly 10 years serving on executive boards. A specialist in backend systems, algorithm design, and relational data modelling. An analytical thinker and problem solver with a consistent record of successful project delivery and only excellent references from past partners.

Broad IT experience across multiple domains including finance, academic research, biophysics, and mobility. Strong architectural background encompassing versioned REST API design, business process modelling, and the operation of mission-critical systems. Experienced mentor supporting advanced developers, emerging leaders, and new managers.

Capable of guiding the entire software development process – from requirements management and product ownership to leading engineering teams. Passionate about software development and solving hard problems.

About me

I’m Andreas Schwarzkopf, a software engineer from the Rhine-Main area with a long history of building real products, leading strong engineering teams, and diving deep into complex systems. I’ve spent more than two decades writing code, shaping architectures, and guiding people and projects toward outcomes that matter.

I run the independent software company PCT, where I develop the cloud-based multitenancy platform ChurchCurator. Being in the fortunate position to choose my (Rails) projects, I still support companies and teams when the client, project, or domain is demanding – and therefore genuinely interesting. Architecture, algorithms, scaling, databases, data modelling and complex backend systems are the areas where I feel most at home. Feel free to reach out to me directly or, if you need more than a single engineer, to the excellent team at BitBirds.

As Vice President Engineering at ioki, a Deutsche Bahn company, I serve both as an engineering manager and, whenever time allows, as a hands-on developer. I enjoy the combination of modern mobility challenges, algorithmic depth, and the dynamic environment of multiple cross-functional teams building a large-scale product together.

Finally, I mentor developers and emerging tech leaders – something I’ve always valued highly.

Over time, my focus has moved beyond languages and frameworks to the craft of engineering itself – designing reliable systems, breaking down complex problems, and building sustainable codebases within evolving organizational structures. It’s about creating environments where people can do their best work. I’ve learned that exceptional software emerges where clear thinking, strong teams, sound processes, and a shared vision intersect. Staying close to the code keeps me grounded and connected to the realities of building.

What motivates me today is not the next syntax or tool, but the challenge of building real products for real users in real organizations. Architecture, people, processes, and domain knowledge must interlock. Watching all of that come together still fascinates me after all these years.

I’m truly excited about my profession – to me, the IT world is simply the most awesome place to be.

Primary Tools
Slack Sublime Text git Sourcetree GitHub/GitLab zsh brew cURL Wireshark RSpec Guard Docker
Languages & Templating
Ruby JavaScript PL/pgSQL C/C++ PHP Python Go Rust Java MIPS/x86 ASM HTML, HAML, SLIM CSS/SCSS
Databases
PostgreSQL & PostGIS Redis MySQL MongoDB Neo4j
Frameworks & Technologies
Ruby on Rails Sidekiq Resque DelayedJob SolidQueue Firebase Prometheus Grafana ElasticSearch Graylog Kibana New Relic Bugsnag AppSignal Sentry Jenkins GitHub Actions Heroku AWS OpenGL CUDA
Methods & Patterns
Agile/Scrum TDD REST APIs GraphQL Geospatial Stored Procedures Background Jobs Metaprogramming Service Objects SRP GoF Patterns Clean Code

Full CV

2023 – ongoing
Management Board Member (ioki GmbH)
Frankfurt a. M.
2018 – ongoing
ioki GmbH - a brand of Deutsche Bahn AG
Sector: Mobility & Geospatial Algorithms. Full-stack Web Development.
Roles:
  • Since 2025: Statutory Senior Executive Employee
    (“Leitender Angestellter” under German law; complementary to VP role)
  • Since 2022: Vice President Engineering
  • Since 2021: Advisory member of the management board
  • Since 2020: Head of Backend Engineering
  • Since 2018: System Architect
Achieved:
  • IC / EM perspective: Major extensions on the algorithmic core, massively extending the feature set in close collaboration with multiple scrum teams, internal and external stakeholders. Leading the backend team through integrations of multiple external APIs, like ticketing, public transport information, payment gateways. Actively shaping and developing the product roadmap with other leads, PMs and the product owner.
  • VP / Board perspective: ioki has grown into one of Europe’s leading DRT platforms, providing a suite of independently deployable applications connected via SSO and powered by a horizontally scalable core system supported by a large background worker cluster. The backend, developed by multiple teams, delivers the APIs required to operate both human-driven and autonomous mobility services. With more than 99.98% availability, the platform runs 24/7 while supporting numerous live deployments, hundreds of thousands of requests per day, and nearly 15 million transported passengers.
Frankfurt a. M.
2017 – 2018
Deutsche Bahn AG
Sector: Mobility & Geospatial Algorithms. Full-stack Web Development.
Role: Senior Software Developer
Achieved: Built from scratch; Developing, shaping and scaling the matching algorithm, core business ERM and backend stack including APIs for multiple touchpoints.
Frankfurt a. M.
2011 – 2015
Supervisory Board Member (flinc AG)
Darmstadt
2011
Published Scientific Paper
“Volumetric nonlinear anisotropic diffusion on GPUs”
Sector: Adaptation of classical algorithms for massively parallel computing.
Third International Conference on Scale Space Methods and Variational Methods in Computer Vision (SSVM) (May 29th - June 2nd, 2011, Ein Gedi, Israel), LNCS 6667, 2011.
Darmstadt
2010 – 2017
flinc AG
Sector: Mobility & Geospatial Algorithms. Full-stack Web Development.
Roles:
  • Since 2015: Senior Software Developer
  • Since 2010: Software Developer
Achieved: Built from scratch, scaled > 450,000 users.
Technology & Tools: Agile software development, Scrum, BDD/TDD, REST API, geospatial algorithms, stored procedures and database development, delayed jobs, in-memory databases, HTML5 & Canvas, jQuery, Ruby on Rails, metaprogramming.
Darmstadt
2010
Diploma Thesis
“GPU based nonlinear volumetric anisotropic diffusion filters”
Sector: GPGPU (CUDA), massively parallel computing.
Rated “excellent”.
Darmstadt
2008 – 2009
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung
Sector: Academic research at the linear particle accelerator.
Role: Student Research Assistant for the working group “Radiation Biophysics”.
Task: Expanding an existing radiation planning software written in C with 4D structures and non-rigid transformation algorithms.
Left the group with an excellent reference.
Darmstadt
2006 – 2007
Lexmark Deutschland GmbH
Sector: Print manufacturing, operations management, controlling, and marketing
Role: Student Assistant. Development of in-house database and finance software.
Left with an excellent reference. Started to focus on GPGPU and the diploma thesis.
Dietzenbach
2003 – ongoing
Start of voluntary service at C3 Church Hanau
Sector: Voluntary Service. Supervising teams, team leaders and operational processes.
Roles:
  • Since 2023: Member of the executive board.
  • Since 2015: I have a paid part-time job at C3 Church Hanau.
  • Since 2011: Lay pastor. I decided to professionally work and lead in that part of my personal life.
  • Since 2009: “Division Manager, Arts & Technical Services”, supervising 40 people in 4 departments.
  • Started in 2003 as a voluntary team leader.
2000 – ongoing
Self-employed, IT business „PCT“
Sector: IT company. Role: Sole proprietorship. Started with SOHO Hardware and network solutions, Simple Customer Service and minor in-house repairs.
  • Since 2014: Cut down of former businesses and started development of a multitenancy web app "ChurchCurator", which is a collaboration and management software tailored to the needs of churches.
  • Since 2008: Development of proprietary Web CMS “ContentCurator”. Discontinued 2014.
  • Since 2007: Hosting and domain reselling.
  • Since 2005: Cooperation with media-agency MKZ Mainhausen.
  • Since 2004: Specialized in web development & databases.
Hanau
2003 – 2010
University: Technische Universität Darmstadt
Diploma thesis on Volumetric Anisotropic Diffusion on GPUs (A), Minor subject Bionics (A), left the university with a diploma in IT (B). Voluntary focus on IT security and networks. Optional ungraded studying of Business Administration.
Darmstadt
2002 – 2003
Community Service: St. Vinzenz Hospital
Short assistant job afterwards until university started.
Excellent employer's reference reference.
Hanau
1993 – 2002
High School: Karl-Rehbein-Schule
High School Diploma rated: “Excellent” (1.8). Main Subjects: Math, Physics
Hanau
1989 – 1993
Primary School: Paul-Gerhardt-Schule Kahl
Kahl a. M.