Profile

Norman Holz

I am a Fractional CTO and engineering leader with 20+ years of hands-on software delivery. I help companies make technical decisions, shape architecture, assess vendors, hire engineers, and unblock teams.

My background combines IT-Systems Engineering, Psychology, mobile and web delivery, cloud platforms, AI, and data work.

I have worked as Interim CTO, Head of Frontend Engineering, solution architect, and senior engineer in startups, agencies, banking, health, and enterprise software.

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Core Strengths

  • Fractional CTO leadership
  • Engineering team leadership and mentoring
  • Solution architecture
  • Technical due diligence and vendor management
  • AI product development
  • AI engineering and Agentic Workflows
  • AI security and red teaming
  • AI governance and compliance
  • Software architecture
  • Cloud and platform engineering
  • Forward-deployed engineering
  • Mobile and cross-platform development

Experience

  1. Role
    Head of Frontend Engineering
    Date
    Company
    Jakala Germany GmbH
    Location
    Hamburg
    • Led frontend engineering across web, iOS, Android, and cross-platform.
    • Grew the team through CV screening, interviews, and coding-challenge reviews.
    • Acted as pre-sales solution architect for technical concepts, tenders, and client meetings.
    • Drove onboarding, first milestones, and escalations on acquired client projects.
    • Built and successfully pitched AI prototypes to existing clients to enhance their products
    • Created growth paths for engineers via conferences, certifications, and courses.
  2. Role
    Senior Full Stack Software Engineer
    Date
    Company
    LifeBonus
    Location
    Hamburg
    • Built features for a cross-platform React Native app that trains caregivers in safe patient movement.
    • Designed and implemented a stable video upload feature that fed sample data for neural-network training.
    • Supported and implemented a UX overhaul, redesigning onboarding to be simpler and more intuitive.
    • Advised management on product positioning and monetization.
    • Built backend services on AWS (Amplify, S3, Cognito, DynamoDB) for scalability and security.
  3. Role
    Senior Mobile Application Engineer
    Date
    Company
    Hanseatic Bank
    Location
    Hamburg
    • Co-architected and built a mobile credit-card app in a regulated banking environment.
    • Shipped Apple Pay integration early, to make Hanseatic Bank one of the first banks in Germany to offer it.
    • Moved the product from a freelancer-led setup to an internal team.
    • Hired, onboarded, and mentored mobile engineers in React Native.
  4. Role
    Interim Chief Technology Officer (Freelance)
    Date
    Company
    Hamburg Startups
    Location
    Hamburg
    • Took over technical direction data-driven platform in the startup-ecosystem.
    • Made the platform tenant-capable so it could be reused across regions.
    • Cut maintenance load and failures in the survey process.
    • Reduced freelancer dependency through hiring and vendor coordination.
    • Refocused the organization on its stronger events and network business.
  5. Role
    Senior iOS Engineer (Freelance)
    Date
    Company
    Group Story Social Media Platform
    Location
    Hamburg
    • Turned a prototype into a production iOS app, taking over from a US agency.
    • Rebuilt the app in Objective-C and Swift across several redesigns.
    • Built an in-app collaborative video editor with text overlays, handwriting, images, and watermarking.
    • Added concurrent, resumable video uploads.
    • Automated the iOS delivery pipeline for fast, reliable releases.
  6. Role
    Staff Software Engineer
    Date
    Company
    Complete Genomics Inc.
    Location
    Mountain View, California, USA
    • Built and optimized data processing pipelines for large genomic datasets with Node.js and MongoDB.
    • Started as iOS developer on the self-service genome analysis product, then moved to backend as needs shifted.
    • Supported scientists with Python scripting and optimization to speed up their analyses.
  7. Role
    Software Engineer
    Date
    Company
    Q-vi Tech GmbH
    Location
    Berlin
    • Developed Java-based model transformation, validation, and documentation tools for CARIAD SE.
    • Led the creation of a location-based event suggestion app for iOS.
  8. Role
    Software Engineering Intern
    Date
    Company
    SAP Labs
    Location
    Palo Alto, California, USA
    • Built a Java-based prototype for social media sentiment analysis.
    • Developed iOS prototypes for SAP's sales consultants in the Office of the CTO.
  9. Role
    Software Engineering Intern
    Date
    Company
    SAP
    Location
    Berlin
    • Helped build a software architecture analysis tool using Java, XML, and XSLT.
    • Generated detailed architecture reports to optimize SAP's product offerings.
  10. Role
    Software Engineering Intern
    Date
    Company
    DaimlerChrysler
    Location
    Berlin
    • Built a Java bridge to integrate C++ libraries with Java programs, improving cross-language communication.

Certificates

  1. Title
    Data Lumina Certified AI Engineer Expert
    Date
    Institute Website
    Datalumina
  2. Title
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Date
    Institute Website
    Amazon Web Services Training and Certification
  3. Title
    Psychology Certification: Social Processes and Work
    Date
    Institute Website
    FernUniversität in Hagen
  4. Title
    Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer?
    Date
    Institute Website
    MITx 15.390.1x @ Edx
  5. Title
    Certified Trainer
    Date
    Institute Website
    INeKO Institute University Cologne

Education

  1. Degree
    M.Sc. Data Science
    Date
    University
    FernUniversität in Hagen
  2. Degree
    B.Sc. Psychology
    Date
    University
    FernUniversität in Hagen
  3. Degree
    M.Sc. IT-Systems Engineering
    Date
    University
    HPI - University of Potsdam
  4. Degree
    B.Sc. IT-Systems Engineering
    Date
    University
    HPI - University of Potsdam