Platform Architect – Interim / Freelance

Project overview

Platform Architect – Interim / Freelance

Client: Manufacturing technology company in the Rhine-Main area, around 250 employees, high-tech environment with its own laboratory and production facilities. Grown from a research-driven start-up into scaling.

Responsibilities

Must-Have Requirements

Should Have / Nice to Have

Context for classification: Azure (Hub & Spoke topology), ERP: APplus from Asseco.

Collaboration and Success Metrics

Close collaboration with the Head of Digital & Technology and the internal team. By the end of the assignment, significant simplifications will have been implemented, the future direction will be clear, and the team will be able to continue the transformation independently.

Note on staffing: A staffing with two freelancers is possible – with complementary focuses: architecture and consolidation on one side, platform engineering and practical implementation on the other.

• Inventory of the existing landscape: making dependencies transparent, identifying concrete simplification potentials
• Developing a pragmatic target state and deriving a prioritized, realistically implementable transformation plan from it
• Co-implementing consolidation and modernization – cloud infrastructure, identities, end devices, network, and access
• Establishing automation and self-service to speed up recurring tasks
• Building agile ways of working together with the team: transparent backlog, short cycles, clear responsibilities
• Knowledge transfer in daily work – enabling the internal team for independent further development
• Demonstrable experience in simplifying and consolidating existing IT landscapes
• Sound practical knowledge of hybrid infrastructures and Azure
• Identity and device management (Entra ID, Conditional Access, Intune / comparable)
• Network and IT security, modern identity-based access concepts
• Infrastructure as Code, automation, modern platform concepts
• Strong hands-on mentality – the role is largely about implementation, not concept papers
• Multi-OS environments: Windows, macOS, Linux, BYOD
• Experience in laboratory or production environments
• Ability to constructively question established architectural decisions and credibly justify viable alternatives
• Enjoyment in bringing together IT operations, software development, and business departments

Project details

01.12.2026 or earlier

3–6 months

Full-time

Primarily on-site, Frankfurt / Untermain area

Needs-based remote portion after onboarding

Travel: No

Budget: Open – please state your hourly rate

Initial Situation

The IT has grown organically over the years and today reflects the company's history rather than its current business needs. The client wants to streamline, consolidate, and automate the landscape – with an internal team that will eventually continue the transformation independently.

The target state: a lean, secure, largely automated IT based on cloud-first and AI-first guidelines, with targeted use of local infrastructure for the laboratories. Identity-based security and access concepts should enable location-independent work and support Windows, macOS, Linux, and BYOD. Organizationally, agile IT with clear responsibilities and short decision-making paths is aimed for.

• Start: 2026-12
• Duration: 3 Monate
• Remote: hybrid
• Location: Aschaffenburg, Deutschland, DE
• Languages: German