01

About

An infrastructure engineer who moved into retail-tech project management. I bring deep Linux experience to the practical work of getting systems shipped.

For more than a decade I built and ran the systems that keep businesses online — mail platforms for 90,000 customers, high-availability clusters, Ceph storage and infrastructure-as-code. Today at H&M I support global IT rollouts from the people side, preparing and running the works-council negotiations that get new systems approved and adapted to each local market. Lately I'm deep in the AI and LLM tooling reshaping how teams build.

13+
Years in IT & infrastructure
90K
Mail customers operated
~800
Servers administered
4
Engineers led as deputy lead
02

Experience

08/2025 — Present

Retail Tech Project Manager

at H&M Hennes & Mauritz, Berlin Project Management

Global fashion retailer, ~140,000 employees, driving retail innovation through sustainability-focused initiatives and digital solutions.

  • Prepare and conduct negotiations with works councils and employee representatives, in close cross-departmental collaboration
  • Present technical content clearly and accessibly, tailored to the audience
  • Roll out global IT solutions and applications, adapting them to the local market
  • Review requirements around labor law, co-determination and data protection
Successes
Software Lead — Smartstore Project, Region Central Europe
03/2025 — Present

RIDE Coach

at BEAT81 / GRITSpot GmbH, Berlin · Freelance Coaching

HIIT group training and indoor cycling studio combining a strong community, professional coaches and technology-driven workouts.

  • Coach participants using heart-rate and performance data to improve their individual results
  • Ensure consistent training quality to BEAT81 standards; prepare music, workouts and equipment
  • Provide personalized support with clear, precise instructions and feedback
06/2020 — 08/2025

Senior System Administrator

at snafu GmbH, Berlin Infrastructure

Digital-transformation partner for e-commerce, hosting and network services (~30 employees). Started as System Administrator, promoted to Senior after two years.

  • Deputy team lead — managed four engineers
  • Operated email infrastructure for ~90,000 customers (spam filtering; FreeBSD / Exim / Dovecot)
  • Administered redundant Linux, FreeBSD & OpenBSD infrastructure: MySQL/MariaDB/Apache HA clusters; Pacemaker, Keepalived, HAProxy, DRBD, Ceph; DDoS defense, bot prevention, Cloudflare
  • Migrated infrastructure to Infrastructure as Code
  • Installed & configured e-commerce systems (Shopware, JTL, Magento, WooCommerce)
  • Deputy data-protection contact (GDPR); application deployment with Docker
Successes
2020 — OPNsense VPN servers for clients & internal projects 2021 — Rebuilt DNS infrastructure with PowerDNS 2022 — Built & operated infrastructure monitoring with checkmk
11/2018 — 05/2020

System Administrator

at MEHRKANAL GmbH, Essen Infrastructure

Leading marketing-technology provider for multi-location brands; clients include Ford and Signal Iduna (~110 employees).

  • Provided technical support to employees; managed internal resources and presentation equipment
  • Administered internal networks and multiple Wi-Fi networks, central firewalls and VPNs; ~100 internal & external servers
  • Domain management with second-level registrars; DNS and SSL certificate management
  • Managed test & production environments — structures, accounts, uploads, go-lives, syncs and releases
06/2012 — 11/2018

Key Account & Technical Support

at ingenit GmbH & Co. KG, Dortmund Support

Custom business software and web-based information systems; expert in international domain management for SMEs, corporations and the public sector (~12 employees). Started in technical support during apprenticeship, moved into Key Account Management.

  • Handled customer inquiries via tickets and phone
  • Advised international & domestic SMEs on domain portfolios (expansion, trademark law, TLD requirements)
  • DNS and email service management; special TLD registrations (registry documents, escrow services)
  • Domain-portfolio analysis; server management in our own data center; LAMP and Node.js environments
03

Technical Skills

AI / LLM Tools

ChatGPT CodexClaude CodeOllamaLM StudioOpen WebUI

Automation

SaltStackAnsiblen8n

Virtualization & Containers

ProxmoxKVM / LibvirtDocker

Storage

CephDRBD

High Availability

PacemakerHAProxyKeepalived

Databases

MariaDB / MySQLPostgreSQLredis

Linux & BSD

DebianUbuntuCentOSFreeBSD

Web Servers

nginxApache

Networking

DNSRoutingBINDPowerDNS

Mail

PostfixDovecotrspamd

Programming

BashPython
04

Education & Training

Education
07/2009 — 06/2012

Fachinformatiker, Systemintegration

ingenit GmbH & Co. KG
IT specialist apprenticeship — systems integration
08/2005 — 06/2009

Informationstechnischer Assistent · Fachhochschulreife

Robert-Bosch-Berufskolleg, Dortmund
Information-technology assistant + university-entrance qualification
08/1999 — 06/2005

Fachoberschulreife

Robert-Koch-Realschule, Dortmund
Secondary school qualification
Certifications & Training
11/202445Drives Ceph Bootcamp
10/2025First-Aid Training for Workplace Responders
06/2021NETWAYS Foreman Training
06/2021Data Protection Officer (TÜV)
05

Interests

CyclingBoxingHIITRunningReadingPhotography3D ModelingTravel
Driving License A & B References Available on request
Tim Scharner — Retail Tech Project ManagerBerlin · 2026