In my own words
After 10+ years working as a quantitative Portfolio Manager in the Asset Management and Financial industry, in 2018 I decided to make a change and started to study Computer Science. The focus in my studies were on Data Science and Machine Learning.
In 2020, I joined Commerzbank AG to work as a Data Scientist (working student) in their Big Data & Advanced Analytics department. In 2024, I joined adesso SE and have since been working as a Machine Learning engineer and Python developer.
Although I had previously developed and applied computer programs for securities analysis and fund management, I remain fascinated by the current AI revolution and am eager to explore its expanding opportunities for data analysis and beyond.
Education
Full time Master degree studies in Computer Science with a chosen focus on Machine Learning and Data Science. I learned the theoretical background of Machine Learning and its algorithms such as Logistic Regression, SVM, Ensembles (Random Forests, XGBoost, etc) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). I extended my knowledge to other Machine Learning fields such as NLP and Computer Vision. I applied this knowledge in multiple Machine Learning projects, gaining further experience with Python and related Data Science and Machine Learning libraries.
- Final Grade: 1.3 (top 5%)
- (Optional) Modules chosen: Machine Learning, Data Mining, Learning from Data, NLP Project, Speech Recognition, Computer Vision, Adaptive Knowledge Systems
- Multiple coding projects using Python and related libraries: PyTorch, scikit-learn, spaCy, pandas, NumPy, OpenCV,etc.
- Master-Thesis: “Constructing a Knowledge Graph by extracting information from financial news articles”
Full time Bachelor degree studies in Computer Science. I refreshed and enhanced my knowledge in mathematics and learned the theoretical concepts of Computer Science. I gained hands-on programming experience in different programming languages during multiple projects. I particularly enjoyed practical modules such as Algorithms & Data Structures, Databases, and Computer Networks. My Bachelor-Thesis focused on Machine Learning topics and feature contribution techniques such as Shapley values.
- Final Grade: 1.6
- Bachelor-Thesis: Title: “An approach to Out-of-Model feature explanations in the application of credit fraud detection”
Full time Master degree studies in Economics with a focus on quantitative subjects that was partly funded by merit scholarships due to outstanding grades. I also worked as a Teaching Assistant, conducted exercises and designed, corrected and graded undergraduate exams.
- GPA: 3.875 (top 5%)
- Focus: Statistics, Econometrics, Macroeconomic Modelling
- Master-Thesis: Title: “The macroeconomic aspects of German Reunification”
Preliminary diplomas in three different degree studies. My main interests were Macroeconomics, Economic Policy and Public Law.
Experiences
Machine Learning engineer and Python developer on multiple AI projects. In this role I:
- built data extraction and processing pipelines using fine-tuned Azure Document-Intelligence and OpenAI models
- built data and image extraction and processing pipelines using pure Python and Python libraries
- built LLM processing pipelines using LangChain and LangGraph
- extracted structured information from PDFs into a Neo4j Graph to allow customized LLMs to query related information (Alternative RAG)
- built MCP servers for agentic networks
- advised clients on different Prompt Engineering techniques
- reengineered a full stack web app (backend, frontend)
- wrote CI/CD pipeline code to containerize and deploy models to Azure
I have worked as a part time Data Scientist (working student) on two main projects:
- Machine Learning model to detect corporate credit fraud
- Large Language Models (LLMs) to classify the text of News articles
For that, I:
- used Python libraries (pandas, re, spaCy, etc) to preprocess and prepare text and other unstructured and structured data.
- applied traditional algorithms such as Logistic Regression, SVM, Random Forests, XGBoost and optimized the model’s hyper-parameters.
- downloaded, fine-tuned and applied HuggingFace models to classify the text of News articles.
- worked with: Cloudera Data Science Workbench (CDSW), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Docker, Kubernetes, Hadoop ecosystem, Git/Bitbucket, Confluence, etc.
I advised institutional investors, particularly on their ABS/CDO portfolios. I analyzed securities, verified price marks and helped clients to meet regulatory requirements. I also advised clients on their portfolio holdings and made asset allocation recommendations.
Entrepreneurial attempt and preparation to set up a quantitatively managed credit hedge fund using credit derivatives. The plan eventually failed as the main seed investor unexpectedly withdrew his initial commitment.
I steered a team of seven Portfolio Managers that managed funds with a combined volume of EUR 1.3 Bio. through the financial crisis of 2008. I preemptively sold particularly risky securities before their market prize plunged. I implemented quantitative investment approaches to analyze securities and manage investment funds more effectively. I implemented infrastructural processes (E-Trading, Back-Office, etc.) to reduce administrative burdens for Portfolio Managers. I promoted the company and our fund management concepts, winning prestigious management mandates from institutional investors.
I led a team of three Portfolio Managers that managed two dedicated credit funds with a combined volume of EUR 800 Mio. I developed a comprehensive concept to manage these funds and analyze securities quantitatively. I implemented it by writing code in Excel Visual Basic (VBA). The two funds won many awards and prizes for their outstanding performance:
- W&W Euro Corporate Bond Fund
- W&W Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) Fund
In 2000/2001, I also received the CFA and DVFA/CEFA designations from the CFA Institute and the DVFA Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management e.V.
Github Repositories
My projects are hosted on Github. Click links below for some of my public repos or extracts thereof:
Publications
My publications as a Computer Science student can be downloaded as PDF.