Netlight is a company built and owned by its employees, fostering motivation for everyone to shape the company's future in alignment with their own needs, vision, and values. I was part of this journey for almost ten years, joining the German branch of Netlight when it had around 60 employees, to today, with over 700 active employees in Germany alone.

During this time, I contributed significantly to the growth of Hamburg from 10 employees in 2016 to 170 employees in 2024. Major aspects of my work that was part of driving this growth can be summarized as follows:

• Creating a culture of knowledge sharing by establishing various formats for consultants and other functions within Netlight to exchange thoughts and ideas, challenge each other, and learn through hands-on experience, listening, or observation.
• Hiring and developing new talent within Netlight, both in consulting and sales and as a disciplinary leader of the company for over six years. This involved creating development plans and goals for employees, aligning them with their personal and Netlight's needs, and coaching colleagues to reach their full potential.
• Allowing for more diverse talent to be seen in IT by establishing and supporting FINTA-related initiatives and projects together with non-profit and social organizations in Hamburg.
• Aligning business needs with talent and engagement management, fostering an environment where people and business can grow together regardless of the company's stage.
• Navigating challenging times with impacts on hiring, people development, and the type of employer Netlight needed to be. This included adjusting hiring strategies, finding ways to onboard and further develop talented colleagues, and identifying business opportunities in less-than-ideal market conditions.

Being embedded in a team of three architects, I was responsible for aligning the Macro-Architecture with the teams and collecting both business and technical needs for it. This helped me define guidelines for the teams to follow and implement their services against, creating a unified vision for all products. To effectively steer those efforts, I created formats to share, discuss and align team-needs and help them to take ownership of their own implementation-details.

As a Product Architect, I provided guidance for five application teams, aligning product architectures with the macro-architecture. I facilitated product-related and technical formats to understand needs and coordinate implementation efforts. Being part of the teams allowed me to maintain proximity and ensure alignment between micro and macro architectures. My approach facilitated swift decision-making and effective development coordination, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing across teams.