Michael Kreutz

I am a Senior Backend Developer and Software Architect with over 10 years of experience in developing and modernizing business-critical JVM systems — primarily in Java and Kotlin with Spring Boot, Kafka, Kubernetes, and AWS.

My background is unusual for a developer: I studied both Mathematics (TU Berlin) and Economics (University of Mannheim / ENSAE Paris) at the Master's level. This combination gives me a perspective that pure technicians rarely have — I understand systems not only technically but also in their business logic and can make trade-offs at both levels.

In recent years, I have worked for companies such as Zalando, Klarna, Daimler, IONOS, Gorillas, and mkk – meine krankenkasse — in domains such as logistics, FinTech, e-commerce, and KRITIS-regulated healthcare. I have supported teams in migrating from monoliths to microservices, modernized legacy Java/Spring Boot stacks, designed robust REST and GraphQL APIs, and built CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and production observability.

In addition to pure backend development, I also advise small and medium-sized enterprises on process automation and digitalization — I identify where manual processes cause real time and cost, and develop clean, maintainable solutions. Modern AI tools today make it possible to deliver enterprise quality even without an enterprise budget — an area I find increasingly exciting.

I live and work in Berlin, work remote-first, and communicate directly — without status reports and without detours. I carry out projects on a time or fixed-price basis, in German and English.