Matthias Schleinitz
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Toptal member since June 10, 2022
Matthias is a project manager with 20+ years of experience performing several roles across many industries. He started as a software developer and IT consultant, then evolved to business analyst, project manager, and head of the project management office for a German company. This background gave him a unique and comprehensive combination of technical knowledge and people skills. Matthias's competent and friendly demeanor and analytical skills characterize his working and leadership style.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Project Management
- Hybrid Project Management
- IPMA Level C Project Manager
- Jira
- Microsoft Excel
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
- Project Management Office (PMO)
- Stakeholder Management
Work Experience
Project Portfolio Manager
Warakirri Asset Management
- Established a company-wide project register in Wrike, providing senior management with real-time portfolio visibility, enabling informed prioritisation and alignment with strategic objectives.
- Delivered a business intelligence program, integrating cross-departmental data into a central warehouse and Power BI reporting suite, laying the foundation for Warakirri’s data strategy.
- Rolled out three ERP-integrated SaaS solutions within a coordinated program of work, streamlining business processes and supporting digital transformation objectives.
- Managed vendor selection and performance for offshore and onshore delivery partners, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations, quality standards, and budgetary limits.
- Oversaw successful offshoring of key finance processes, improving operational efficiency and redeploying internal resources to higher-value activities.
- Ensured organizational adoption of Wrike as the central project and portfolio management platform, leveraging it for strategic planning, project governance, and operational processes.
- Launched the ClariVest Global Small Companies Fund, coordinating activities across compliance, operations, marketing, and investment teams to achieve ASIC approval and go-live by July 31, 2025.
Head of Project Management
on-geo GmbH
- Owned several projects with budgets up to €300,000 for Germany-based multinational blue-chip companies and other financial institutions to adapt on-geo's software products to the clients' individual requirements.
- Coordinated all software projects in connection with on-geo's market entry in Austria up to the successful introduction of a customized solution for the first Austrian client.
- Managed a project to participate in the tender of a blue-chip multinational company with a novel product and subsequently initiated the corresponding fully agile project with a budget of over €1.5 million within weeks of the awarded contract.
- Defined and led several collaborative projects with other software vendors to develop common integrated solutions for joint sales efforts.
- Created an organizational framework to connect the clients' IT systems via web APIs to on-geo's web services within two months, including creating a tailored proposal template for APIs while leading several API projects myself.
- Acted as a partner to the sales department in the formulation of service specifications for contracts to implement and operate customer solutions.
- Established a project management office (PMO) for on-geo as an internal project management service provider with 5-10 project managers under my leadership.
- Introduced a system for company-wide project monitoring with monthly reports on budget consumption and compliance with scope, time, and budget objectives.
- Authored a project management handbook that serves as a binding guideline for all project managers in my PMO team and at on-geo, taking the Agile development process into account.
Senior Business Consultant
IBYKUS AG
- Designed and implemented the public grant solution for the rural development program of the German federal state of Thuringia based on an Oracle PL/SQL framework.
- Managed the project to integrate geographic information system (GIS) data into the calculation of European and national subsidies in the public grant solution of the German federal state of Hesse.
- Created and enforced a generic solution for investment support, first used for a program for investment support in rural areas of Thuringia, later used by other teams for other projects.
- Developed and implemented the public grant solution for the forestry development program of Hesse, including a data migration for all legacy cases created in the previous system.
- Served as deputy team leader for the team that managed all IT solutions for Hesse.
IT Consultant
Alfabet Meta-Modeling AG
- Contributed to significant parts of a new rapid product development solution for a German telecommunications company, modeling diagram templates and writing supporting automation scripts.
- Spearheaded a project for the said company building a Java-based API between their product database and our product development solution, and managed a freelance developer from the UK.
- Supported the transition of several prototypical developments into new products, among other things, by designing new UIs.
- Led several internal projects for quality assurance and software-supported documentation of modeling solutions.
Project History
Real Estate Appraisal Solution for the German Bank DZ HYP
Managed a project to adapt a standard appraisal product to the client's specific requirements and integrate it into their IT landscape, including the migration of legacy data from two systems and an API to the client's core banking system.
• Managed the timely creation of the specifications by the two business analysts and the implementation of the resulting stories by the three scrum teams, each having internal and external developers.
• Personally supervised the four stages of the legacy data migration.
• Wrote the proposals for all change requests during the project.
• Planned training sessions at each of the 8 locations of the client’s real estate appraisal division.
• Set up an individual Jira service desk to report bugs and feature requests during the project and maintenance phase.
• Included a third-party product into the solution using a REST API.
Successful Participation in the Tender of a Blue-chip Multinational Company (NDA Effective).
Managed a project to participate in the tender of a blue-chip multinational company with a novel product and subsequently initiated the corresponding fully agile project with a budget of over €1.5 million within weeks of the awarded contract.
• Managed the activities of all company departments to supply the necessary answers and documents to participate in the tender.
• Planned the workshops that were part of the tender process for all shortlisted participants and organized the creation of consistent PowerPoint slides to demonstrate the suggested solution.
• Initiated and accompanied the contract negotiations with the central purchasing department of the ordering company.
• Set up the organizational and communication structure of the project after the company won the bid.
• Coordinated with my company’s Agile coach an overall Agile development process, with our client, and with my company’s involved departments and teams.
Program for the Market Entry in Austria
Coordinated all software projects in connection with on-geo's market entry in Austria up to the successful introduction of a customized solution for the first Austrian client.
• Gathered the requirements regarding the necessary adjustments to the software for the market entry in Austria and divided them into sequential projects that would form a program.
• Successfully led the projects using internal development resources and two external subcontractors.
• Spearheaded two projects to integrate Austrian products into the product portfolio on on-geo and connect the appraisal software to a client’s core banking system.
• Supported the sales efforts in the Austrian market through prototypes and pre-projects.
• Reported to the management regarding all activities connected to the market entry in Austria.
• Led two projects for Austrian clients, successfully introducing a customized solution for the first Austrian client.
• Set up customer service using the Jira service desk, geared to the Austrian specifics.
Project Management Office (PMO) for on-geo
Established a PMO for on-geo as an internal project management service provider with 5-10 project managers under my leadership.
• Introduced a system for company-wide project monitoring with monthly reports on budget consumption and compliance with scope, time, and budget objectives.
• Authored a project management handbook that serves as a binding guideline for all project managers in my PMO team and at on-geo, taking the agile development process into account.
• Planned and supervised the gradual introduction of unified project management processes in all company departments.
Crowdfunding Platform for Home Financing
Successfully led a project to expand an existing standard product to include aspects of crowdfunding according to Islamic financing rules.
• Managed two business analysts and one scrum team to write all specifications and make all adjustments necessary to use the software product for the purpose intended by the client.
• Advised and guided the client on using additional services provided by my employer.
Business Intelligence Program
- 20 — Financial & Operational Power BI Reports Across 3 Business Units
CHALLENGE
• Microsoft Excel was used for internal and external reporting.
• Financial and operational data were hidden in several internal and external data silos.
• There was heavy reliance on the internal IT team for reporting.
SOLUTION
• Searched and commissioned an offshore provider for data engineering and Power BI and Power Apps development.
• Developed a roadmap for the three involved business units and translated this into a sprint plan.
• Set up an Agile project structure and delivery process with internal and external resources.
• Developed a data warehouse for ERP data using SAP Business One.
• Created 20+ financial and operational Power BI reports across three business units.
• Built 5+ Power Apps solutions for automation.
• Rolled out an upskill program for internal resources, including Power BI.
Achieved consistent live Power BI reporting across all business units, including the development of 20+ financial and operational Power BI reports.
AgriChain SaaS Roll-out
- AUD 85,000 — Annual Savings in Labor & Printing
- AUD 125,000 — Annual Gains from Market Opportunities & Improved Tracking
CHALLENGE
• Grain marketing was done using an internal legacy application with high maintenance effort for the IT team
• There was a hard deadline set for the rollout of the new solution for the start of harvest.
SOLUTION
• Provided a software trial with two farms.
• Established a cross-departmental project team with several workstreams.
• Analyzed affected financial processes.
• Implemented ERP integration via the Web Service API.
• Identified customization needs and clarified with the vendor.
• Procured hardware such as printers.
• Adapted Power BI and Excel reporting.
• Provisioned training for farm and accounting staff.
• Decommissioned legacy systems.
Rolled out a state-of-the-art software reflecting the latest industry developments and legislation for all user groups, with complete decommissioning of legacy systems. Improved reporting and decision-making via live insights into sales.
Education
Master of Science Degree in Engineering
Bauhaus University - Weimar, Germany
Certifications
Practical Application of Generative AI for Project Managers
Project Management Institute (PMI)
PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Power BI Advanced Training
Nexacu
Wrike Product Mastery: Silver
Wrike
Certified Project Manager (Level C)
International Project Management Association (IPMA)
Skills
Tools
Jira, Confluence, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Wrike, Visual Basic, Zoom, Microsoft Project, GIS, AutoCAD, Microsoft Power BI, Google Slides, SAP Concur, Microsoft Power Apps
Paradigms
Agile, Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Database Design, Kanban, Scrum, Implementation Project Management, Change Management
Platforms
Oracle
Other
Project Management Office (PMO), IPMA Level C Project Manager, Hybrid Project Management, Time Management, Teamwork, Business Analysis, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Germany, Waterfall Methodology, Technical Project Management, Project Management, Project Tracking, Reporting, Data Migration, Coaching, Software Development, Project Planning, Project Reporting, API Integration, Configuration Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Stakeholder Management, Web API, PL/SQL, Java, Financial Controlling, Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Oracle SQL, SOAP, Google Apps Script, Microsoft Teams, German-English Translation, APIs, Integration, Offshore Development, Web Services, Enterprise SaaS, Engineering, Scope Management, Quality Management, Resource Management, Procurement, Planning, Risk Management, Crisis Management, Negotiation, Resourcing, Integrity Management, Strategy, Governance, Compliance, Culture Management, C++, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), OpenGL, C#.NET, Request for Proposal (RFP), Webex, Internationalization, Program Management, REST APIs, Sprint Planning, Data Integration, Release Management, Requirements, Webexpenses, Data Strategy, AgriChain, Business Intelligence (BI), SQL Server 2012, SAP Business One, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
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