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Max Riechelmann
Airbus AI Autonomy Hub
I was an early adopter of agentic AI for DevOps and have become fluent with it since: augmented, governed software development environments where cloud-native CI/CD and AI agents work hand in hand, always inside deterministic guardrails.
"DevOps culture in aerospace, where the AI insists every mission should be deployed on Fridays."
BackgroundComputer Science graduate (Diplom), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). I have been into computing since childhood: my first Visual Basic program written with my father, self-run game and community servers through my teens, and Linux, which I taught myself early and got seriously deep into during my civilian service.
I've been professionally active without interruption since that civilian service at 18 — 22 years of professional experience, long as a software developer before moving into DevOps. That's where I found my calling: automation, CI/CD and operations. Currently Senior DevOps & QA Engineer at Airbus' AI Autonomy Hub. The next step is the technical expert career track.
What I Actually DoThe business card says Senior DevOps & QA Engineer. This is what that looks like on a normal Tuesday.
Senior DevOps & QA Engineer
Airbus AI Autonomy Hub
Experience22 years, from civilian-service sysadmin to today — paginated, oldest at the end.
AI Autonomy Hub, Airbus Defence and Space. I own the Software Factory: the shared, augmented development environment (cloud dev environments, CI/CD, org-wide DevSecOps governance) and the agentic-AI tooling that augments engineering, held in check by deterministic guardrails. Designing SiL and HiL V&V for machine learning and autonomy. Also run the weekly Tech Exchange ("dojo"), working toward the technical expert career track.
Augmented dev environments · DevSecOps governance · Agentic AI · SiL/HiL V&V
Kicked off the team's DevOps transformation, bridging electronics-waterfall hardware processes and agile software development. Built CI/CD pipelines for app, web, and embedded teams, founded and facilitate a cross-team DevOps guild, set up Grafana monitoring, and moved operations to Docker-first. Security scans and SBOMs underway, targeting NIS2/CRA compliance.
GitHub Actions · Ansible · Terraform · Grafana · Docker
Ported and maintained Linux packages on QNX. Modeled and maintained the build process for the emerging OS, working across heterogeneous build systems.
QNX · C · Make/CMake/Ninja · POSIX
Core development and DevOps for the KTS250 embedded Android device (roughly half DevOps, half embedded development). Build automation and CI/CD, OS-level work in AOSP and embedded Linux, and set up Dependency-Track/SBOMs for the device.
AOSP · Embedded Linux · CI/CD · Dependency-Track
Set up and operated Jenkins via IaC/Ansible. Fixed and stabilized pipelines (including Gradle) across teams. DevOps with Docker, OpenShift, and Infrastructure as Code across automotive client projects.
Jenkins · Ansible · Docker · OpenShift
Customer support and problem analysis for Linux on IBM Z mainframes, working closely with customers and development teams.
Linux · IBM Z
DevOps with Ansible, Jenkins, and Docker in the automotive sector.
"Development of a Modular and Extendable Software Service for Data Transfer Abstraction" — designed and implemented a modular, extensible framework for abstract data transfer over networks such as Ethernet and InfiniBand, in C.
"Optimizing High-Speed Data Transfer and Processing of DAQ Systems with NVIDIA's GPUDirect RDMA" — extended an InfiniBand framework with GPUDirect RDMA support for the DAQ of the synchrotron at the ANKA synchrotron radiation facility, in C.
Tutor for the Operating Systems course.
Supervised students building their own operating system on the L4 microkernel.
Developed an Eclipse extension built on GMF, later adapted for automated app generation (Android/iPhone), in Java.
Built an operating system on the L4ka Pistachio microkernel: keyboard and graphics drivers, interrupt handling, scheduling, threads, memory management, IPC.
Extended the Linux kernel scheduler for a reduced-power operating mode, with follow-up power measurement.
Maintained a TYPO3 website in collaboration with the German UPA (Usability Professionals' Association).
Ruby on Rails portal; automated 3D object rotation/translation prototype in CATIA (VBA); vehicle-variant tooling in Ruby/XML.
Ruby on Rails portal for internal use; Excel/VBA data analysis; simulation support in Delmia (VBA).
Built a Java application.
Built a TCL/TK application and a CGI program.
Linux and Windows system administration.
TeachingTeaching is a running thread through my career, from university up to now:
A few of my Tech Exchange decks, cleaned up for a general audience, below.
What is really inside .git, and how every command follows from it —
down to the bytes on disk, then merge, rebase, squash and the branching models
everybody argues about.
reveal.js · Git internals
Inventories, variables, templates, loops, and Ansible Vault — a practical walkthrough of a real playbook repository.
reveal.js · Ansible
Small commands that make Claude Code faster every day — practical workflows, not just feature lists.
reveal.js · Claude Code
InsightsWriting on DevOps, QA and trustworthy AI in the development lifecycle.
Beyond Work
ProjectsThese run independently, on my own.
Multi-agent Claude setup spanning email, calendar, and messaging (Signal, WhatsApp, Discord), triggered on demand and operable remotely from anywhere. Persistent memory system, custom MCP servers, self-hosted on a personal root server — including this very site, built end-to-end through the agent itself.
Claude · MCP · Docker · Python/Deno
Tool ecosystem for an ongoing D&D campaign: player display app, automated session recaps, a Discord bot with MCP integration, and an AI-powered image/audio pipeline (ComfyUI). Hands-on experience with AI agents and MCP tooling in self-hosted operation.
Python · Discord API · MCP · ComfyUI · Docker
Community platform for a German-speaking Star Citizen organization. Backend for market and contract data, own Discord bot, self-hosted continuously since 2020.
PHP · MariaDB · Docker · Discord bot (Python)
Multi-game community portal (Dual Universe, Neverwinter Nights persistent world, EVE Online). News blog with Discord integration, live since 2011.
PHP · Docker
Community and tooling project around a custom Neverwinter Nights persistent world ("Mintarn") and Unreal Engine 5 experiments. Discord bot with automated news feed and BBCode conversion for forum integration.
Python · Unreal Engine 5 · Discord bot
Marketplace app for venues, events and artists; completed Flutter prototype (Android/iOS), ongoing development; in formation.
Flutter/Dart · Android/iOS
Skill Matrix
Contact