Curriculum vitae
Zsolt Thomas Szentirmai
Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. (FH) · systems engineer and adviser for digital sovereignty. Self-employed since 1999, with a focus on public-sector clients.
continuously self-employed
clients
companies led, 2002–2024
in the public sector
Profile
Where the perspective comes from
Since 1999 I have been responsible for digital undertakings: from requirements gathering through IT architecture and delivery to running the result. The focus is on public-sector clients — project agencies acting for federal ministries, federally owned companies, chambers of commerce, foundations and cooperatives.
Three views of the same procurement
As managing director of a federally funded competence centre, as administrator of EU regional development funds, and as the contractor who writes bids against tender specifications and then delivers them.
Operation, not just advice
I run the systems I recommend — servers, certificates, networks, backups. Whatever ends up in a concept, I have had running myself first.
Languages
German and Hungarian as native languages, English at negotiation level. Advisory work in German and English.
Career
Professional career
- since 1999
Owner and adviser
Senticon Consulting, Potsdam · continuously since 1999
Concept work, media production and web development for industry and mid-sized firms, later project management and project leadership. Today advice and delivery on digital sovereignty, data ownership and platform architecture.
- since 2019
Adviser and operator of the infrastructure
Platform Coops eG, Berlin · also a member
Cloud services replaced entirely by open source and self-hosted operation:
- Nextcloud for file storage, project management and organisation
- Nextcloud Talk with its own recording and streaming server, transcription via local AI
- An own Mastodon instance instead of a commercial platform
- Backup strategy and security concept, including a workshop with the members
- The web platforms platformcoop.de and workersbuyout.de
- Open-source knowledge management, a local retrieval system for document search
- since 2023
Website, event documentation and technical advice
Tempelhof Projekt GmbH — Denkmalwerkstatt THF · framework contract
The website thfx-denkmalwerkstatt.de including its operation, prototyping and concept work on the heritage information system, plus documentation of the events and technical advice. Together with Ela Kagel, who leads the project and moderates.
- 2009–2024
Managing director
Streampark, Berlin — Ltd., later GmbH & Co. KG
Building and leading a business for digital platforms and media production. 248 clients, project volumes into six figures, responsibility for bidding, costing, staff and operations. From 2016 mostly direct public-sector engagements.
- 2009–2021
Co-founder and managing partner
SUPERMARKT Berlin GbR · Mehringplatz und Brunnenstraße
A coworking, events and café operation at two sites, from 2013 across some 3,000 m² with four coworking offices. Funded from the EU regional development programme and Berlin-Mitte business support. Responsibility for the entire technical infrastructure and a ten-person IT team, plus controlling, event management and staff planning.
- 2018–2019
Founding member and CFO
RChain Europe eG, Berlin
Building a cooperative for cooperatively owned digital infrastructure: statutes, conferences, financial planning under currency risk, and an orderly wind-down after the funding fell away.
- 2015
Project lead, Connected Drivelog
Mobility Media GmbH — Bosch Group, Berlin
Project leadership in the Bosch Group’s connected vehicle diagnostics. Agile delivery with Scrum and Kanban.
- 2010–2011
Post-production and advice — 2010LAB and Ruhr portal
RUHR.2010 GmbH — European Capital of Culture
The Capital of Culture’s VoD and community platform: advice on bandwidth, image quality and performance, workflow design for delivery, transcoding and mastering.
- 2008–2009
Streaming infrastructure adviser — Digital Concert Hall
Berlin Phil Media GmbH — Berlin Philharmonic
Advice on live and video-on-demand streaming in the platform’s launch year: HD encoding, audio tests and upload infrastructure. Test encodings as the basis for the management’s decision.
- 2006–2009
Project leadership and key account management
id Media AG, Berlin
- Motor TV — a live-streaming music channel with a DVB-T broadcast licence: concept, project leadership, its own server rack in a data centre
- BMW TV video portal — production management, web player and media centre channel
- BMW Welt — the live broadcast of the opening, delivery network setup and quality assurance
- Toshiba Electronics Europe — change management, centralising the European offices
- 2003–2006
Technical lead of the broadcast — Ligaradio, 1. Bundesliga
evisco AG and streamlab GmbH · Senticon Consulting, Munich studio
Technical lead of the live internet radio broadcast on bundesliga.de, across three seasons on every match day: three top matches and the round-up as parallel live streams.
- Live direction of the audio stream, studio and encoding technology
- Project and production management of the studio and the web TV platform
- Live system monitoring, failover and quality assurance
- 2002–2003
Managing director — eBusiness competence centre, Upper Bavaria
A federal ministry programme · hosted by the Munich Chamber of Commerce and the City of Munich
Leading a funded competence centre with two permanent and five freelance staff. eBusiness advice for mid-sized firms, IT studies in Bavaria, more than ten conference talks, plus seminars, workshops and congresses.
Skills
What I bring
Advice and tendering
Digital strategy for institutions, requirements gathering and user stories, bidding for public-sector clients, advice on digital sovereignty.
Leadership and organisation
Managing three companies between 2002 and 2024, controlling, costing and staff planning, financial control as CFO, publicly funded programmes.
Platform and application
Drupal since 2009, editorial systems, data models and registration, consultation and voting tools, UI/UX concepts and clickable prototypes.
Operation and infrastructure
Linux server operation, certificates and CDN over years for federal clients. Nextcloud, Nextcloud Talk and Mastodon self-hosted. Backups with rehearsed recovery, networking and network security.
Data protection and data ownership
Privacy-compliant web delivery without third-party tracking, exits from external cloud services, architectural decoupling against vendor lock-in, locally operated AI systems.
Media and events
Live streaming and encoding since 2003 — three Bundesliga seasons, the Digital Concert Hall, RUHR.2010, the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Broadcast distribution under licence, cloud streaming infrastructure, event design and documentation.
References
Selected clients
A selection from more than 25 years. Every entry is evidenced by contract and invoice records.
| Client | Undertaking | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Public Art Lab e. V. | spurderhaeuser.de — an interactive web platform for a cultural undertaking: concept, design, programming, delivery and operation under sole responsibility | since 2025 |
| AiF Projekt GmbHproject agency of the Federal Ministry | Event platform for the Innovationstag Mittelstand: registration, exhibitor directory, interactive map, editorial back end, operation — commissioned four years running | 2021–2024 |
| Stiftung Gesundheitswissen | A health information platform on Drupal: build, migration and upgrade in live operation, interactive calculators, media library, search, integration of the official Alpha-ID-SE coding of the BfArM | 2017–2024 |
| BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung mbHfederally owned | Website and interactive commenting tool for a formal public consultation procedure, including server operation and certificates | 2019–2022 |
| Wirtschaftsprüferkammerpublic-law corporation | Training videos, live streaming, CDN hosting and administration — seven years of continuous engagement | 2016–2023 |
| Technische Universität Berlin | Live and event production, among others for the founding of the Einstein Center Digital Future | 2016–2022 |
| Fink & Fuchsfor the Federal Ministry of the Interior | Two live streams at the ministry in Berlin with the federal minister: site survey and live test beforehand, broadcast for up to 2,500 concurrent viewers, recording delivered within 24 hours | 2016 |
| trommsdorff & drünerfor ORF, Vienna | ORF radio press portal: advice on Drupal and streaming, platform concept, functional specification and technical specification | 2009–2010 |
| Deutsche Telekom AG | T-Home Entertain: workflow and back-end design for VoD encoding and IPTV — H.264, Dolby Surround, encoder cluster | 2009 |
| VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH | Online platform, UI/UX concept, style guide development, CDN operation | 2020–2021 |
Education
Background and context
Education
Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. (FH), product engineering
Furtwangen University, 1997–2001. Thesis at Tanner AG, Lindau: an e-learning and knowledge management platform.
Electrical communications engineering, Konstanz University of Applied Sciences, 1996–1998. State-certified business assistant, Backnang, 1992.
Teaching and writing
Tutor and trainer at the tele-akademie of Furtwangen University, course “Data management with XML”, 2001–2005. More than ten talks on e-commerce and eBusiness in Upper Bavaria, 2002–2003. Ongoing writing on digital sovereignty and IT security on my own blog.
Membership and further clients
Platform Coops eG — member and adviser. Langer Stall Potsdam eG — member.
Further clients over 25 years: DIW Berlin, Volkswagen, Toshiba Electronics Europe, Bosch Group, Hertha BSC, VdZ, the City of Dortmund and ECCE.
As of September 2026. Every entry is evidenced by contract, invoice and company records.
Contact
Questions about an entry?
There are records behind every entry. Write to me if you need evidence.