About Me
Hello! I'm Torsten Mahr, a Technology Strategist at Microsoft obsessed with AI transformation in enterprise banking. I live and breathe AI adoption day in, day out—working with one of Germany's largest banks to push the boundaries of what's possible.
I'm that person who gets genuinely excited talking about AI assistants handling thousands of customer inquiries, intelligent automation transforming back-office operations, and how generative AI can revolutionize everything from risk assessment to customer experience. My passion is taking bleeding-edge AI capabilities and making them work in the real world of regulated banking—where compliance, security, and reliability aren't optional. It will change the way we think about banking, and I'm here to make sure it happens right. AI isn't just a buzzword for me; it's the future of how we interact with financial services, and I'm committed to leading that charge.
Before Microsoft, I led the Cloud Center of Excellence at Volkswagen Financial Services, building cloud strategy from the ground up and launching the Enabler Tribe, a platform-driven organization delivering services across the VW Financial Group. The common thread? Turning ambition into architecture and creating trust that makes transformation real.
Skills & Technologies
Case Studies & Proof Points (public)
Real-world transformations showcasing enterprise-scale cloud and governance implementations.
Commerzbank - Enterprise AI & Cloud Transformation
Strategic transformation partnership with Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest bank, driving enterprise-wide AI adoption, cloud migration, and digital innovation across all business units.
Leading strategic collaboration with Commerzbank on comprehensive digital transformation, including AI implementation across banking operations, cloud infrastructure modernization, and innovative customer solutions like the Avatar banking assistant and Commerz Real's Dynamics 365 Sales deployment.
Bundesbank AI Assistant Implementation
Strategic support for Germany's central bank in launching text-based intelligent assistants (TIAs), modernizing information access and operational efficiency through AI-powered solutions.
Contributed to the strategic implementation of intelligent AI assistants at Germany's Bundesbank, enabling modern information retrieval and operational support through advanced text-based AI technologies in critical financial infrastructure.
KfW Digital Funding Assistant - Rapid Implementation
Enabled rapid deployment of KfW's digital funding assistant, handling customer inquiries every six seconds and transforming Germany's development bank operations in just two weeks.
Strategic support for Germany's KfW development bank in implementing a digital funding assistant with unprecedented speed. The solution handles high-volume customer inquiries efficiently, demonstrating how rapid digital transformation can deliver immediate business value in critical financial infrastructure.
Hamburg Commercial Bank - Windows 365 Transformation
Supporting enterprise cloud desktop transformation at Hamburg Commercial Bank, enabling secure and flexible work environments through Windows 365 Cloud PC solutions.
Strategic collaboration on cloud desktop transformation in the banking sector, leveraging Windows 365 to modernize workplace technology while maintaining stringent security requirements for financial services operations.
Deutsche Börse AG - Capital Markets Transformation
Strategic transformation support for Deutsche Börse AG, Germany's leading stock exchange operator, modernizing critical financial market infrastructure through Microsoft Azure cloud solutions.
Contributed to the digital transformation of Germany's premier stock exchange, enabling modernization of financial market infrastructure while maintaining the highest levels of security, compliance, and performance required for capital markets operations.
Volkswagen Financial Services - Global Platform Transformation
Led the creation of the Managed Platform Service (MPS) at Volkswagen Financial Services - a global cloud platform supporting 1,000+ digital products across 25 countries and 4 brands.
Built on AWS Landing Zone with centralized compliance, security, and governance. Enabled country subsidiaries to develop products independently while maintaining enterprise standards. Reduced time-to-market from 3-6 months to 4 weeks for new leasing applications.
Volkswagen Financial Services - Cloud Governance at Scale
Laid the foundational groundwork and scaling strategy that enabled VWFS to manage 1,600 AWS accounts with just 8 engineers - a lean team approach that proved super efficient in retrospective analysis.
Designed the initial architecture and lean team approach that later scaled to VWFS worldwide operations. The foundational governance framework I established enabled automated vulnerability management and dramatic reduction in time-to-remediation (Log4j vulnerability resolved in minutes vs. days). Platform grew 5% monthly, validating the scalable approach.
Volkswagen Financial Services - Hybrid Cloud Strategy
Pushed the organization toward Azure hybrid solutions and collaborated with Microsoft Azure team to transform 80+ web applications across 10 countries, building upon foundational cloud work.
Championed the strategic shift to Azure hybrid solutions at VWFS, working directly with Microsoft Azure team who built upon our existing cloud foundation. Drove organizational adoption of Azure Stack Hub and DevOps practices while maintaining on-premises compliance. The collaboration enabled cloud-native development, developer independence in deployment cycles, and faster delivery at lower operational costs.
What Colleagues Say
"Torsten was a genius in this environment. At any time, he asked the right questions, was the driver of strategic topics and starting point for all other team mates for their issues or getting new ideas to solve problems. His view for details are gorgeous (in every kind, business, IT and overall strategic)."
"Within a very short time frame (five months), Torsten set up a team that helped more than 100 developers across our organization developing in a compliant and efficient way on AWS. He did a tremendous job, constantly managing some very challenging stakeholders."
"You truly impacted the company, our technology & platforms as well as our mindset in the Digital Program and way beyond - maybe more than you think. Many solutions we are taking live in a matter of days and weeks today wouldn't have been possible without your work."
Professional Experience
Technology Strategist - Strategic Customer Banking
Microsoft
Sep 2024 - Present · 10 mos
Helping one of Germany's largest banks move faster, smarter, and with purpose. Driving enterprise-scale transformation with cloud, data, and AI at the core—modernizing legacy platforms, reimagining customer experience, and pushing for business outcomes that actually land.
From boardroom vision to boots-on-the-ground delivery, I connect strategy to execution. Architecting the right path, aligning tech bets with what the business needs next, and building the momentum to make it real. AI, digital platforms, future-ready operations—yes. But at the end of the day, transformation is a trust exercise. And trust is earned through clarity, consistency, and results.
Technology Strategist - Financial Services
Microsoft
Sep 2021 - Aug 2024 · 3 yrs
Focused on empowering customers on their digital journey, from envisioning new possibilities to delivering solutions that result in targeted business outcomes and a great customer experience.
Cloud Center of Excellence Lead
Volkswagen Financial Services
Jan 2020 - Sep 2021 · 1 yr 9 mos
Brought knowledge and experience about cloud platforming and business models of a mode two organization to the scale of a mode one organisation. Shaped the cloud strategy and future of VWFS, including multi-vendor strategy and hybrid approaches. Working in the financial services industry means being outstanding in cloud governance and security. Used my knowledge to collaborate with cloud colleagues in the VW Group worldwide.
Enabler Tribe Lead - Digital Unit
Volkswagen Financial Services
Jan 2018 - Dec 2019 · 2 yrs
Created a sustainable organizational model called Enabler Tribe based on new work models and powered by an agile mindset. The goal was to provide cloud services company-wide in a platform business model. It included a cloud-based workplace and state-of-the-art cloud governance and security. Successfully rolled out the service to several international markets, building a strong community and it became one of the core fundaments of the VWFS digital journey.
Product Owner AWS Cloud Platform - Digital Unit
Volkswagen Financial Services
Jan 2017 - Dec 2017 · 1 yr
Established our public cloud environment based on AWS in just five months, enabling 100+ developers across the organization to develop in a compliant and efficient way. Set up teams from scratch, introduced basic guidelines, policies, and principles while closely collaborating with stakeholders from legal to procurement.
Pushed the set-up of a proper AWS contract forward, even at C-level/board level, managing challenging stakeholders throughout. Created and established several methods to scale out the defined architecture approach, reducing effort for onboarding and architectural conversations. It was one of the first cloud platforms in the German financial service industry based on a public cloud.
Integration Architect
Volkswagen Financial Services
Aug 2013 - Dec 2016 · 3 yrs 5 mos
Led a group defining data models and interface designs while working globally on several big projects as architecture lead. Defined rock-solid baseline architecture for worldwide integration of contract management systems in many different environments and harmonized those across international markets.
As a member of the Center of Competence Architecture, I was responsible for all international requests and developed strong international skills - both language and social wise. Created and established several methods to scale out the defined architecture approach, reducing effort for repetitive conversations and onboarding issues. Later shifted focus to digital transformation and became a founding member of the bimodal IT approach called Digital Unit.
IT-Architecture Consultant
ITARICON Management- und IT-Beratung
Sep 2010 - Jul 2013 · 2 yrs 11 mos
Worked as an IT Architecture consultant in various integration projects both nationally and internationally. Developed and designed integration solutions on SAP PI and IBM DataPower. Had lots of fun with edge cases like using undocumented APIs for SAP repositories, programming half-byte interfaces to mainframes, building Async-Sync Bridges, and conducting ultra-high-performance testing with go. Also supported the internal IT team as an in-house consultant.
IT Administration
ITARICON Management- und IT-Beratung
Apr 2007 - Sep 2010 · 3 yrs 6 mos
Responsible for establishing the internal IT organization of a newly founded consulting company. In parallel, I was studying Business Informatics Systems. I did so until the company became a medium-sized company.
Education
Diplom, Business Information Systems
Berufsakademie Dresden
2007 - 2010
Major fields of study: business administration, software development, databases, legal foundations
Seminar paper: "Proof of concept and prototypical implementation of a workflow application with SAP CE"
Thesis: "Design and development of a web-based time tracking tool for consultancy services at ITARICON GmbH"
Material Science
Technische Universität Dresden
2004 - 2007
Major fields of study: mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering mechanics, computer science
Electrical Engineering
Technische Universität Dresden
2003 - 2004
Major fields of study: mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, physics
Research Publications
Teamwork quality in technology-driven product teams in large-scale agile organizations
Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, Wiley
2021
Presents the Technical Team Maturity (TTM) approach for autonomous teams in agile organizations, focusing on technology-specific skills and capabilities. Evaluated in enterprise context of Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Financial Services AG.
Lean integration of IT security and data privacy governance aspects into product development in agile organizations
Journal of Universal Computer Science (JUCS)
2021
Research on integrating IT security and data privacy governance into agile product development processes, addressing compliance challenges in modern software development organizations.
Get In Touch
I'm always interested in new opportunities and collaborations. Feel free to reach out!