Rico Metzger

Principal Software Engineer & Consultant

I’m a senior software engineer with 20+ years of experience designing and delivering robust backend systems, resilient data pipelines, and pragmatic solutions for complex architectures.

My core stack is Java, Kotlin, Scala, plus Python and modern frontend frameworks like React and Angular.
I have extensive hands-on experience with distributed data platforms such as Kafka, and a wide range of databases — from relational (Oracle, PostgreSQL) to NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra, GraphDB).
My focus is on building the technical backbone that keeps businesses running reliably and at scale.

I thrive both embedded in agile teams and working independently — combining deep technical work with the leverage of modern AI tools, while ensuring that essential knowledge is shared and maintainable.

Remote Work Rates (open for negotiation)

Long-term

6+ months

Golang or Elixir

€ 85 /h

Long-term

6+ months

Spring Boot + Kotlin

€ 90 /h

Long-term

6+ months

Spring Boot + Java

€ 100 /h

Long-term Fullstack

6+ months

Spring Boot / JakartaEE + Angular

€ 110 /h

Short/Medium-term

≤ 6 months

€ 115 /h

Emergency / Advisory

€ 140 /h

Languages

German (native)

Spoken ★★★★★

Written ★★★★★

English (fluent)

Spoken ★★★★☆

Written ★★★★☆

French (basic)

Spoken ★★☆☆☆

Written ★★★☆☆

Soft Skills

Strong communication skills
Agile development expertise (Scrum, Kanban)
Problem-solving oriented
Technical leadership
Team collaboration

Certificates

Spring Certified Professional 2024 [v2] VMware / 2024
Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka Confluent / 2024
Scala Functional Programming Coursera / 2016
MongoDB Certified Developer Associate MongoDB / 2015

Skills

Programming Languages

Kotlin ★★★★★

Scala ★★★★★

Java ★★★★★

Go ★★★★☆

JavaScript ★★★★☆

TypeScript ★★★★☆

Python ★★★☆☆

Elixir ★★★☆☆

Frameworks

Spring ★★★★★

Camel ★★★★★

Cats / scalaz ★★★★☆

JavaEE / JakartaEE ★★★★☆

Akka ★★★☆☆

Flask ★★★☆☆

Angular ★★★★☆

React ★★★★☆

Svelte ★★★☆☆

Vue ★★★☆☆

Databases

Oracle ★★★★☆

PostgreSQL ★★★★★

MS SQL ★★☆☆☆

MongoDB ★★★★☆

Cassandra ★★☆☆☆

Ontotext GraphDB ★★★☆☆

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS ★★★★☆

GCP ★★☆☆☆

Azure ★★☆☆☆

Digital Ocean ★★★☆☆

Kubernetes ★★★★☆

Docker ★★★★☆

Messaging Systems

Kafka ★★★★★

JMS ★★★★☆

Project Experience

Bison - Bison Commerce

Senior Software Engineer 01/2024 - now

Working on a project to develop an ecommerce platform.

Java / Spring Angular / Typescript Commercetools Contentful Scrum

CSS - Shark2 / AWL 2.0

Senior Software Engineer 03/2023 - 12/2023

Working on a migration project from old JavaEE technologies to a modern microservice architecture.
Participate in a team to validate automatically incoming invoices.

Java / JakartaEE Oracle Kafka Kubernetes Scrum / SAFE

Bison - SmartFarming

Senior Software Engineer 10/2021 - 12/2022

Participation in the SmartFarming Team on various microservices for the platforms 365FarmNet and Barto.

Java / Spring Angular / Typescript 365FarmNet Barto Scrum

WMC Sinterstar AG - Employee

Deputy COO 07/2021 - 09/2021

Working on a migration project from old JavaEE technologies to a modern microservice architecture.
Participate in a team to validate automatically incoming invoices.

Java / JakartaEE Oracle Kafka Kubernetes Scrum / SAFE

SRF - EAI / PDP

Senior Software Engineer 11/2017 - 06/2021

Participation in SRF Online on a platform for processing and providing metadata and videos for use in an online platform.
Participation in the new development of a platform for storing publication metadata for the entire SRG.

Scala Cats Kafka Cassandra Python

Finnova - FrontSuite

Senior Software Engineer 06/2016 - 09/2017

Development on the Finnova FrontSuite, Release 3. The goal of the platform was to provide a modern front end for customer advisors at banks, based on the latest technologies.

Scala Akka BPMN Docker Domain Driven Design Event Driven Architecture Microservices Scrum

Credit Suisse - CSOMS Migration

Software Engineer 11/2015 - 07/2016

Assistance in the migration from CSOMS to JAP 8 and at the same time conceptual support in the development of a platform for document conversion based on Compart DocBridge.

Java / JavaEE Assetnis DocFamily Compart DocBridge Mill Oracle AFP / PDF

Swisscom - Employee

Software Engineer 11/2014 - 10/2015

Development of a complete monitoring and integration platform for Finnova Output with Assentis COM4F.

Java Spring Boot AngularJS Vaadin Oracle AQ Camel Assentis

AXA Winterthur - OMS / CSI

Software Engineer 07/2013 - 11/2014

Integration of HP Exstream at AXA Switzerland with a connection of the engine to a rendering farm.

Spring Batch HP Exstream JBoss Scrum

Credit Suisse - Output Management

Software Engineer / Architect 01/2010 - 05/2013

CSOMS - Architecture and PoC of a new output management system for central and decentralized printing via Assentis DocFamily as the bank's future central printing solution in private banking
EOMS - Development of a central printing system for the private banking segment in Luxembourg. The documents are designed in Zurich for the entire bank, but the customer data is only available in Luxembourg itself. The system supplements the anonymous designs from Zurich and supplements them with customer data from Luxembourg. The documents are then archived and converted for printing.
FOMS - Development of a software component for the enrichment, conversion and printing of tax-relevant documents for customers in countries with tax treaties. The documents are created with Assentis DocFamily without customer data and the tax-relevant customer information is supplemented by FOMS.

WebLogic (JEE5) Assentis DocFamily Compart DocBridge Mill JSF2 IBM Websphere MQ JPA Spring + Spring Batch Camel Oracle (PL/SQL) AFP

WMC Sinterstar AG - ERP

Software Engineer / Architect 01/2001 - 12/2020

Development of customer-specific applications as internal ERP. First as a client/server solution with Delphi, later migration to Spring Boot / AngularJS. Switching to React instead of Angular 2.

Delphi Firebird Java Spring Boot AngularJS React PostgreSQL