From 1 September 2026

Microsoft Azure Architect.

From the board-level decision to the platform in production.

Stephan Bail
8+
Years on Azure
10+
Enterprise projects
130+
APIs on platform
2
Companies founded
AvailabilityFrom 1 September 2026
EngagementRemote · DACH / EU
Day rateOn request
LanguagesGerman · English
Download CV
clients include
BMW GroupE.ONTRUMPFHDIWEKAGEA GroupNagel-GroupVersicherungskammer BayernELO Digital Office
Right now

What I am working on

A group-wide platform is running, and a board-level decision paper was delivered successfully in August 2026. That combination is what this practice is built on.

since 2025HDI VersicherungAzure Platform Architect · Landing Zones & Governance
completed 08/2026WEKA GroupCloud Strategy Consultant · Business Case & Target Architecture
Services

What I do

01

Cloud Strategy & Business Case

Decision papers your board can act on: 5-year TCO on-premises vs. Azure, scenario analysis, migration strategy with wave planning - including the cost traps standard calculators leave out.

TCOAssessmentWave Planning
02

Migration & Landing Zones

Data-center migrations planned and governed along the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework: secure landing zones, hub-spoke networking, identity and governance - fully automated with Terraform and Bicep, from assessment to production.

CAFLanding ZoneTerraform
03

AI Enablement & AI Governance

Regulated AI adoption on Azure: AI Foundry platforms, central AI gateways on API Management with token governance, guardrails and role models - so AI reaches production instead of dying as a proof of concept.

AI FoundryAI-GatewayGovernance
04

Azure API Management at scale

Design, automation and governance of API platforms: Terraform modules, Spectral-based linting and multi-region rollouts - most recently as the baseline for 130+ live repositories at HDI.

APIMSpectralMulti-Region
05

Security Engineering

Zero-trust architectures with Entra ID and Microsoft Defender: identity design, network hardening and security baselines, aligned with regulatory requirements.

EntraDefenderZero-Trust
06

Modern .NET Engineering

High-performance services with .NET 9 and C# 13: data evaluation on Elasticsearch, microservices, containers on AKS and serverless event-driven architectures.

.NET 9C# 13AKS
Project Experience

Selected engagements

YearClientRoleScopeStack
2026WEKA Group (Kissing)MediaCloud Strategy Consultant · Azure
  • Cloud business case for the executive board: 5-year TCO on-premises vs. Azure across 300+ servers
  • Well-Architected target architecture (landing zone) and dependency-based migration wave planning
  • Interactive scenario dashboard as the decision basis (reserved instances, Hybrid Benefit, regions)
Azure MigrateTCOCAFLanding Zone
2025 - nowHDI Versicherung (Hannover)InsuranceAzure Platform Architect · Landing Zones & Governance
  • Central platform structures: landing zones, subscription and provisioning automation, enterprise-wide governance
  • Central AI gateway on Azure API Management with token governance - adopted early in a Microsoft APIM AI services pilot
  • Landing zones and governance for AI workloads on Azure AI Foundry: guardrails, Azure Policy, role models
  • Unified APIM baseline across 130+ live repositories, built on reusable Terraform modules
Landing ZonesAPIM AI-GatewayAI FoundryAzure PolicyTerraform
Oct 2024 - 2025TRUMPF SE + Co. KGManufacturingMicrosoft Azure Cloud Engineer
  • Leading analytics initiatives in a multi-cloud landscape (Azure + AWS)
  • High-performance .NET 8 / .NET 9 and C# 13 for data evaluation on Elasticsearch
  • Developed the .NET application behind the analytics platform: any system or interface delivers data, which is processed under load, stored on Elasticsearch and served back for evaluation
  • Scalable PaaS architectures enabling data-driven insights across cloud environments
AzureAWS.NET 9Elasticsearch
2023 - 07/2025E.ONEnergyAzure Enterprise Architect
  • Target architecture and roadmap for the Heartbeat Information Router (HIR), originally engineered by me
  • Introduced Azure AI Foundry as the group-wide basis for AI use cases: reference architecture and AI governance (RAG, grounding, evaluation)
  • Zero-trust security architecture and reviews along the Azure Well-Architected Framework
AzureAI FoundryZero-Trust.NET 8C# 13
2022 - 2023GEA GroupManufacturingAzure Enterprise ArchitectReviewed and enhanced architecture for existing Azure workloads. Designed targeted landing zones, coached developers, led the Azure landing zone project at enterprise scale.
ALZCAFDevOps
2020 - 2021Nagel-GroupLogisticsAzure Enterprise ArchitectSecure Azure landing zone aligned with Microsoft CAF and regulatory requirements. Modern private networking, guidance for large-scale IaaS/PaaS, IAM and cost management.
CAFIAMFinOps
2019 - 2021Versicherungskammer BayernInsuranceAzure Solution ArchitectTechnical concepts for IAM system integrations and migration. Introduced Azure DevOps for CI/CD, designed cloud-based architectures, authored operating manuals.
AzureDevOpsIAM
2018 - 2021E.ON Digital TechnologyEnergyCloud Engineer (Microsoft Azure)Resource-efficient, highly available microservices in Azure using multithreading strategies, under strict security and performance requirements.
Microservices.NETThreading
2019 - 2020BMW GroupAutomotiveCloud Solution Architect
  • Landing zone architecture for the group's global Azure environment, including hybrid cloud security and hyperscaler network strategy
  • Self-service onboarding: internal departments ordered landing zones through ServiceNow, with ordering, approval and security clearance as one continuous process
  • Provisioning fully automated with infrastructure as code, every subscription delivered ready to use with the mandated standard resources
ALZServiceNowIaCHybridNetwork
2017 - 2020ELO Digital OfficeSoftwareCloud Solution ArchitectLed design and implementation of fully automated Terraform deployments. Hub-Spoke network segments and IT security within a hardened Azure environment.
TerraformHub-SpokeSecurity

The engagements that shaped the practice. Many more are not listed here, among them Volkswagen, GETEC and LSI Bayern. Every project below has its own detail page in the CV. Download the CV as a PDF →

From practice

Three platforms I built.

Architecture decisions are worth what people can actually use afterwards. Three examples where the result was a platform teams worked with every day.

Automotive · 2019 - 2020

Landing zones on order

I automated the entire onboarding for a large automotive group. Internal departments ordered landing zones through ServiceNow like a catalogue item. Ordering, approval and security clearance ran as one continuous process, and provisioning was fully handled by infrastructure as code. Every subscription arrived ready to use, with the mandated standard resources already in place. That was 2019, years before platform self-service became a standard topic.

Automotive

An internal developer platform

For another automotive group I helped build an internal developer platform. Development teams ordered more than Azure resources there: they received complete project environments, with Git repositories, Azure DevOps structures, working CI/CD pipelines, prescribed repository patterns and managed identities. Anyone starting a project got the governance as a running environment rather than as a document.

Manufacturing · Multi-cloud

An analytics platform and the application behind it

For an industrial manufacturer I did not only design the analytics platform, I built the .NET application behind it. Any system or interface can deliver data to it; the platform processes that data under load, stores it on Elasticsearch and serves it back for evaluation. Spanning Azure and AWS.

Beyond consulting

I don't only advise. I build and run.

Alongside the consulting practice I run my own company and ship my own product. Both are a reason to trust the architecture advice: I carry the consequences of my own decisions in production.

Company

Simplymate GmbH

Co-Founder & Managing Director · since 2026

B2B SaaS for recurring compliance obligations: website compliance, a legal register and a white-label training academy. Built for organisations without a compliance department.

simplymate.com →
Product

KeyVault Studio

Founder, developer and designer · since 2025

A Swift-native Mac and iOS app for Azure Key Vault, on the App Store. Secrets, keys and certificates with a keyboard-first workflow. No cloud backend, no tracking. Designed, built and shipped solo.

keyvault.studio →
About

Microsoft Azure Architect - from the board-level decision to the platform in production.

I work on both levels of a cloud transformation. For executives and CIOs I build honest decision papers: business case, target architecture, migration strategy - including the cost traps standard calculators hide. For platform and engineering teams I then deliver what was decided: landing zones, governed AI platforms on Azure AI Foundry, API platforms and modern .NET engineering. Since 2018 this combination has carried projects for BMW, E.ON, TRUMPF, HDI and GEA. And with KeyVault Studio, my own app on the App Store, I prove that I don't just architect Azure - I build on it.

Azure Architecture & Landing Zonessince 2017 · BMW, GEA, Nagel-Group
Azure API Management (APIM)130+ APIs · AI gateway · HDI
Azure AI Foundry & AI GovernanceAI gateway · token governance · RAG
Cloud Strategy & Business CasesTCO models · CAF · wave planning
C# / .NET 8 & 9since 2018 · E.ON, TRUMPF
IaC with Terraform & Bicepsince 2017 · fully automated deployments
DevSecOps & CI/CDAzure DevOps · GitHub Actions · Spectral
Multi-Cloud (Azure & AWS)analytics workloads · Elasticsearch
Reference

What clients say

An amazing Azure architect who has successfully transferred his knowledge to non-technical experts as well as IT architects. Highest recommendations.
Walter Wirl
Chief Technology Architect · Cancom
Stephan Bail delivered a highly scalable Azure solution meeting E.ON's rigorous quality and safety standards. Consistently professional, with excellent communication.
Olaf Franke
Business IT Germany · E.ON Digital Technology
CV

The full curriculum vitae

Current mandate, career at a glance, the engagements on a single spread, and a dedicated detail page for every project: client profile, scope, technology and outcome. In German and English.

Language
  • Current mandate and the most recent completed engagement
  • Career overview, reduced to the stations that matter
  • The key engagements on one spread, with run times
  • A detail page per project: client profile, scope, technology, outcome
A4 · PDF · EN · 15 pages
Download PDF

Let's ship your platform.

Whether it's a business case, a landing zone, a migration or an API platform: tell me about your project - a short intro call will show whether and how I can help.

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